Flathead to Slant 6 distributor conversion...

[falconvan]

This was a great tech thread. As soon as you verify it works, I'm heading to the boneyard to find a slant six. Thanks!

[falconvan]

Did you ever install this and try it?

[yourpc48]

Did you get the thing running with that dizzy? Im looking at changing out mine for electronic or modding an HEI.

[grassfiddler]

Will this work wih a 6 volt system or would I need to change over to 12 volt?

[1941Rick]

You will have to change up to 12 volts.....voltage is important for the ECU according to the instructions i have..

http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/elecignconv.pdf

[yourpc48]

I have a slant dizzy on its way to my place. Should be here Monday. I will follow your instructions and report back with my results. Thanks for the in depth tech.

[bbbbbb99]

Have we heard if this works?

[yourpc48]

Have we heard if this works?

Yes it does. The outside of the dizzy where it goes into the block has to be turned down slightly to fit in the hole. It was really easy to do. It was harder to find a good diagram of how it should be wired than it was to convert the distributor.

I purchased one used and the wiring to the pickup inside was brittle and broke the shielding on the wires as I was puting it in the car so I ended up buying a rebuilt one at the auto parts store for about $15 more than I paid for the used one.

It made a difference in the way the car ran and knowing that I wouldnt have to change points again was worth it.

I was into the conversion (Not counting the used dizzy that I didnt use) for about $100.

It would have been more but I turned down the outside of the Dizzys housing to fit the hole in the block.

While I had the guts out of the housing I put a long bolt through and put washers and nuts in the right places so it didnt damage the new bushings and then chucked it up in the drill. I got the file and sand paper out along with a caliper and carefully took off material untill it fit. If I could afford it I would have taken it to a machine shop with the old dizzy for more accuracy.

The plugin for the module on the firewall was really expensive too (at the parts store). I opted to put individual connectors on the wires and plug them in although it would look much cleaner if you use a factory type plug. You may get a better deal on eBay for the connector.

I went with a single balast resistor system to cut down on the amount of wiring needing to be done.

I dont have the car any more so I cant take pictures but I remember how most of it went together if you need help.

Have fun..... Dale

Edited August 15, 2012 by yourpc48

[bbbbbb99]

Thanks Dale. I'm a ways off from doing this on my flatty but I have a 1964 Dart stationwagon I'm getting roadworthy right now with a slant six in it. I'll be doing this swap, http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15779 soon to that and it should work with the slant Dizzy in flathead as well.

[yourpc48]

Yeah. I read this article before I did the swap. If you use the HEI you can leave the points dizzy in if you want to. They no longer need to produce the charge they had to with the regular coil system so they dont burn out (from what I understand). The points are only acting as a trigger to send the message to fire. The best of both worlds would be to convert the slant 6 dizzy into your car so you dont have parts that can wear out (the points would still wear on the cam in the dizzy) and then put the HEI on instad of using the big MOPAR electronics box. Problem solved and the HEI will give you a huge spark. Make sure to gap the plugs wider if you go to the HEI instead of the MOPAR box.

[thrashingcows]

Sorry I never updated this thread. 

 

I had no problem getting the motor started.  It actually started quicker then i had ever hoped for.  I figured since this was a bit of an off the wall conversion that I would have a fight on my hand with getting the motor to start.  It actually fired up within the first dozen cranks of so.  Couldn't ask for more.  I have driven the desoto around the block a few times...no insurance...Shhhh...    And have had no problems.  Might be different once I get out on the road, and up to cruising speed, but I hope not.

 

Here's a vid of the car running....

 

[thrashingcows]

Here is a couple photos of the electronic ignition system I wired up.  Used all the stock mopar stuff...ballast, coil and ECU, and wiring.  Since I don't have the car wired up yet I had to make a stand alone system to have the car run. 

 

 

SO I went to the wreckers and grabbed a bunch of misc wiring, alternantor, battery cable, starter relay and slolenoid..from a ford...paid $25 for everything I think.

 

 

Took me a couple hours to wire everything up.  I found all the wiring diagrams on-line.

 

 

And as you can see from the above video it works great.

[Don Coatney]

Do you have a by-pass for your thermostat?

[thrashingcows]

Do you have a by-pass for your thermostat?

 

 

Don't even have a thermostat...    Just running straight through right now.  Doesn't seem to have any over heating issues yet.  Warms up quickly though.

[Plymouthy Adams]

well, answer this..do you have the bypass even though you choose not to run a thermostat..

[Merle Coggins]

I believe that's the ultimate by-pass system, Tim. All of his coolant is bypassing his thermostat, which is still at the parts store.

[thrashingcows]

well, answer this..do you have the bypass even though you choose not to run a thermostat..

 

No the thermostat housing bypass was sealed up by the previous owner of the motor.  I just installed it how I got it.  I had to use the old original water pump from the Desoto, fan and crank alignment, so I put the plate on top of the water pump since it had no where to go.

[falconvan]

This distributor conversion is killer, just did my 49 coupe today. It solved my ignition problems and total cash out was $100 and that was including a rebuilt slant six distributor from OReily's. Instructions were perfect, the whole thing took me about 2 hours.

Edited June 28, 2013 by falconvan

[40desoto]

Since I destroyed the original collar from the flatty I had to use the slant 6 lower collar. It wasn't a perfect fit. The shaft center lines did not match up. I had to find a drill bit just a hair smaller then the shaft through the distributor shaft and then drill through. Once that was done it was tap the roll pin into place.

Then cleaned up the original flatty mounting plate and installed. Not sure of the reasoning behind the timing marks plate that was on there, but I did not re-install it.

How Did you get the distributor to slide down the shaft on the block?   I have the exact same mod and the gear on the distributor does not let if slide all the way down.  I was advised to shave it off for fit.  Im wondering how you got this in your motor since you still have it on your mod.

[Don Coatney]

On my Desoto engine the distributor will not go in or out unless the engine is at TDC or any position where the #3 piston skirt is out of the way. That might be the issue you are having.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I believe there is a block design difference on the 23 verse the 25 and that the large collar of the gear will not insert into the larger block..

[pflaming]

I am swapping the inner parts from the OE distributor to a slant 6 electronic. I can't get the pin out either. Christmas prime rib and pecan pie just called so will have to attend to this tomorrow. This thread is a life saver, I've had it on as I work. Sure nice to have nice color pictures in front of the work being done.

[40desoto]

Lucky you to have the opportunity to touch your car on Xmas. Im stuck at Home Town buffet with the inlaws for the past 3 hours. I couldnt resist to i had to go to the restroom just to logon. Lol

[40desoto]

PFlaming, does your slant 6 distributor have gears? If so does your distributor slide right into your block or are the gears keeping it from sliding all the way down?

[pflaming]

" . . . i had to go to the restroom just to logon. . ."  Your braggen or just stating facts?  

 

Prime rib just came out of the oven, so later, but yes my replacement has gears which I removed, but the top of the two shafts are very different from yours.  Will take a pic later and post.

 

Just noticed the wife also has a pork loin, stuffed with raisins, pineapple, apples, etc. 

 

Later

 

Edit: Back, here is a pic of my two shafts. The prime rib was great!

 

Edited December 26, 2013 by pflaming