What kind of distributor do i have

Falkon Al Martin. The '73 actually had a vacuum retard, so you don't need it connected. Thanks Pete, You were right on the money with the , that was what was exactly on mine. Weird thing is that they took off the vacuum advance and blocked it up, you can see in the pic I added. Why do people mess with things?? On an original '73 the vacuum line went from a CDSE carb to a temperature device in the lower radiator hose that opened once the engine was warm.

When cold uit cut off your vacuum. Again, this is a retard, and they didn't want it cold. Take a look at pg 75 top right. This is how it came factory. JPG Thanks so much for your help! To reply or ask your own question: Members Sign In. Create an Account. Join The Club. Sign In Create Free Account. Todd Delong Spitfire 4 MkI. Website problem? Morris Minor Forum. Vintage Race Forum. Autoshrine v6.

Oct 25, AM Joined 8 years ago Posts. Oct 25, AM Joined 10 years ago Posts. Oct 25, AM Joined 11 years ago 2, Posts. Oct 25, PM Joined 8 years ago 1, Posts. Oct 25, PM Joined 9 years ago Posts. That hot spark stuff reeks of cheap made in china crap! Best mod for the money to date! Later, Matt.

Last edited by Matt L. Find all posts by Matt L. Pertronix does not have a very good reputation On my engines that dont have significant engine upgrades, I leave the points in and they work great. You cant limp back to the dock with a dead EI module like I can with points. I have dead modules in my basement from all the popular brands- Pertronix, Mallory and Prestolite Tried going locally through Advance, and AutoZone to avoid ordering through the regulars SkiDIm etc with no luck; they kept bringing out caps that were clip on.

Originally Posted by rjracin Thread Tools. All times are GMT The time now is PM. User Name. If this happens when installing new connectors, you get the wires crossed.

This makes the system advance the timing by 30 degrees or more. Normally, the ignition doesn't send power to the spark plug until the trailing edge of the reluctor inside the distributor cap passes the magnetic sensor.

But when the wires are hooked up backward the system fires the spark as soon as the leading edge of the reluctor reaches the sensor. This may not sound like such a big deal, after all, you can just adjust the timing with a timing light, right?

Yes, you can retard the timing manually by rotating the distributor housing until everything looks OK with the timing light. But the rotor phasing inside the distributor will still be off. No matter what you do, the ignition still fires the spark when the reluctor's leading edge reaches the sensor. This creates a larger than ideal gap that the spark must jump across. As a result, you get less power making it across the gap and your engine winds up with a high-speed miss that hurts your performance on the track and leaves you scratching your head trying to figure out why.

There are times you may need to install a new distributor at the race track or otherwise need to totally reset the ignition timing. It is easy enough to look at the timing pointer and the marks on the harmonic damper to determine when the number one piston is at TDC, but that's not enough to properly set the timing. You also have to find when the number one piston is on the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke. If the engine is cold, this isn't a problem at all: Simply pull the spark plug for the number one cylinder and place your thumb over the hole as you spin the engine over.

If you feel air being pushed out of the spark plug hole you know the piston is on the compression stroke. If the piston is on the exhaust stroke you won't feel any pressure against your thumb because the exhaust valve will be open as the piston moves up the cylinder bore.

The problem comes in when you are trying to work quickly at the race track and the engine is hot. Instead of trying to feel if air is moving out of the spark plug hole without burning yourself on either the cylinder head or headers, if you race a Chevrolet, just pull the right-side valve cover and watch the rocker arm for the exhaust valve on the number six cylinder. If the exhaust valve is opening on the number six cylinder you know the number one piston is on the compression stroke.

It is important you make sure that the distributor shaft and gear isn't bound up against the gear on the camshaft. This can sometimes happen with Chevrolet race engines because the distributor seats against the boss on the intake manifold. The installed height of the distributor can vary because with so much machine work going on with race engines, such as decking the block, the cylinder heads and even cutting on the intake manifold.

The height of the distributor can be raised by using shims between the boss on the intake manifold and the distributor's collar. Some performance distributors have an adjustable collar that makes this adjustment even easier. But first you must determine if the installed height is correct.

To check for proper distributor installed height, pull the cap and rotor, and install the distributor in the engine without any gaskets.