Hey Guys, ran into a spot of trouble with the Scamp yesterday, still screwed today. Vacuum advance on dizzy went to hell so I bought a "new" one... well, new rebuild, anywayz. Got it all buttoned in and hit keys. Cranked just fine, no fire. Checked EVERYTHING ELSE first, narrowed it down to new dizzy.

Specs call for 350 - 550 ohms resistance, new dizzy clocked in at a whopping 280... needless to say, the plugs weren't firing. Special order part, but it was covered by warranty so a swap was ok, just had to wait til this morning to pick it up. Took ohmmeter to parts store with me, new replacement also clocked in under specs, at 330 ohms. Tested the OLD unit with the bad vacuum advance, it clocks at 420 ohms, and makes great fat sparks!!!

Does anyone know which suppliers and/or retailers can provide good quality distributors for a '73 225? I thought about swapping old circuit into 'new' dizzy but my friend, who owns the car, isn't too keen on voiding his warranty.

A push in the right direction for parts or any other ideas on this problem would be most helpful and greatly appreciated. Thanx all!!!

Buy a new vacuum advance can for the old distributor. Send the reman back ASAP.

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Joshua

Just checked into that... found one for less than $13. Guess that's the way to go, thanx man!!

You'll have to find a NOS dealer like Dan found in Seattle, for factory parts...

if you are just needing a vacc. advance just order a Standard Motor Product VC-185 and put your old dizzy back in (two screws and a a little prying will make it swap easy... or you could try to use the vacc. adv. off the cardone unit, since they use a longer reach can for more advance at cruise...)

Incidently, no matter what you check on the distributor, it's not really adjusted until you take a brass feeler gauge and set the air gap between the pickup and the tooth (.008 standard, .010 works OK too)...

Make sure also you set the rotor back in the position that you pulled your old one out at... if any dizzy is off by a couple of degrees it will run pooorly, any more off and it will not fire, or back fire...

If you have lost your position, you will need to pull the plug for #1 and roll your engine up until the pressure forces your thumb off the plug hole... you can use a peice of wire in the plug hole to see if the piston is all the way up as far as it will go... stop, put distributor back in with the rotor facing the #1 post... put back together, check plug wire firing order, try to start it again.

Cardone's aren't my first choice either, that's why I grab OEM one's out of junkyards and recondition them...

-D.Idiot

Yeah i went with an NOS one from Dan's guy. Only about $30 more than the reman at the end, and it included an NOS Mopar dist. cap and rotor. But it has one of the long reach cans and pings on the freeway.

Hey, how do you adjust the air gap anyway? (sorry for the off-topic).

What was the part number? If it pings, you need to readjust timing to suit, either the advance can with an allen key, or your base timing.

loosen slotted screw that holds the pickup to the plate, stick in your brass feeler gauge between a 'tooth' and the pickup 'tooth'. tighten screw... on OEM reluctors you can stop there... if you have an after market reluctor... check the other teeth... some have been known to have a couple log teeth and a few short ones... rotate the shaft 360 and check for change in gap/ tooth hitting pickup... readjust or replace reluctor...

-D.Idiot

3874876 - I did both. By the time I got the base timing down enough not to ping it neutered the midrange. Even with 6 turns out on the allen. Right now i'm running without vac. though when i get time I will change that. I have a 8.5R and 10R can as well as a second 11R can.
Thanks for the tip. I'll check it when I pull to swap cans.

Super six dizzy... if you're swapping cans, take the time to pull the reluctor and pickup plate and see if you can find a 'mark' on the slotted governor... typically these have a 9R governor... but have seen a couple of truck/van OEM dizzy's with this tag, but had different innards...

Another thing you can do to 'soften' the advance a bit, is to drive the pin out of the gear on the shaft, and pull the assembly... then use an 11/32" wrench to move the posts the springs attach to and take some travel out of the springs... reassemble and try again.

Also, you need to check your plugs during the 'pinging' phase... it may not totally be the advance, it can also be a lack of fuel to support the advance (lean)...


-D.Idiot

'Cept for the magnetic field making feeling the gap more difficult - what exactly is the other issues with using normal steel feeler gauges?

Over here it is VERY difficult to get hold of non magnetic ones.

My brass set got swiped - well over here if it is brass/copper it will be stolen - huge market for copper/brass - to put you in the Picture

Cape Town harbor has the highest net export of copper of all South-African Harbor's - the problem is it is NOT the terminal for the copper mines up country Richards Bay is.... and the province have no copper mines at all.

Bit of topic I know - just had to fume

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Regards,
Fanie Gerber
It's never junk, it's just a part you're not currently using

http://www.valiant50.co.za
Just say I own a few Mopars

If I remember correctly, computer paper is about .003" thick....

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

If I remember right, the spec on the resistance for that pick up coil are pretty wide; something like 150-900 ohms. and yeah although they are the biggest name in town on reman anything (I don't care who's name is on the box's sticker; if it's reman its most likely Cardone.
There's probably more "re boxing" going on in the reman world, than there is with new parts) Cardone is not all that great. Master cylinders, boosters, PW motors, carbs, wiper motors, brake calipers, starters, alternators, water pumps, and more, that are all done by Cardone.
Reman auto parts, is one of those ideas that's "good on paper" but not in practice.
saves parts from the scrap bin, usually saves money over new, (not always) but with mass consolidation, (34 amp alternators sold as 60 amp ones, they "look" identical) 20 years' worth of parts where there might have been 50 variations originally, lumped together, (there are places to consolidate, but not universally) components not kept with the rest of the compunents with a given unit, parts that are replaced, are often cheap offshore imitations, etc etc etc.

According to my Petersen's ('77 edition) Big Book of Car Repair, the resistance specs range from 350 to 550 ohms.

Incidentally, I called ALL SIX local parts stores (AutoZone, Advance, Parts Plus, Napa, Carquest and Performance Automotive) and EVERYONE uses Cardone as a supplier. Local C/P/D dealer (Motorquest) can't help either, they say to go with reman.

The owner of the car wold much rather buy a working unit than swap either pickup assembly OR vacuum advance can... I guess I'll post a classified ad for slant6 parts in michigan. Thanx all!!

Thanks for the tips. It has a 9R governor (and two light springs now, but before one light and one heavy). Works perfectly without vac - even works perfectly with it in every condition except light throttle on the freeway. At cruise there's no pinging, so it's just when the engine gets a little load. I'll check the plugs and see what happens...

check your vacc. gauge at that instance too, you may have little gas, and lots of vacc., maybe you need a little bit better squirtof gas fromthe acc. pump, and a little less advance.
That would be correct, you should actually see a 'sweep' from one side to the other when a tooth passes the pickup, if you have a flat number check the gap, reset and try again, if it's spec'd and you get the same number the pickup is tanked..

-D.Idiot

Ive never seen a full set of brass feelers. Here you normally get one brass 0.010 in your set. And I know there is a reason for supplying that one brass feeler....But my memory fails to remember..maybe it is for setting the pickup on an electronic dizzy.. Anyone?

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AP6