Electronic ignition distributor conversion

[Sniper]

Chucked up the body in my drill press to resize the housing.  1/2-13 bolt fits fine, that is a 10 inch one, way too long, lol.

 

Used a mill bastard file, sprayed down with soapy water to keep the aluminum from sticking.  150 grit sand paper for final polish,

 

Oh yeah, rubber band on the hold down clips so they don't whack you.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 12:58 AM by Sniper

[Sniper]

Gotta measure, used the old housing to set the caliper.  Measure at several spots since you are using a file.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 12:27 AM by Sniper

[Sniper]

Test fit in a spare block, this is the final exam, lol.  Sits flush.

 

 

[Sniper]

All assembled and done

 

 

[Sniper]

Couple of things to note. 

 

Clean the housing well before you assemble it, aluminum swarf will be all in it.

 

The screw that holds the timing plate to the bottom of the distributor is metric, M6 x 15 should be fine.  You will also need an M6 flat and lock washer.

 

The O ring that came on the /6 distributor housing shaft, forget about it.  I ended up using a fat O ring at the the junction of the plate and the housing, on the engine side to seal it.  I don't know the size, I just grabbed one that it from my O ring assortment kit.

 

The  pin that holds the lower collar onto the flatties shaft is peened in place on both ends.  It is not a roll pin  I ended up using my Dremel with a carbide burr to eat the peen off then I drilled it out with an 1/8" bit.  Prised the remaining bits of the pin out and reused the flatty's lower collar.  I used a 3/16 roll pin to re-install it.  I had two lengths in my roll pin assortment, too short and too long, so I used too long and trimmed it with the dremel once installed.  You will want an assortment of 1/2" ID shims to shim the vertical slop out of this setup.  You want a hair of play, no more than you had before you played mix and match, but some of my flatty shims were not usable and that left a lot of slop, fortunately, I had shims on hand. 

 

Do not forget to check and set the reluctor to pickup gap, 0.008" is the spec using a brass feeler gauge, or you can double up a dollar and that is close enough, 0.0075".  Make sure the reluctor and pickup are parallel to each other, you can bend the reluctor bracket to fix that.

 

Grease the moving parts, especially the mechanical advance, clean off the old stuff first, lol.  I couldn't find anything in the FSM about what to use, So I went with a high temp wheel bearing grease.  I am not talking about the distributor cam lube here.  That is no longer needed.

 

 

 

 

 

[grea235]

1 hour ago, Sniper said:

Couple of things to note. 

 

Clean the housing well before you assemble it, aluminum swarf will be all in it.

 

The screw that holds the timing plate to the bottom of the distributor is metric, M6 x 15 should be fine.  You will also need an M6 flat and lock washer.

 

The O ring that came on the /6 distributor housing shaft, forget about it.  I ended up using a fat O ring at the the junction of the plate and the housing, on the engine side to seal it.  I don't know the size, I just grabbed one that it from my O ring assortment kit.

 

The  pin that holds the lower collar onto the flatties shaft is peened in place on both ends.  It is not a roll pin  I ended up using my Dremel with a carbide burr to eat the peen off then I drilled it out with an 1/8" bit.  Prised the remaining bits of the pin out and reused the flatty's lower collar.  I used a 3/16 roll pin to re-install it.  I had two lengths in my roll pin assortment, too short and too long, so I used too long and trimmed it with the dremel once installed.  You will want an assortment of 1/2" ID shims to shim the vertical slop out of this setup.  You want a hair of play, no more than you had before you played mix and match, but some of my flatty shims were not usable and that left a lot of slop, fortunately, I had shims on hand. 

 

Do not forget to check and set the reluctor to pickup gap, 0.008" is the spec using a brass feeler gauge, or you can double up a dollar and that is close enough, 0.0075".  Make sure the reluctor and pickup are parallel to each other, you can bend the reluctor bracket to fix that.

 

Grease the moving parts, especially the mechanical advance, clean off the old stuff first, lol.  I couldn't find anything in the FSM about what to use, So I went with a high temp wheel bearing grease.  I am not talking about the distributor cam lube here.  That is no longer needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I appreciate this info.  I'm planning on doing this soon.

[Los_Control]

There is a lot of useful information here on the /6 distributor.

I ordered a used one last Thursday and it was delivered Saturday .... YAY for fast service! ..... Now if only they would do it right 

 

I used for my search terms 1978 225 6 cylinder. .... I talked to the man on the phone and told him what I was looking for.

