Vacuum Advance Mounting

[Pep48]

There is a small pin on the distributor breaker plate (next to the points) which the arm of the vacuum advance attaches to.

Seems to me that there must be some sort of fastener to keep the arm from popping off. I don't see a groove on the pin for an "E-clip"?

Mine is missing.

Anyone know what type on clip or fastener is used?

Thanks!

[Happy 46R]

Hello Pep48,

Not sure this will help however on my spare Chrysler Corporation of Canada spare distributor the vacuum advance lever simply fits over the pin. I cannot find any sort of fastener or clip that retains the arm. Couple of photos of the spare I have.

[Mark D]

No clip on any of the dozen that I’ve rebuilt. I believe that the arms rigidity within the vacuum advance makes it hard to jump off. 

[Los_Control]

I'm guessing no there is no clip.

The vacuum advance is bolted solid to the side of distributor and the plate also is stable .... yes it rotates.

So with plate in place then attach arm of vacuum advance and then tighten the vacuum advance to side ..... it cannot  pop out of position.

 

I do not remember removing a clip from my 1950 distributor while converting it to electronic ignition.

When I assembled the 1979 dodge slant 6 distributor to complete the conversion .... 1979 just has a hole in the plate the vacuum advance arm slides into .... no clip to hold it.

They never needed a clip to hold them once all is bolted together.

[9 foot box]

   I have some distributors as spares. The original retainer clip looks like this, I lost one and replaced it with an e-clip from the hardware store selection. The arm isn’t going to jump off the pin, it’s just what I did.  Rick D.

[Los_Control]

Here is a picture of mine before I modified it .... there was no clip.

 

 

 

[desoto1939]

on my unit there is a spring clip that hold the vacuum advance arm in place but it might not be necessay to have one in place. I looked in my 39 desoto parts book and there is no listing for a spring clip to hold the lever onto the stud.

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

Edited 19 hours ago by desoto1939

[Pep48]

The reason I think it needs a fastener is because when I rotate the breaker plate (as the vacuum advance shaft moves) the shaft pops off of the pin.

Found them today at Ace Hardware. Need to bring in my breaker plate to get the right size. These are called "Push nuts for un-threaded shafts"

I will report back with my results.

[Pep48]

Hi Rich same here, there is no clip listed in the parts book (at least not in my parts books).

Sonny

[Los_Control]

Just my 2 cents.

If things are working as they should, the plate rotates smoothly on a flat plane ...

I had one distributor with ball bearings it rotated on .... while I did free it up, the ball bearings had rust on them and were no longer smooth and round .... the plate would go up and down as it rotated.

 

And if the vacuum advance is frozen and non working, when the plate rotates and the advance arm does not .... something has to give and the pivot point with no clip would be the weak link.

 

The vacuum advance will pivot with vacuum applied to it ... have you tried this approach to use a little hand held vacuum pump to operate the vacuum advance?

Does the lever still pull off using the vacuum pump? .... this is what the parts will see is a vacuum moving the parts. .... not you manually moving them.

 

So in a perfect world, no clip is needed .... If you have something less then perfect .... A clip to hold the arm on may not be the correct fix.

 

 

These are pretty cheap and many uses for them around a vehicle.