i use the ford duraspark2 on my 57ranchero,original style cap and voter  as well as stock coil.have 4years with no issues,drive aprox9months per year'after siting for3 months this winter started instantly . dont race but buz it up to 5000 .we live in surrey  bc lots of moisture..the series 2 has a provision for5dgrs retard on start. i don't use that part. there was good info on this site.. i found a easy wiring scematic in a older manual,could email a copy  if any 1 wants.. later distributors are very easy to convert.

John2747 has it. I thought about it and this morning was going to suggest pulling up and down on the dist drive to see how much play it has. I did not know about the horseshoe rings he spoke about, very good knowledge to have and thank you. Bending the rotor tip is a bandaid at best the rotor is still to high but if everything else clears will help. Rono I know you will but carefully check every connection on #7 and make sure they are clean and also the porcelen on the plug for a crack. Good luck.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

Just another thought. Could the clearance between the bottom of the body and the collar on the lower part of the shaft be excessive causing the shaft to move up? My friend had this problem on a rebuilt distributor.

john is right re the wire clip,if it is not in the grove it will allow the rote and plate to rise and that alows the thrust  plate to come out of place. only cure is get wire clip  out remove the plate and be sure the thrust washer is in position,then you must put wire in place. a fiend of mine made a tool from a piece of tubing to inst the clip.. removing the clip usually  looses them or damage them. you must reins the wire clip. a friend made a tool to position the clip,from a tubing  piece., works well.

Hello I am not the best guy with a wrench ,I am sure there are guys who know more than I but if the guy has a miss in only one cylinder #7 and he has good compression . Do you think it would be wise to ohm out the ignition wire and change the plug before he removes a dizzy because there is five thousands play. Like I said I do not know to much is there some reason why a minimum amount of play would only affect one cylinder.

Ron,
Did you try rotating the magnet ring to see if the miss moves to another cylinder? I have seen the magnets go bad on crank triggers and drive shaft sensors on race cars.

It seems like replacing the cap and rotor has cured the problem...for now.

Rono

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

Well, I lied. The problem still persists. After reading the post regarding ignition coil orientation (horizontal vs. vertical) I thought I would try replacing the (Flamethrower) coil as it is in the horizontal position and is about 8 years old. That made no difference either. As I said earlier in this post, I did notice a slight side-to-side play in the old distributor shaft, so this was my next option. I used my remote start button and brought the crank around to TDC. Leaving the plug wires attached to the cap I removed the cap and noted the rotor direction. The old distributor was a rebuilt Motorcraft with a Pertronix ignition and came out fairly easy. It had an "O" ring seal. The oil pump drive shaft is an ARP piece and stayed put in place. I bought a new Pertronix ignition and installed it in the replacement distributor which is a FoMoCo before trying to put it in the car. The replacement distributor uses a paper gasket instead of an "O" ring but otherwise, the two seem  identical. My issue now is that I can't get the distributor to seat against the block. It's about 1/4" away, but in the correct position. I could possibly use my remote start to bump the ignitioin, but I'm afraid of loosing my TDC location. I know there is a trick to this, but I can't remember what it is. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rono  

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

Rono, you're trying my memory way bad. When I had my first y block in the late 60's, I had that problem all the time. The gear engages, but the oil pump drive doesn't. I assumed it was the 30 weight oil in a cold motor, and when you pulled the dizzy, the oil pump went back due to suction. I'd just bump it with the remote button, and it would drop down on the next engagement on the hex shaft. My assumption was the gear engaged first, and then the shaft didn't line up. Been just under 50 years, and it doesn't seem to happen with multi vi oil and the gear drive pumps I have now. But that old car was a gearotor, or whatever they're called.

Hopefully someone else will chime in.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

As long as you are sure that the distributor is about where you want it, hold the distributor down slightly with your hand and bump the starter.  It will fall right in place.


Lawrenceville, GA