Will turn won’t start and back firing

[Mark Clifford 1]

About a year ago my 205 1.9 gti phase 2 dropped a valve and I left it sitting until a few weeks ago. Tore it down replaced a piston and valve and all the gasket sand seals cleaned up the engine and tried to start it last night. It will turn over sounds like it’s trying to start some times and is back firing. I am almost certain that the timing is correct however I can’t figure out what is wrong I’m getting spark however it can be intermittent whilst I’m checking it with the engine off and plug one out. Sometimes I get one spark by moving the distributor and have to turn off ignition then some times I can have three of four sparks. Has anyone any idea what is wrong? Any ideas? 

[jackherer 543]

It does sound like the timing is wrong, you say you're "almost" certain it's right but you need to be 100% sure really.

 

Intermittent lack of spark is often due to the signal wire from the distributor breaking down.

 

it's possible you have more than one problem which makes logical troubleshooting much harder.

 

Make sure the cam timing is 100% correct first and then confirm that the ignition timing is correct and then look at the intermittent spark issue.

[Mark Clifford 1]

Thanks for the reply got it running thanks

[jackherer 543]

What was wrong with it?