demetri

I had some problems starting the car hot (and It caused a bad situation). The timing seemed over advanced, even though the car did not knock under WOT (this is the worked over 440 on the Imperial, described in a thread a bit further down, compression is about 10.5). It was suggested to see if the centrifugal advance is sticky. Indeed, it seems to be. When I twist the rotor, it does not return readily. Is there an easy way to remedy this? I sprayed penetrating oil, did not seem to help.


Thanks

moe7404

just get the mopar high performance distrubter Summit Racing SUM-850005-1 - Summit Racing® Electronic Mopar Distributors. and dont modd it.

RacerHog

Looks like you need to go back and open it anyway????

https://moparforums.com/forums/f81/q...tor-kit-17418/

TVLynn

May have a stretched or broken spring

RacerHog

Time to pull it and operate on it.

demetri

Thanks all. I do not feel like spending $180 right now, although that will be the "easy" fix. I was told to spray some brake cleaner in there, and see if that will remove the gum and may be release it. Do you guys think there is any hope on that?


Even worse than not retarding back at low speeds (other than difficulty in starting, and a bit of low load spark knock) is that it may not advance readily as you rev up, so I may be loosing power at times. And of course, the inconsistency.


I don't know how the spring would have stretched or come loose, it was in regular operation. It may have been poorly put together. But at any rate, this explains a lot of the somewhat erratic behavior of the engine.

Coronet 500

Agreeing with Bob on this. Having in hand and taking one piece apart at a time will allow you to "feel" any difference.

demetri

Turns out, I have another spare distributor, also points. The vacuum advance does not work, but the springs work better than the one in the car. I can switch for now. Question: Is there a source for the vacuum advance canisters?


Thanks

RacerHog

Napa Auto parts...

demetri

Thanks, but Napa does not carry the vacuum advance. Any other ideas?


Thanks

RacerHog

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Re...0020%2b2020006

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/se...ger&vi=1495995


Pick one...

demetri

Interesting. The NAPA website only went to 5.2, 318. The Oreilys one also included the 6.6 (400) and 7.2 (440). So, is this part identical for both small block ad big block? In that case, I can order the cheapest one.


Thanks.

RacerHog

Get the one for the 440...

DDodger

part of this may not be relevant. you need to think in terms of exact replacement. did your car originally have the retard solenoid built into the distributor? some did in 70. look for an earlier application, say, 66--69 383 or 440 out of a passenger car such as roadrunner gtx charger, etc

you need to download a shop manual or otherwise get one. there is no reason you cannot take an afternoon to go through the distributor. if it's worn bushings etc this might be a different matter but if it's rusty and stuck you might easily be able to fix it.

demetri

I had the Napa folks order one of the 3 vac advance canisters, and took my distributor with me to see if it fits. It was almost identical, except for the arm pivoted down rather than up. Then, we looked at all the vac advance canisters that could possibly fit, and compared their pictures with mine. None would fit.


I can check with the parts on O'Reileys, but they looked the same as the NAPA.


Why is this part so hard to come by? There must be a Mopar-only source that offers them?


I am considering assembling and installing my spare distributor with a non-functioning vac advance. I suspect I am losing 0.5 to 1.0 mpg for normal driving (this car will be cruised fast, but even at 90/3K rpm this engine has over 10 inches of vacuum)....

Rooty

I agree with Bob, you really need to jump on this one. There are OE pots out there, you just need to find one. Sometimes Jeg's, Summit and others are not the choice for locating one. They seem to have a "one size fits all" attitude and who could blame them for not stocking a 40 year old part. A complete tear down and rebuild will reveal all and worse come to worse, trade yours in on a complete rebuit unit. Many car suppliers can cross reference this part - they were probably the same except for the drive gear and pump shaft. Just think, you could have a new gear, new shaft bushings, new advance pot and who knows it may come with new points and condenser to boot. There should be a tag riveted on the body of the distributor for reference.

demetri

No question, a rebuilt distributor would resolve all problems, but I would like to utilize that spare distributor and save a few bucks. I am cheap, I admit.


If I was to spend $100+ for a rebuilt unit with points, I might as well go for the electronic distributor. But this car does not see that many miles per year, the maintenance savings of not having to readjust the points would be rather negligible.