I have a 1965 MG Midget that has a 4 port 13B with dual 36DCD Weber carbs. As far as I know it has not been ported. The engine has not been started in 7 years. I changed the oil and spark plugs. There was a bad ignitor so I swapped in a good one. Using a wrench to turn the motor over I set the first timing mark on the pulley (there were 7 or so marks) to align with the pointer on the front cover. I pulled the distributor and lined up the alignment marks on the shaft and gear and replaced the distributor. The motor turns over easily but did not fire. I used some starter fluid and the motor fired right up but died pretty quickly. I tried again and the motor fired but backfired. I tried a few more times with some periodic breaks with the same result. The carbs have been freshly rebuilt and appear to be working properly. I am thinking the backfires are caused by it being out of time. I can't seem to find any information about a pulley having multiple marks and which one to use to set the initial timing to.
Thanks,
Brad

 

Problem solved. I had a big vacuum leak in one of the carbs.