Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't been active on the boards in a long time... I guess it's representative of the fact that my '73 Valiant has been running strong and I've been able to drive it for the past year without having hardly any problems (knock on wood!). Some of you might remember I replaced my Slant last year, which threw me for a few loops, but I made it out alright! I've got a good, strong, stock spec engine under my hood. Thanks to everyone who reached out with advice!!!

Anyways, I'm a pretty busy guy... which is another reason that I've been away (career stuff). But there IS something I'd like to do to my Slant, and I'd like some advice if you folks don't mind.

I'm thinking I should replace or refurbish my distributor. The one in my car probably has at least 300+K miles on it. But, after some research, I don't think I have the time in my life right now to learn what I'd need to learn to disassemble my distributor and recurve/upgrade it. I wish this wasn't the case but it's pretty much an impossibility right now. I'm just too darn busy... and distributor recurving is still confusing to me.

So, here are my options: I could ask if anyone out there on this forum would be interested in rebuilding/recurving a distributor for me (I have an extra '73 Electronic Ignition distributor I could mail out while I continue driving with the one in my car). I'd gladly pay a fair price to have this service done.

OR... I could purchase some sort of replacement or NOS or remanufactured distributor online. I noticed that jimsautoparts.com sells a remanufactured distributor for the Slant 6 for $189.95. There might be other options as well (anyone know of a good deal???).

What do you guys think? What's the best option for a guy like me who doesn't have time to tackle this head on? All I want is reasonable performance and MPG... nothing too fancy or extreme. Almost everything about my car/engine is stock and that doesn't bother me, although I don't shy away from reasonable upgrades either (you better believe my OSAC valve is NOT connected).

THANKS!!!!

-Matt

A remanufactured distributor should only be $50 + core charge...

I'd check Dan's guy in Seattle, I'll bet he has one for a bit cheaper.



-D.Idiot

Thanks DusterIdiot, good advice. I remembered seeing SSDan's old post about the "NOS" parts guy. I just searched it and found it and I'll definitely give the guy a call.

In Dan's post he mentions several different models of EI distributors (part numbers 3874714, 3874082, 3874929, and 3874849). Does anyone know if there is a part number or model year that is particularly desirable for its curve? I'd like to have a ballpark idea of what I want before I call. I'm just not very knowledgeable when it comes to distributors!!

Thanks!

-Matt

If I had to pick for a stocker to mildly modified I'd pick one of these two as my first choice in that order:

3874876-(1978+ Super Six Distributor with short governor slot)
3874714-(Standard 1976 distributor with 11R slot)

Both should work well one or two barrel...(or big 2 barrel...),
and have plenty of room to fiddle with things and give a fair
amount of initial timing if desired.

Good Luck,

-D.Idiot

DusterIdiot,

I just checked and discovered that I own a 3874876. Lucky me! I had it in a box of parts I bought from someone... never gave it a second thought. I've never tried it... and initial inspection suggests that the vacuum advance can might be leaking. Can't get it to pull the plate.

Now that we know that I own a 3874876, what would your advice be? Should I send it somewhere to be refurbished? Can I do a simple refurb myself? Is a simple kit available that will allow me to restore it without having to learn how to do a recurve? Should I just replace the vac can with another 11R and put it on my engine? I read on another post that this distributor require 11 or 12 degrees initial advance... would there be anything else I should know before installing this distributor?

Thanks for your advice!!

-Matt

I would say you could order another pod and install it, in a pinch you could install the good one from your current distributor if just doing a
swap, then set the static timing at 10BTDC and see how it runs...go to 12 if no problems.

Taking one apart and cleaning it out isn't that hard, checking the tolerences on the bushings will require some advanced tools (telescoping gauges and micrometers...)...you could do the "tug test" on the shaft with a fish scale if you had one...worst case scenario would be to just clean it up and grease it, then set the reluctor gap at .010 with a common brass feeler gauge.

If you feel it's out of your current skill set, send me a PM and you can send it to me and I can refurbish and map the curve on my Sun Distributor machine.

-D.Idiot