Distributor

[Don Coatney]

Well, I timed the beast. I settled with about 5 degree before top dead center. I let the motor run for about 40 min and everything looked good. I am really happy that I got this thing going, I was starting to question why I was still working on this car. Thanks everyone for your help on this.

Eric

Tell us what you did to get it running? Did you have to index the oil pump? Flip the distributor hold down bracket? Or do something else?

[marfulle]

Like I said in the original message, I was just a little off. I took off the plate and milled out the slots (both) to give me more of a range. It worked great. I now can adjust the timing all over the place. I did not want to index the oil pump, but I should of. Bottom line is it works great and the engine sound like a dream.

ERic

[Cpt.Fred]

i came across the same issue yesterday, because i tried to put a late model dizzy (48, i think) into my 1940 201cui engine.

the clamp and housing are different on the early model (early model has a grease cap and a small, hose type clamp,

later one has oil filler neck and the base plate shown above, bolted to the housing).

vac advance hits the oil filler tube, i have to try again today.

put the old one back in with fresh contacts and new cap, just to see if anything changes.

i cleaned my pulley by holding a wire brush against it from below with engine running, worked great,

so i should be able to see some scales with my timing light, but nothing. the timing has to be so far off,

i really wonder why it still fires up so well. i can turn the dizzy to full advance and to full retard without noticing any change in running...

i see if i can get a better timing light (mine's not bright enough) and then test again, with open clamp, and turn until i see something.

very strange, because the car ran normal when it came out of hibernation...

[DCurrent]

I have been reading up on placement of the distributor and as I figured it is not placed right. As you can see it appears to be 180 degrees off. It runs Ok (except for the miss that I cannot locate), but according to the book and other distributors the advance should be pointing at about 10 O'Clock. Mine is 180 from that. Before I check timing I was wondering if I can just simply pull out the distributor (making note where the rotor is pointed) and place it where it should go? It seems I should be able to do that, but I wanted to get an experienced opinion.

Darren

[Jerry Roberts]

Darren , If you turn your distributor 180 degrees , your rotor needs to turn 180 degrees too . That way the rotor still lines up with the correct wire terminals .

Edited May 18, 2012 by Jerry Roberts
clarification , simplification .