Electronic distributor that was carburetor and  not computer controlled. ..... I offered the carpart.com part # he said he already had it.

This is what he sent me.

 

Dual pickup with no vacuum advance. ..... These were sold in the 80's and I assume a computer to control the timing?

Also it is missing one of the spring clips, a corner of the case was chipped off and allows the clip to fall out .... I never received the clip either .... is worthless.

 

With no vacuum advance, am I correct in thinking it is computer controlled timing and I can not use this?

I have to call them tomorrow to see if I can get the correct one without missing pieces .... just trying to figure out exactly what they sent me.

[Dartgame]

Los - that appears to be a lean burn dizzy. Not useful for the conversion. Maybe Sniper can use it?

[Los_Control]

2 hours ago, Dartgame said:

Los - that appears to be a lean burn dizzy. Not useful for the conversion. Maybe Sniper can use it?

Good idea to pawn it off on him  

 

I'm guessing no, might not work for him either.

 

They sent it missing a clip, just a tiny little corner of the Boss that holds the clip in place was chipped and the clip fell out and disappeared.

A guy would have to have a spare clip for it to even be usable.

 

It is a dual pickup ..... is that like high performance dual points in the past years? ..... I have no clue what the purpose was.

Rockauto does sell the dual pickup coil for $28 but no dual ICM (ignition control module) to run the dual pickup system ..... I'm sure it is available somewhere ... just not popular.

 

Then more importantly, is the actual shaft and how rotor connects ..... @Sniper would know more about it then me.

It appears the the pickup plate will need to be removed and a set screw on the side holds it on.

 

I dunno, I did call the owner of the wrecking yard today and talked to him .... He was trying to tell me that Mopar did not make a /6 distributor with vacuum advance and electronic ignition.

 

I then told him he falsely advertised a 1980's computer controlled distributor to fit a 1970's vehicle

 

He told me he had been racing Mopar engines for 32 years and no such animal was made

 

I then said the swap has been done for over 20 years by 100's of people .... they do make it

 

He offered to refund my $$ if I spend another $10 to send it back ..... I said I would rather have him search his yard again and see if he can find the correct one ... he is also searching his neighboring yards for the correct distributor.

 

I'm searching the other yards on carpart.com and may just call this a bust and eat the $$ spent .... I have little hope the guy will spend time and make it right.

If @sniper thinks he can use it, he can have it.

 

 

[Sniper]

56 minutes ago, Los_Control said:

It is a dual pickup ..... is that like high performance dual points in the past years? ..... I have no clue what the purpose was.

Rockauto does sell the dual pickup coil for $28 but no dual ICM (ignition control module) to run the dual pickup system ..... I'm sure it is available somewhere ... just not popular.

 

Mopar called it Lean Burn.  At RockAuto they call it an engine control module.  It also controls the carb.  Search BSE EM172 at rockauto to see what one looks like.

 

58 minutes ago, Los_Control said:

Then more importantly, is the actual shaft and how rotor connects ..... @Sniper would know more about it then me.

It appears the the pickup plate will need to be removed and a set screw on the side holds it on.

 

I have not dug that far into the one I have,

 

59 minutes ago, Los_Control said:

I dunno, I did call the owner of the wrecking yard today and talked to him .... He was trying to tell me that Mopar did not make a /6 distributor with vacuum advance and electronic ignition.

 

Gee, I have one, well had now that's it's been converted,  Rock auto lists three remans and a new option for them.  Even more on Amazon.

 

1 hour ago, Los_Control said:

He told me he had been racing Mopar engines for 32 years and no such animal was made

 

Was he racing slant 6's?

 

Sounds like a real butt to me.  Wallowing in 32 years of ignorance.

 

[Los_Control]

11 minutes ago, Sniper said:

Was he racing slant 6's?

 

Sounds like a real butt to me.  Wallowing in 32 years of ignorance.

Yeah I told him I was not interested in a pissing match to see who could piss further.

 

I guess if I spend $$ shipping back to him he will reimburse the $35 I spent for it .....just a waste of time because of shipping both ways.

 

I was thinking a real old fashioned distributor I could rebuild, would eliminate possible issues of aftermarket distributors being sold as replacements and not suitable for conversion.

 

So I'm off to search again tomorrow for a original used one .... time will tell what happens.