yeah i don't know about your car but you gotta loosen up 2 of your motor mounts to lover the engine. the car shoul be pretty high, otherwise you will kill your back trying to work on the car if it's on the ground. check first your ignition timing rather than the valve timing. i reall don't see how it will get messed up unless the belt broke or the wheels have very bad teeth.
the dust inside the distributor means that sommething is crapped there. might be the rotor thou
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