Distributor Issues

B

Bergy

Member
Just rebuilt my distributor with the modern upper and lower plate. Took her for a test drive, got about 3-4 miles and she just died. Two prior drive&die trips were traced to a blown fuse which I presume was a result of a bare strand of wire in lower plate pigtail (reason for rebuilding distributor with modern plates) and some bare wires behind the headlight lens. This time the fuse is good, but something else is a miss.

I've gone through the troubleshooting guide - with ignition on and cardboard in points - I have 6v on both sides of the fuse (on starter), both poles of the coil, both poles of the firewall box, and at the end of the points. When I remove the cardboard from the points and crank the engine I have no spark arcing at the points. Based on the troubleshooting guide it advises I need a new condensor (or points), both of which are new. I plan to track down a new condensor and try that. When looking things over, I noticed that the condensor case was very close to (or possibly rubbing the rotor cam), I had moved it to clear the cam, but no luck. In the mean time are there other culprits I need to check out?

Second question - when I rebuilt the distributor (to put in modern upper & lower plate and oilable upper shaft), I broke my original body taking it out. Fortunately a local member had several spare bodies. I have read that two different bodies were made and that "... if the upper plate is loose in the wider grove of some bodies, you can buy a teflon spacer/shim for a snug fit". I have search far and wide and can't find this shim in any of the catalogues (Brattons, MACs, Mike's, Snyders, etc.) Does anyone know where to get one of these shims as I notice the point gap does get a bit distorted when moving the spark advance lever on occasion due to the slop in the system? Also can these two issue be related?

I'm a newbie at this but trying to learn. Thanks in advance for any guidance.
 
You would be better off going back the original points and condenser, I have never heard of this shim you speak of. The modern points and condenser sold today is of poor quality. Original is much easier to adjust and much more reliable. Get a good burn out proof condenser from A@L , Bratton's or Bert's.The center hole in the point plate is what you need to adress. By peening the hole with a hammer you may be able decrease the play some. See Marco's site for this and timing inst. If you cant find an original point plate try Bert's
 
Bergy said:
I've gone through the troubleshooting guide - with ignition on and cardboard in points - I have 6v on both sides of the fuse (on starter), both poles of the coil, both poles of the firewall box, and at the end of the points. When I remove the cardboard from the points and crank the engine I have no spark arcing at the points.
Click to expand...

That arching should be at a minimum as the condenser "absorbs" that spark. With the points closed do you have voltage at the the points? Yes, then the points are not closing or you are missing a ground. No, then you need to check the output of the coil to a head bolt to check you a spark. Yes spark, check timing, no spark check coil.

Bergy said:
Second question - when I rebuilt the distributor (to put in modern upper & lower plate and oilable upper shaft), I broke my original body taking it out. Fortunately a local member had several spare bodies. I have read that two different bodies were made and that "... if the upper plate is loose in the wider grove of some bodies, you can buy a teflon spacer/shim for a snug fit". I have search far and wide and can't find this shim in any of the catalogues (Brattons, MACs, Mike's, Snyders, etc.) Does anyone know where to get one of these shims as I notice the point gap does get a bit distorted when moving the spark advance lever on occasion due to the slop in the system? Also can these two issue be related?
Click to expand...

Take the plate out and with a small ball pien hammer and tap around the hole on the points plate that the shaft comes through.
 
Did you clean up the contact surfaces on the underside of the distrubutor and the top of the block? what do you mean by a new lower plate? the wire from the lower plate to the points cannot make contact with the body of the distributor, or it will ground out the points.
 
tbirdtbird said:
"You would be better off going back the original points and condenser"

X2
Click to expand...

x3:) Plus using the original plates.

Saturday at the Grand Rapids swap meet I picked up a spare original top plate in good condition. See that the points pivot is solid to the insulating plate, and make sure the insulating plate is flat, or you'll have a tough time aligning the points contacts.
 
i just had ANOTHER car in with a wireless lower plate intermittently making contact causing spitting, sputtering and backfiring, no start... also make sure your distributor cable is not screwed to far in.
go back original style
 
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Drive Shaft Dave said:
You would be better off going back the original points and condenser, I have never heard of this shim you speak of. The modern points and condenser sold today is of poor quality. Original is much easier to adjust and much more reliable. Get a good burn out proof condenser from A@L , Bratton's or Bert's.The center hole in the point plate is what you need to adress. By peening the hole with a hammer you may be able decrease the play some. See Marco's site for this and timing inst. If you cant find an original point plate try Bert's
Click to expand...


I second that
Change that to 4that.
 
Thanks to all for your expedient replies and guidance.
I checked the coil wire to head for spark on rotation (key on), no spark.
Looks like my culprit may be a bad coil.
I'll replace coil and test with my current "modern" setup to see if that fixes things for now, and then switch back to the original upper plate/point/condenser setup in due time when I get some new parts.

My original intent was to get rid of the troublesome lower plate pigtail that is written up to be major culprit of ignition problems (and caused my original problem). But sound like the new modern wireless system has its own problems, many of which seem to be poor quality parts (off spec upper plate thickness, hard to adjust points, iffy wireless contact to lower plate, etc.)

Always learning, thanks again. I'll let you know final outcome when things are running smooth.
 
Some times when the plates get hot they expand away from each other and loose contact. Spent 3 hrs one cold Nov night on the Natchez Trace trouble shooting a fellow club members car with same symptons you describe . Get hot, stopped running ,cool down would run until it got hot again . Needles to say on the next tour he was not running this two plate modern dist.
 
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