keithb7 Posted July 13, 2020 Report Share Posted July 13, 2020 (edited) I have spare distributor here from a 1949 D32. Aside from points and condensers, I have not done a deep dive into a distributor. So I dug in to learn. When I got down into the bottom I took the breaker cam out to see the weights. I noticed there are two different springs. One is fine, (lower in pic) and smooth feeling. The other (upper in pic) is thicker, clunkier it seems. It appears to do little in the way of expanding much. I assume it takes a lot of RPM to get the heavier spring to open. It will open when I push the weight outward. I immediately thought aha! Someone was in there and screwed around and put in one spare, other sized spring. Then I thought hmm..This is my first time seeing the inner guts. My Motors manual taught me that sometimes same springs, or two different springs can be used inside the distributor. What are your findings? Different springs in the old Mopars? I am thinking I will clean up this distributor. Lube the baking plate bearing. New wires, points and condenser and try using it in my 38 Ply. It has the 1954 25" 228 Canadian engine. This distributor is off of a 218 25" Canadian engine. The difference being 3 /16 " in stroke length. The bushings in this one feel fine. Its worth a try I figure. Would be a fun experiment. Convince me otherwise if you have done this and learned something I am about to. LOL. Thx. Keith Edited July 13, 2020 by keithb7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansen Posted July 13, 2020 Report Share Posted July 13, 2020 1941 De Soto 228cui Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted July 13, 2020 Report Share Posted July 13, 2020 most all distributors mechanical advance weights have a weak primary spring and stronger secondary spring... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithb7 Posted July 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2020 Thanks folks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted July 13, 2020 Report Share Posted July 13, 2020 You hit on the reasoning for the two different springs, they control different parts of the mechanical advance curve based on RPM. Lighter spring is for lower rpm, you can play with the slot size to vary how much advance in that part of the curve, heavier spring is for higher RPM and you can also play with that slot size to adjust the amount of advance. There is a company that makes a plate with multiple slot sizes to make it easier, at least on newer Mopars, not sure if it'd fit our stuff. http://4secondsflat.com/Mopar Mechanical timing limiter plate.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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