nothing like bringing up an old post!
I am going to try this upgrade.greenbird56 I sent you a PM

This photo shows an upper rotor shaft that has been modified to provide a reduced travel length for the slot. Originally the slot allowed for a total mechanical advance of 20° in the distributor - 40° at the crank. This would correspond to an old factory motor tune that called for static timing of 0° at idle with one of the two springs being very heavy. 

This one is reduced to 13° (26° at the crank) so that an intial static timing of 10°/12° will sum up to 36°/38° at the crank.

The cam was removed to fit a Ford Druaspark II reluctor onto the Autolite distributor.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Joe,

       Many of us use the 10 degree cam or fill the 13 with braze and start with 14 degrees initial. depends on your actual combination, and what you run for gas. They do like a lot of initial advance.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Thanks Talkwrench. Didn't know about the bending the posts but I would imagine you wouldn't want to bend them so much that they hung up on the base and don't move smoothly.

It may well have two different springs, that is common one may be a bit longer and "come in" about halfway. It is not unusal to "bend the posts" a little to slow down or speed up the rate on the springs, tuning it to your liking.



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

Wow!! Glad I took this distributor apart to change the springs. The part that holds the weights and springs was bent, causing the weights to rub and not return all the way, sometimes sticking in different locations. Also it has two different length and strength springs.



No wonder the car seem to be lacking in power with the advance so inconsistent.



This was a remanufactured distributor from NAPA that I bought but never used. Very disappointed. Ended up taking the whole distributor apart so I could straighten it out. Seems to move freely now but if it doesn’t work properly after this it may end up being a core for another one. But NOT from NAPA.



Sorry Deadhead for hijacking your thread.

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.

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

  

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

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,