The Nissan Path

So i have been trying to set my ignition timing, and notice that the rotor has about 45 degree wurth of play. Is this normal? I cant seam to get the ignition timing just right. Thanks in advance.

If what you are saying is , with the cap off you can grab the rotor and turn it 45 degree's that is not normal. Is it running and you want to set timing or is it not running or won't start ?
Maybe you should get everything on up on # 1 TDC and see if everything is where it should be. Pull dist and check dist gear !?

Sorry yeah i ment with evrything linned up and at tdc i can move the distributor rotor. Which i didnt think was normal seeing as how it meshes with the cam. It runs but not well, and seems to have a little trouble when first starting up. I have removed the distributor but as far as i can tell it looks fine. No abnormal wear marks. All the teeth on it look good. The one thing im not so sure on is exactly where is thr distributor supposed to be? Does it matter, or not so mich just as long as the rotor lines up to the #1 cylinder on the cap? Thanks a lot by the way, im not to familiar whith nissan. Oh and i have done the timing belt, rechecked all my timing marks.

If you shine a light down in where the dist gear mesh's in the engine does that look ok ?
And the dist was seated all the way down and bolted in, I hate to ask simple questions because you sound like you know what you are doing . If you have the dist in your hand and hold the gear and try to rotate the rotor does it feel tight that way, with no play ?

SMJ999SMJ on this board is well versed in Nissan and I am sure he will respond to your post when he see's it.

I have a factory Nissan manual and a chiltons and if you need me to check something for You I will see what I can do. I hesitate to think your dist is bad, but if you discover it is I have an extra good one in my spare parts.

so i removed the upper timing cover and set it to tdc to make sure that
the distributor was positioned correctly. all my lines marked up the
distributor rotor lined up with the number one cylinder on the distributor
cap. i then tried moving the distributor and sure enough it moved, again about 45 degrees. i removed it and the cam part of it looks good. i then held
the rotor and moved the lower part that meshes with the cam. and again
it moved, just didnt seam right. so i dissembled the distributor as much as i can. i found that the little wheel on the inside, the one with all the little windows was damaged towards the center. i dont think thats why its able to turn. however i dont think this helps my whole timing thing. im pretty sure my distributor is bad at this point. i think im just going to try and source a good used one. then fill you in and see how things go.

Is the roll pin that secures the gear to the dist broken ? Bolt in rotor button ?
Good luck, let us know what you figure out it may help the next guy.

Yeah the roll pin is in the gear, and as far as i can tell its not broken. Bolt in button? I imagine you are talking about the one that secures the rotor on the shaft. But yeah thats in place and not broken. So today i went a little further and completly, i mean completly dissasembled the distributor. The only thing left was that sensor and some metal bushing that goes in the center, near the bottom. But other then that, yeah the shaft was out, the bearing was out and the upper bushing like thing was out as well. But under the rotor there is a philips head screw that secures the shaft to the upper bushing. I removed that and looked under the bushing. Sure enough i was able to see some metal damge to the under side of the upper bushing like it had been turning. So that has to be my 45 degree movment there. But i dont get it because the screw was tight.

Sounds like a good find, thanks for the update on the problem. Many times people will post for help and they get their problem solved and never update on what the problem was or how it was solved.
I do not know where you are located, but like I said if you have a problem locating a dist, I do have a extra in my spare parts cache for those just in case moments. I am in Florida