A bubba distributor issue?

BUBBAS IGNITION

BUBBAS IGNITION

Well-known member
All, I have talked to a couple customers regarding some bead blast material left in the vacuum brake adjusting screw area.
Check your distributor if you have one of ours, just remove the brake adjusting nut etc and loosen and turn screw , maybe ever apply some air to clean the deposits out.
No excuses made here but my part time guy blasted a few of these.
We have had a company meeting and the employee is hanging on the bumper of our salt flat truck....:eek:

Sorry for the trouble......
 
Hey Bubba, don't you know you're supposed to sweep this under the rug and DENY DENY DENY....
What are you trying to be, a stand-up kinda guy we can trust? :D

Pretty classy, not many in today's business world would step up like this.
 
I always blast them dry with high pressure air compressor and then soak in the solvent cleaning tank till the screw turns in and out with out any hitches nice and easy by fingers only. Then oil the screw threads good and work in an out very freely. There is also a fiber gasket used under the big nut. Only my way of doing things. ken ct. Thanks for being honest Bubba,its the only way to operate,good man you is. LOL ken ct.Do you use a washer under the big nut?? That size is not easy to find,usually in the plumbing dept of old time hardware stores. ken ct.
 
wait a second.....the employee gets to go to the Salt Flats??.....hmmmm.....make sure he/she uses sunscreen....lol.....good public relations in this post....very cool.....Mike
 
ken ct said:
I always blast them dry with high pressure air compressor and then soak in the solvent cleaning tank till the screw turns in and out with out any hitches nice and easy by fingers only. Then oil the screw threads good and work in an out very freely. There is also a fiber gasket used under the big nut. Only my way of doing things. ken ct. Thanks for being honest Bubba,its the only way to operate,good man you is. LOL ken ct.Do you use a washer under the big nut?? That size is not easy to find,usually in the plumbing dept of old time hardware stores. ken ct.
Click to expand...

Ken,
We use a gasket from our injection business. It's a idle air control seal on a
Chevy tuned port. I will sen you some to look over.

Jim
 
Nice to see some integrity these days........good on you, Bubba......I'd heard you were a good guy to deal with, ..respect.
 
BUBBAS IGNITION said:
Ken,
We use a gasket from our injection business. It's a idle air control seal on a
Chevy tuned port. I will sen you some to look over.

Jim
Click to expand...
Sounds good,yea id be interested in buying some.Send me a couple for inspection.Ive got quite a few and dont need too many as dist business has dropped off the last couple of yrs,since you know who got into the business LOL,i was looking to downsize something anyhow. The carb an fuel pump business has me hopping as it is. My plate is pretty full as it is. Thanks for all your tips . ken ct.
 
How about the rubber vacuum grommet on the back of a crab distributor...on a couple that I got back in the trade deal appear to be below the gasket surface? Don't think they will seal that way. Do you typically replace that rubber grommet on a rebuild?

Thanks,

Neal
 
NealinCA said:
How about the rubber vacuum grommet on the back of a crab distributor...on a couple that I got back in the trade deal appear to be below the gasket surface? Don't think they will seal that way. Do you typically replace that rubber grommet on a rebuild?

Thanks,

Neal
Click to expand...

We replace it only if it don't seal on our adapter. :)
 
OK, fair enough.

Another crab question. Have you had any problems with new crab caps and rotors interfering with each other. I took my cap off and had brass filings in the bottom of the cap. Looks like the rotor had been rubbing the contacts in the cap. A friend of mine had the same problem. I am using Echlin parts from NAPA, any better source for caps and rotors that work?

Thanks,

Neal
 
NealinCA said:
OK, fair enough.

Another crab question. Have you had any problems with new crab caps and rotors interfering with each other. I took my cap off and had brass filings in the bottom of the cap. Looks like the rotor had been rubbing the contacts in the cap. A friend of mine had the same problem. I am using Echlin parts from NAPA, any better source for caps and rotors that work?

Thanks,

Neal
Click to expand...
I run into the same problem ocationally and am using usa made caps an rotors.[Borge-Warner usa.] Turn by hand and file the rotor tip slightly to gain clearence if it hits. ken ct. Only what i do,Bubba may have another solution??
 
NealinCA said:
OK, fair enough.

