Engine Problems

[obsesscort]

Hey guys I'm doing a bit of winter work on the old girl after an odd jumping sensation in the engine and I've seemed to have run into more problems. I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced this before/has suggestions at a direction of attack.

Initial problem: when accelerating (regardless of gear) engine would shudder and almost stop pulling for a brief second, not so it was a huge problem but it was unpleasant to drive. After doing some work on the engine (below) it now struggles to start, the starter motor is turning over very fast and sometimes catches but in order for the engine to start, the key needs to be held on for about 30 seconds to really get it going....

So here's what I did...
- checked the carby which seems to be running fine and shows no problems
- checked all major connections: replaced battery terminals (very needed), checked high tension leads, cleaned up and degreased engine


I had a new altenator installed 6 months ago and it seems to be running fine.

Am i right in saying the firing sequence is 1 2 4 3 on the 1.6L motors, where 1 is the closest plug to the radiator and 3 is the one closest to the fire wall? (maybe i didn't connect them properly?)


Any insight would be appreciated!