Cruiser you bring up a good point, and thanks Matthew, from most of the posts I have read it sounded like the engine wouldn't run at all with the timing off or at least would be extremely noticeable, these are the first symptoms of a 'slightly off' distributor I've found. I went to all the easy stuff first, and now will have to sit down and learn something to do the indexing.
After changing an 02 sensor a lot of the hesitation has gone away, but it still has a ghost of a hesitation and starting hard is a good way to describe it firing up. All things considered its running pretty well after chasing down some gremlins, clearly the distributor wasn't the only thing needing attention. If indexing the dizzy clears up the rest of this hesitation I just might find myself with a nice rig after all. Thanks guys. I'll take a look at the MAP too while I'm at it.
The Renix ECU adjusts the timing over a broad range. But it does have a beginning and an end or in other words when the distributor is one tooth off either direction it can have the wrong initial timing and off the other direction, run out of advance.
Some of the early Renix (87) had a cam timing issue and the initial distributor setup was off or wasn't exactly in the middle of the timing range. The distributors had to be re indexed. After market Cam producers, way back when, used the early grind for their copies and had the same issue. If you have an after market cam, you may need to re-index.
I've never had any issues with the Cam position sensor, I've run my motors with it hooked up and unhooked and never noticed any real difference. But it is worth a look, hard starts can be a Cam position sensor issue. Batch firing the injectors is bound to cause some kind of driveability issues and/or mileage issues.
Like Cruiser and Matthew said recheck your initial setup, rotor position at TDC and make sure your firing order is right.
I'm a curious type and have set up my Renix wrong in various ways just to see what would happen. It can be pretty darned wrong and still drive OK, not good but OK.
Having my roots in old school Hot Rods, I've tried many after market ignition setups and found it is hard to beat the Renix ignition. It's not real complicated, durable and plenty hot enough. The plugs seems to last forever, the distributor cap not nearly as long as the plugs last. It can be a bit finicky about what tape of plugs and wires you use, which usually shows up as a poor idle. Other than that, low voltage to the ignition module from various wiring, connector and/or switch issues can cause issues.
Best guess as to your problem is something with your initial setup or maybe low voltage pulse out of the CPS to the ECU. Maybe even a poor contact on your coil to cap wire, it is easy to not stick the end contact all the way in.
There are other inputs, but your throttle position sensor has a lot to do with the timing.
If I broke a tooth off of my distributor I'd shine a flashlight down into the cam distributor drive gears, rotate the motor and check them as good as possible.
Most times ignition issues show up as poor idle on the Renix, it has occasional misses and doesn't idle smoothly. Low high voltage often shows up as spark breakdown/degradation at high RPM's.
You need to inspect the O2 sensor wires where they run up behind the power steering bracket and make sure they aren't cooking on the exhaust. This won't usually affect your starts, but can sure enough mess with your mid range (it may buck around 2200 RPM) on a warm motor. You may have more than one issue going on here.
Just some ideas.
