seancooney

Thanks everyone for the advice! I ended up replacing the cap, rotor, wires, and plugs and after following your advice got the car started up, timed, and running nicely now!

So here is my situation: I have a 1993 Subaru Loyale 1.8l OHC (EA-82). About a year ago I was driving down the freeway when my engine cut out. Turned out I broke the driver side timing belt. Well, being the n00b that I am, I thought it was the distributor, so I pulled it without marking the #1 position. So now, after about a year I've finally gotten off my rear to fix the thing (I ride my bike to/from classes) and I've done the following: *Got to the timing belts and replaced both. I followed the guide on this board, which indicated lining up both cam sprockets to 12 o'clock, then rotating the engine to center on the valve timing marks. Then I put the driver side belt on, rotated the engine 360, so the cam was at 6 o'clock. Put the passenger side belt on and rotated the engine another 360 to get the #1 cyclinder to compression. Put the whole thing back together. *Found and pointed distributor rotor towards the wire for the #1 cyclinder. Now here's my problem: When I try to start, I'll hear some firing, but it won't fully start. As I adjust the distributor and I hear more and more firing until I can't adjust it any further. So I pulled the distributor and moved one tooth in the direction of adjustment and it sounds like total crap. It won't get any better until I start adjusting it BACK towards the tooth I just left. The coil works fine and the plugs are sparking. Am I missing something? Could it be insufficient spark caused by a combination of bad rotor, cap, wires, or plugs? Bad fuel (it's been sitting for a while)?