Timing With A Mallory Distributor

[Bill Lee/Virginia]

I had what I thought was "piston slap" in the "tired engine" of my 1931 Speedster. I am using the Brumfield 5.9 cylinder head and a Mallory Distributor. Today, I checked the rod bearings and set all 4 at .0015 with Plastigage. I previously had set the timing at 7 degrees Advanced but today changed it to 2 degrees Advanced and still have some "piston slap".

I also have a rebuilt 1932 "B" Distributor available to install.

My questions are:

1. What degrees (Advanced or Retarded) should I set the centrifugal distributor with the 5.9 cylinder head?

2. Which distributor do you recommend, the Mallory or the 1932 "B" Distributor?

Thank you for your information, recommendations and advice.

Bill Lee/Virginia Peninsula

 

[Kurt in NJ]

A different distributor won't fix mechanical problems

What's wrong with the stock dist?

Not much advance with the "B" dist, got to start with a lot of advance

Has your Mallory been run on a dist machine to know it's advance curve?---It's more important to know the total advance and what speeds it starts and finishes advance, set the timing for proper total advance

 

[blgitn]

Bill,

What Mallory are you using and how are you setting the degrees advance?

I have a YA-11 I'd like to install and I'm looking for set up instructions.

R/ Roger.

 

[colin1928]

I have a YA-11 in 1 of my engines
it is set for 18 BTDC at idle (600rpm) and 32 total BTDC at 2200 rpm
that is only what my engine liked after much road testing with different settings
they come with the bob weights adjusted for too much total advance so you need to reset that and they also come with a packet of different springs to alter the speed of the curve can not remember which colour I finish up with ??
This engine has a mild cam and 6.5 to 1 head

 

[Bill Lee/Virginia]

Roger:

I also use the YA-11 Mallory Distributor. I purchased the distributor off the Inter Net supposedly set up for the Model A engine. I initially used the basic Model A Distributor setting. After starting the engine, I move the Mallory Distributor until the engine runs smoothly at idle (600 rpm). Currently my engine likes 4 degrees Advanced. Any further advance causes starter kick-back once in several engine starts. Good luck.

Bill Lee/Virginia Peninsula

 

[just plain bill]

Maybe this will help if your distributor has dual points