Unfortunately the distributor is the first thing I thought of.
Unfortunately the distributor is the first thing I thought of.The coil is inside the distributor. The early Mitsubishi distributors were known for failure. It may not leave fault codes behind, but a good scan too can tell you whether the cam sensor or crank sensor signal is lost or missing while it's in no-start cranking. Diagnose first.
Time for a new mechanic? It’s got a timing belt, not a timing chain. What makes the mechanic suspect the timing chain/belt?mechanic says timing chain ?