Oh, ok.  I was wondering why yours looks so new.  Both of the distributors I got these out of were all rusty.  Am I right that the reluctor has to be pried off in order to get to the advance mechanism and springs?  I might try to get the reluctors off tomorrow.


Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie: Somewhere up this thread was the "exploded" version of the distributor assembly drawing. I've got a better one - it must be mislabeled somewhere.....

Step one is to remove the vacuum can  - then pull or pry the reluctor (armature?) up off  the shaft. The stator coil with base plate and pivot mechanism is next. This photo also shows the "color" code Ford used for the various wire leads. Violet and Orange on the stator coil - Black is the ground to the distributor body coming back from the controller. Just barely visible is the loose end of the Green wire that goes over to the (-) side of the coil.

The Stator/baseplate/pivot needs to be in good shape - it can be disassembled at the pivot - but be very carefull of the lock ring. When I've got them all cleaned up and ready to go - I lube these joints with Motorcraft caliper grease - something that can take the temperature.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Here's something useful for reworking the Duraspark internals.



http://www.reincarnation-automotive.com/Duraspark_distributor_recurve_instructions_index.html


Lawrenceville, GA

That is an interesting set of pictures - some are very useful for practical explanation.

There were some things I noticed - I've never seen a reluctor that didn't just have the two roll pin slots 180° apart. If they did have some leeway to "advance" or "retard" the trigger it would be useful when checking the "phasing" the distributor cap. I thought about filing a new slot in one a time or two - but didn't try it yet. 

The stop pin that engages the advance limit slots - on all of the undisturbed distributors I've dismantled, it had a little plastic tubing jacket. Removing this cover would change the total travel in the slot by a bit - but I don't remember a "13L" or "10L" slot that didn't net the correct degrees at the crank when I left the tubing in place(?).

After all of the explanation they did - why no discussion of initial, centrifugal, and vacuum advance? Must be for "advanced" hobbyists.......!   

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona