Use the vacuum pot that came with the Duraspark - I believe it has the required dogleg to best fit the "point plate" that the stator rides on. Some of the pots are adjustable - try sticking a 1/8 hex key down the port and see what you find inside.

While you have it apart - set the two upper rotor shafts on a sheet of paper and draw around the advance slots in the base. Do one on top of the other and you will see the differences in the slot lengths. Just an opinion - I think you will find the 15° slot is too big in the long run. These Y-engines like a good bit of early advance like 10° - 12° is pretty common for the "tuned" cars. If you use the 15° slot and some lighter springs, you'll suddenly find yourself with 40° total and if that's a bit much and she knocks - you'll have to fix it by backing down the initial and that will immediately hurt performance. If you can transfer the length of the 13° slot onto the Duraspark upper shaft (a little file work will do the trick) then you will have a quick choice.

The white wire in the schematic is a "detector" that will cause the system to automatically retard when the solenoid is actuated. So the high initial advance gets out of your way when you want the engine to crank right over.   

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Steve, I got the spring kit and went ahead and widened the slot out to about 13 degrees. The dang thing practicly put itself together, even the slot for the pigtail was correct for the Duraspark. You would almost think that Cardone is expecting rodders to make this conversion!!! This is the eaziest and most economical way to get a reliable electronic ignition system with parts available anywhere. Thanks one more time for your sage advice and help with this. Tom

last week i couldn't spell mukanik, now i are one

Deadhead - Got a coil for your hotrod yet? This picture is of a 90's Ford "E-core" (shape of the steel armature the wire is wrapped on) coil - commonly called a "TFI" coil. TFI is technical jargon for the chip that runs the 90's ignition - has nothing to do with the coil. It doesn't use oil as a coolant and has about 1.2 OHMS primary resistance. This one came off a salvage Lincoln at the "pick-a-part". I run mine with a ballast resistor - but I've heard that there are systems that have survived without it.

You can find these at the yunk-yard for cheap - with a snap-on connector, bracket, rain hat, and the condensor. The connector on this unit had a red #12 positive lead wire and two green #14 negative wires. One of the green wires is for the condensor - the other goes back to the electronic ignition box (where a transistor is used to ground it - just the same as the points in your old set-up). Best one to find is the one from a Ford Probe - it has a nice, easily adaptable bracket. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

got any specifics on the 77 duraspark distributor? like what kinda motor and car?

You want a Motorcraft distributor for a V-8 of that '77+ era - I've used 302W , 351W, and big block versions too. What you are after is the "point plate" (stator coil, magnet, and swivel plate), upper rotor shaft that carries the 8 blade timing armature (reluctor), vacuum advance pot. most likely used on cars, light trucks and vans up to 1984. I don't have a good way to predict which timing slots will be found in the upper rotor shaft.

The Reluctor pries off your donor with a couple of screwdriver blades and steady pressure.

There is a little clip down in here that has to be opened to release - hold your mouth right while trying this..

The length of the 13L slot is what is critical to getting the 13° of travel - if you get a 10 or something else, you could modify a shorter one.

 

 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

I've spent a little time fooling with my "homebuilt" ignitions over the years since this thread was started. I don't think you can beat the Ford trigger assembly (8 blade reluctor) for longevity and being trouble free. But you can put out some serious sparks with some yunk-yard parts once you have the trigger.....and not spend much money.

This diagram uses the Ford distibutor/trigger - a GM HEI type four pin controller - and a low OHM primary coil from a V6 GM of later vintage still. 

The four pin module just screws down on an aluminum plate with some heat transfer paste under it......hide it where you wish, out of the water - and where it can cool a bit.

And the coil is out of an S-10 pick-up (V6) or something of that type. Bring the two connectors home with it. Make sure you have a way to feed the coil lots of AMPs - the diagram shows using a lighting relay to switch the power.

The HEI module will turn on the coil and run all of the AMPs the switching transistor can handle without cooking. The trace above shows just how long the coil might be saturated.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

I have a distributor with the advance mechanism similar to the upper left in this photo. Does this piece just pull off or is there a clip? I have a Pertronix but I wanted to change the advance springs to the Mr. Gasket ones.



Thanks,

The distributor cam is secured in place on the distributor shaft by a small diameter, horseshoe shaped, spring steel, wire clip with 'ears' (ends) that come up toward the end of the distributor shaft/top of the distributor cam. There should be a felt pad covering this clip in the top of the distributor cam opening. The felt pad in the top of the distributor cam should be damp with lubricating oil for lubricating the distributor shaft.



Hope this helps!

NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York

Just watch that spring clip as you remove it or install.Travels a LONG way if it gets away from you.

  

NoShortcuts and Oldcarmarc, Thanks for the info, I'll check it out this evening. The top is packed with a light weight grease. I'll clean that out so i can see what I'm doing.