so there is this guy on craigslist selling a '87 sammy for cheap. he says that it ran and then he took the distributor out. when he put it back in he said it never started after that. he has a 1.6 trakker engine in it.he said that he switched it out which to me means  he bought a new one. any ideas as to what happened to the distributor? is there a wrong way to put it in? did he forget to hook something up? how easy of a fix do you think this is. if its simple i'm probably gonna buy it. any advice would be very helpful

Tell him he messed up really bad and offer him a low price. Then get it home and set the belt timing right - its 180 degs out, happens a lot.

so how did it get that far off by taking out the distributor?it already has a spoa, calmini exhaust and header, on 31's and hes asking like 1200 for it.

It's actually pretty easy to get it in 180 out. Being a 4 stroke engine, when you set the #1 cylinder to TDC to put the distributor back in, it will be 180 out if it's TDC on the exhaust cycle instead of the intake cycle...

okay i see what ya mean now. so do you think its a good deal then. it sounds like an easy fix. how much is a distributor for the 1.6?

Unless it's missing, you probably don't need a new one, just take it back out and put it back in right.

Which version of the 1.6 is it? the 8valve or the 16valve? Sounds like a decent deal to me. Just make sure the SPOA was done right and looks solid...

well this is what he said about the sammy

Trashed body,spoa,calmini exhaust with header,1.6 tracker engine with new weber carb on it,31 wildcats with decent tread, no dash, soft top that is ripped up and a bikini top that is new, did I mention it has a trashed body, switched out the distibutor and now does not run. Engine ran good and now needs oil pan gasket because it leaks now. Has a cheesy light bar with 4 daylighters on top. I am done and am giving it three weeks before I strip off what i want and dump it. Be a cheap wheeler if you figure out the distributor issue. THANX

i dont care about the body cause im just gonnna wheel it anyways. but is $1150 a reasonable price for this setup?

I wouldn't pay that much for it, personally. At most I would only go a couple hundred... Sounds like it's pretty hammered.

Can you get any pics of it?

yeah i emailed him the other day for some pics. still trying to here back from him. so do you think like $800 is reasonable?

WHen i was in High School, I bought a decent samurai with weber for $500, the engine was barely smoking blues.  Tried the Engine Restore and after 1500 miles, it went away. 

From what you said the sami is trashed.... oil pan leaks... etc.  500 to maybbe 700 would be reasonable.  If you parted it out, you would make more than what you paid for it.