ajg193

This is definitely cooler than a molested Holden

Why would that piss anyone off? It's a $1000 car. If it wasn't a skid pig we would be more likely to be pissed off.

Maybe not suitable in your situation but I have found Toyota World Standard transmission fluid to be about the most effective thing I have ever found for preventing rust from forming on stuff.

I'm not sure you are made of appropriate axle material?

Chances are the fans just have a plain bearing. Pull them apart, put a drop of 3 in 1 oil or similar in and they will be good for years again.

Yep

The drive gear is part of the cam. I've never heard of one failing on a 4K. Drive gear drives the distributor directly. Oil pump is driven by the distributor. Fuel pump is actuated by a lobe on the cam. In fact, nothing really fails on a 4K. There is nothing simpler than a 4K. If the engine was running fine and then started doing dumb shit again it is probably something simple. You say the issue started after doing the exhaust. Maybe you didn't put the intake manifold or gasket back on properly and you've got a stupid vacuum leak somewhere.

The other one that can catch you out is if the old points signal wire is grounding out somewhere, that will stop you getting spark and make the coil get warm

Is your firing order correct and is the distributor timed correctly to the camshaft? 1-3-4-2 Rotor aiming at #1 post for TDC compression (easy to get this 360 crank degrees off if you don't check both valves are closed)

I've had one before where the coil developed a fault causing the high voltage to spark over the casing back to a low voltage post, that resulted in a no-run condition or at best running really poorly with no power at all. I presume the new distributor is an electronic one? They will be a bit harder to troubleshoot than a points type. Have you referenced the 4K repair manual? https://drive.google.com/file/d/15dZ1wtk2zQIBpKUSEzYloryFCwhDOkZj/view?usp=sharing

Just use the front port and block the other one off. It will probably have the wrong ignition timing curve for your engine though so might be a bit of a slug. They made different distributors for different displacements, markets and cylinder head designs.

I've put them in the lathe in the past and cut out the original bushing and replaced with a pair of sealed bearings. They work perfectly after that but it is a bit of a faff.

It's really hard to tell the condition from the photo. The contacts in the distributor will wear over time regardless. What does the rotor look like? If it struck a post from the cap being misaligned it will probably have shorn off the alignment key and will be pointing in the wrong direction. If that happened you will need a new cap and rotor - it probably just got knocked when you were doing work on the engine. If not that then it could be that your points and condensor need to be replaced.

That car is starting to look like absolute pig bait now, have the cops started giving you a hard time yet?

The knife itself is good, can't complain.