tried starting the car today, it's struggling to start but did start for about 15 seconds, but when you give it a bit of throttle it cuts out straight away. when it cuts out theres a horrible sparking noise coming from the distributor, WTF is that about.? ive had a new crank senor, new phase sensor new leads and new plugs fitted, still no joy,

 

forgot to say that i had a clicking noise from the old alarm relay, i think the car is still immobilised.

 

make sure the phase sensor is fitted and gapped correctley and if it were mine i would remove the old alarm wire by wire

 

you need to establish if its lack of fuel or spark bud,

or try this if your really upset?

 

Pull the dizzy cap and see if there's anything left on the contact points,the cap could have cracked as well and the noise you speak of sounds like arcing to me.check the security of the rotor arm,you could pull the cap off and get someone to crank the engine to check it's turning ok(dizzy drive not failed).
After that it's going to need a deeper description and some photos or booking in at a tuners.

 

Just check every gap distance, cap, rotor but also check battery as they struggle if not full power

 

dont tempt me

i'll dig a bit deeper today. the car was setup by mark at MAD in july, and since then its only been to ford fair and back to north devon.
the car has been sat around since september and it hasnt been garaged :-(

 

I had almost the same situation and mine ended up being phase sensor, I had to regap and retime it before the car would start.

 

if you see if its lost spark or fuel it will narrow your search!

i know everyones talking ignition components but what if the fuel pump fuse has blown/relay

 

Has the inertia switch in the boot been triped.Does the fuel pump prime when you turn the key.