Distributor Question?

[yorklyn]

The machine shop took a quick look at my distributors and said they appeared to be in good shape. said the gear and bearings looked good. when I got them home I pulled the electronic ignition that I had added on and saw a lot of rust. Is this at all normal?? I would like to reuse these for a while until my wallet heals up. any opinions???

[mikeandanne]

they are probably ok but you will need to take them apart,clean those plates and slides so they are free because that is your mechanical advance mechanism--small amount of lithium grease---easy job no big deal for a guy with your skills----Mike

[prowlersfish]

X2

[Big D]

.....they appeared to be in good shape......

Some surface rust is expected but there's no way I'd be trusting the above statement on distributors going into fresh rebuilds. With everything you've done, this is not the place to lower the standards. I say get them done right and if something goes wrong with the engines, the rebuilder can't put the blame on you for using a faulty distributor. Find someone who specializes in rebuilding distributors and has an old distributor macine. They are now worth their weight in gold and is your insurance to the engine rebuilder should an engine failure occur. Just make sure they work on marine units also and will use the proper springs as there will be a different advance curve than an automotive app.

[yorklyn]

Dam it BigD, I hate it when someone tells me something I already Know in my heart!!! LOL
I have absolutely no Idea where to find someone to work on distributors. I will most likely put them on my "replace list". I know absolutely nothing about distributors other than how to change the cap and rotor. I know the old ones are mallory. Any idea what would be a good replacement. would I be looking for something like this? http://www.marinepartssource.com/partde ... no=9-26306

I thought the machine shop told me the distributors were the same for both engines even though one is counter rotating? looks like the RH one is $225 more.

I'll try to find someone to rebuild them first , who knows maybe ill get lucky.
Thanks

[RWS]

X2

X3 *

===============================


* check the advance after installation and confirm that the advances work to specification with an ADVANCE timing light.

Keep in mind, none of this is really high tech.

Mine looked worse than yours and I did them myself.

RWS

[yorklyn]

thanks guys!

[larryeddington]

I will confuse it, the distributors turn the same direction, but have different gears on the bottom as the cam turns opposite direction. The gearing allows the distributors to turn the same. They have a different firing order which is simply a matter of which wire you put in which distributor tower not the turn of the distributor.

That said checking distributors on a machine seems to be a good idea if you can find someone with one. Ebay usually has a number of sun machines for sale. Anyone want to become our resident distributor expert and buy one?

Okay Okay guys, what I said is true for 318s anyway at least ones that use timing chains. I did not see the chevy engine in the background. I assumed Chry due to color my bad, but apparently was correct for his engine anyway.

[prowlersfish]

I will confuse it, the distributors turn the same direction, but have different gears on the bottom as the cam turns opposite direction. The gearing allows the distributors to turn the same. They have a different firing order which is simply a matter of which wire you put in which distributor tower not the turn of the distributor.

That said checking distributors on a machine seems to be a good idea if you can find someone with one. Ebay usually has a number of sun machines for sale. Anyone want to become our resident distributor expert and buy one?

c
Not always Larry on some/many marine engines Like GM timing gears are used I place of a chain when they are RH ( reverse rotation) . When this is done the cam spins the same direction on a reverse turning engine as a normal engine w/chain , so the same dist gear is used in that case

[yorklyn]

That's what I was told. Both distributors are the same even though the starboard engine is counter rotation.
Stopped by the machine shop to pick up my new ring gears and one of the guys said he saw an exact replacement Mallory distributor in a summit racing catalog for just over 200 with electronic ignition. He gave me the catalog and upon closer inspection at home I realized it was a 2012 catalog and they no longer carry it!

[Stripermann2]

I will confuse it, the distributors turn the same direction, but have different gears on the bottom as the cam turns opposite direction. The gearing allows the distributors to turn the same. They have a different firing order which is simply a matter of which wire you put in which distributor tower not the turn of the distributor.

That said checking distributors on a machine seems to be a good idea if you can find someone with one. Ebay usually has a number of sun machines for sale. Anyone want to become our resident distributor expert and buy one?

c
Not always Larry on some/many marine engines Like GM timing gears are used I place of a chain when they are RH ( reverse rotation) . When this is done the cam spins the same direction on a reverse turning engine as a normal engine w/chain , so the same dist gear is used in that case

Paul is absolutely correct. And to add another tid bit, Chevrolet small blocks and big blocks can use the same distributor.

[RWS]

to add to everything stated, from my own personal experience, an ADVANCE timing light and some reflective tape can and will show up lots of good information and allow you to confirm that you are actually obtaining the correct TOTAL advance.

In my case, it also exposed the fact that I had worn timing chain/gears on one of my original factory engines with approx 2,800 hours on it.

Once I knew this, I was always very gentle in throttling up or down to avoid that engine "jumping time".

Y'all know how I finally corrected that problem, but that's another story.

The 4 bolt main bearing Crusaders can go a long, long way with the proper maintenance, care and propping.


RWS

[1967 seavoyager]

Century Performance had Mallory make new yl's for me. Good company. Centuryperformance.com