Another crab question. Have you had any problems with new crab caps and rotors interfering with each other. I took my cap off and had brass filings in the bottom of the cap.
Click to expand...

Think maybe I had a little brass filings in my cap?

IMG_3732_zps71faf91b.jpg


IMG_3733_zpsd6bc2e7a.jpg


IMG_3734_zpsdc3d4974.jpg


Wasn't a new distributor and was quite warn letting the rotor hit the posts. Ended up replacing the whole distribotor, rotor, and both caps. See story here: http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87769&highlight=distributor
 
Henry, If these pictures are all the same cap, then it cant have been put on properly. It has only been hitting on one side.
 
NealinCA said:
OK, fair enough.

Another crab question. Have you had any problems with new crab caps and rotors interfering with each other. I took my cap off and had brass filings in the bottom of the cap. Looks like the rotor had been rubbing the contacts in the cap. A friend of mine had the same problem. I am using Echlin parts from NAPA, any better source for caps and rotors that work?

Thanks,

Neal
Click to expand...

We also use echlin caps and rotors, they seem to be the best out there. However the caps and rotors often will hit the contacts. I usually belt sand a portion of the brass tip on the rotor for clearance. Not uncommon using any brand of parts.

Interesting that the "plastics" seem to be a major problem on these early fords . You can have a perfect distributor and then have a no start due to a cap, coil or condenser etc.
We are working on a procedure to load test early ford ignition coils using a lab scope and a current probe to see the internal . Right now that seems to be a problem...
 
Old Henry said:
Think maybe I had a little brass filings in my cap?

IMG_3732_zps71faf91b.jpg


IMG_3733_zpsd6bc2e7a.jpg


IMG_3734_zpsdc3d4974.jpg


Wasn't a new distributor and was quite warn letting the rotor hit the posts. Ended up replacing the whole distribotor, rotor, and both caps. See story here: http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87769&highlight=distributor
Click to expand...

Good pictures showing many burnt spots caused by higher than normal spark output. In this case the spark output needs to be tested and the root cause fixed etc.
Assuming everything was perfect, the spark would easily jump the small gap in the cap and cause very little heat or arcing etc.
These pics show high demand that could come from high resistance wires, poor connections or bad spark plugs of some of all the above...
 
I posted on another thread that I has a problem with my 35 engine running properly. Here is an update related to Bubbas thread above.

As you recall I had a cracked intake at the generator bolt and since I had the intake and generator out of the way, I decided to have the dist. rebuilt. I should have just left the distributor alone and my problems would have been solved. Well, I replaced the intake with a 36 and the swap was not a direct swap. The oil baffle and fuel pump push rod both are an inch longer on the 35 so I had to track down the shorter parts. I sent the dist. to a friend for a rebuild and put that back on and fired it up! It ran crappy as I have stated. Moving forward........ many Ford Barn members suggested I send my dist. to Bubbas for a professional rebuild...I did. Bubbas posted what they found on my dist. and lets just say my dist. was REALLY SCREWED UP! I received a beautiful rebuilt dist. about a week later, installed it and much to my dismay.....it ran the same . I contacted Bubbas and Jim Linder was very helpful and gave me a rundown on what they did during the rebuild and stated the coil tested "ok" but could be the root of the problem after running for a bit. Well I decided to run it over to a local antique restoration/repair shop in Easton Maryland called North Street Garage. The owner, David North was happy to take a look at it and said very confidently, he would get it running and I would be happy. David found that the coil was indeed very weak and the root of the problems Jim Linder had also thought. They also found the advance piston was seized with sand! This was also contributing to the problem. Turns out when Bubbas did the sand blasting of the housing, they did not blow this area out. I called Jim and told him what was found and he was really understanding and said they have had the sand issue before and held a company meeting to address the issue. Jim apologized and agreed to set up another distributor for me at no cost!!!! I was NOT expecting this kind of service in this day and age but it is sure nice to see it still exists. Thank you to Bubbas for being a company that stands behind their work. And thanks to all of those who chimed in with their suggestions. Most of you correctly identified the dist. as the root cause. I am now loving the old 35 once again. Thanks everyone! I will still use Bubbas should the need arise.
 
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The distributor diagrams from Ford does not show a gasket under the Vacuum adjusting nut nor a washer in front of the rotor. There is no part number for either. Thus is this just an improvement on Henry's design?
 
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