There may have been those that tried - and did make it work - but I haven't. I've kept my '56 tach drive unit safe in a box - and even bought a (bargain) Pertronix "Ignitor" for it - in case the day came when all went back to "original" (or close anyway).

Finding a '57 tach drive unit - that could be switched over to the Ford electronics - would likely take a ton of money. The alternative is to find a Mallory outfit (with tach drive) or do what others are doing - which is use the '57 up distributor and modify an electronic tach to fill the hole in the dash.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

No, that's a good question. I haven't done it, but looking at an older distributor, I can see how it could be done. The shaft with the points cam will have to be turned down to allow the stator wheel to slip over it. Then you could put a 302 pickup in place of the points. It will be a vacuum-only arrangement, but you'll get a better spark.



I think you can find posts elsewhere on this site that describe modifications to Holley 4150/4160 carbs to allow their use with the vacuum-only distributors.

Best regards,



Paul Menten

Meridian, Idaho

I am probably going to make myself look stupid, but that has happened before.  Can you do the duraspark conversion to a 55 Tbird tach drive distributor?  I am switching to 57 intake and carb and know I need to change the distributor.

Billy points out a problem that was addressed in the Ford service literature of the day......The ground for the Duraspark II control box (a black wire - out of the six exiting the grommet).....goes all the way back to the distributor and is attached to the distributor body with a brass lug right where the pigtail is going through the wall of the housing. This is "supposed" to make the engine block the ground for the system.

On my systems - I have run an additional ground wire down to the block to seal the deal. You do want the block to be the grounding point - as that will insure you have the maximum voltage available to the system. The body of the vehicle is not absolutely certain to have the same ground as the engine.  

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

More on grounding of the duraspark units and those obscure gremlins that can haunt you. I have an 82 F600 ramp truck and it started dyeing over the period of a week, kept cutting out breifly which acted as though there was water in the gas until it died completely. I then noticed no spark, changed reluctor, box etc with spares I had and it acted the same. we went through the system and lo and behold had a meter near the distributor and found that the distributor was searching for ground. Evidently the distributor lost its ground through the block. Connected a wire from distributor to battery ground and the thing has never skipped a beat since.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

When I build these things - I just adapt the whole Duraspark "point plate", stator and vacuum advance pivot to the top of the Y distributor.  All of the stuff on the upper end of this diagram will fit right onto the top of the old dizzy (it's the right diameter and the screw holes line up), if.......

if ......you have the upper rotor shaft modified by removing the cam and machining a seat to press the reluctor on there. The unit just slips over the bare upper rotor shaft. I usually have to cut and file an exit slot for the stator pigtail.

Does this help? Hope so.....removing the stator and fitting it to a point style plate didn't occur to me - and I'm not sure how I would go about doing it.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Steve, outstanding work, as usual.

I have a little collection of y-block distributors, so I started working on the conversion today. I destroyed my Duraspark donor's electronic pickup, but I figured a few things out.

I had a 351M Duraspark distributor and a mystery V8 distributor, probably a 302. The mystery distributor had its vacuum advance on the other side. I tried to remove the electronic pickup on the 351M distributor and broke its magnet. But I was able to drill out the one rivet that was holding the pickup on the 302 distributor. I think I can mount the 302 pickup on the y-block vacuum advance plate by drilling two holes. The 351 stator, upside down, slips over the original y-block distributor's points cam.

I don't have a running y-block engine to test this on, but I think it will work.

First photo shows two y-block distributors, recently purchased from the FLAPS. The round shafted body with the two slots is a C4?? (obscured) and the triangular shafted body is a C5JF.

The photo below shows the 302 pickup

Next photo shows the parts in place (my thumb is holding the pickup down).

The stator will have to be pinned in place. I'll probably use a dremel to cut a slot in the points cam shaft and use a roll pin or similar to pin it in position.

Best regards,



Paul Menten

Meridian, Idaho

Well, to throw another fix in the mix, I've got a Mallory electronic set up in mine. I got a '59 Distributor and put the Mallory stuff in it with a Mallory coil (to get rid of the resistor) and things are sweet. I just went with Mallory because that's what I had back in the day. It was so simple it was ridiculous. I think I set the plugs at .035 and could have probably did .040 or .045.

Doing Fords for 45 years. '56 Customline Victoria

E.J. in Havana FL

I have to say my Dura Spark has been flawless for many years.

-Gary Burnette-

Doug,

       I have never had a Dura spark unit die yet in 30 years!. Maybe they don't like you, or Ferrys, or Maryland! Seriously, have one in the red car (with an MSD) been flawless so far.

      My '79 Fairmont was also the Euro thing, but with the firebreathing 85 horsepower 200 inch six. What a rocket that was!!

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart)