I am trying get an good Electronic Distributor together to go in my 67 for conversion. I have done a lot of reading on the sites about recurving.. I still have a few questions..

What is the "R" or "L" refer to on the Governor?
Do points Distributor's Governor and Vacuum mark their degs of advance?

I took apart 2 different slant six electronic distributors.
First one I think is form a 74 dart(not 100% sure) #3755042
it has 15L printed on the governor, and 8.5R on vacuum. total of 47deg of advance.

The other is from my 77 Volare w/ super six. #3784876
it has a 9R printed on the governor, and 11.0R on vacuum. total of 40deg of advance.

From what I have read on here, 225's don't like a lot of advance. So the 9 would be a better choice? Also is it hard to come by vacuum pods?

Also I found it odd the springs are differnt sizes. I put the springs under the tag from the distrib. that the springs came from. also the large spring from the 74 looks kind of sprung, is this normal?

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Mike C
http://cuda.iclownz.com
67 - Barracuda Coupe - 225 - Automatic

The R & L marks usually define right and left. In the case of the "govenors" shown, there is no reason why these would be directional. (Some govenors do have angled weight slots so in that case, direction of rotation is important)

As for the statement that Slants don't take a lot of spark 'lead', it is better to say that a SL6 runs best with about 30 degrees 'total' advance.
The total advance does not include vacuum advance because the vacuum advance "drops out" at WOT.
DD

What do stock slants like for initial timing? i'm running my 67 as 5BTDC seams to run well there.. So to get a total of 30degs I would want 25deg of advance on top of 5deg initial, is that correct?

i'm considering just buying a replacement Cardone distrib, are these well made?

Doc could you explain "drops out" at WOT. Doesn't /6 vacuum advance run off port vacuum source? and doesn't that increase the amount of vacuum closer you get to WOT or am I all mixed up??

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Mike C
http://cuda.iclownz.com
67 - Barracuda Coupe - 225 - Automatic

For the record, at WOT there is no 'vaccuum' so how is the advance going to pull in? Vaccuum advance is there to give the 'spark' enough lead time during a low load high speed (like cruise at 65 mph) when the petro atoms and the oxygen is spread way out in the cylinder to light them and get a good complete burn... it's a mileage thing and comes on even and low speed, but then the mechanical advance isn't all the way out either.

I use a cardone unit, that has been recurved and it's fine (and clean too).
These use a 20 degree vac. advance pod and a 9R governor...the curve is something like 18 mechanical all in by 3500...
Initial timing will depend on your modifications, for 'smog' purposes some of the 225's in the 70's were set to TDC initial timing...
I'd start with a cardone unit, see how it works, if you want 30 degrees total (mech. + advance) you'll need to carefully work up to 12 BTDC initial timing. You also can swap the heavy spring out of your Cardone for one of the 'light' ones in your pics above and that may get you the whole mechanical advance in by 2000-2300 rpm depending on the springs.

I'm about to build one for a board member from a Cardone, it'll have the same specs as the MP distributor, but the advance won't be all in by 1200...

You're getting it, the light is almost about to blink 'on', then you'll go 'I get it. Boy that was easier done than said!!!'

-D.Idiot

Build your distrubutor using the '9' degree advance unit. Set your initial timing to 10 degrees. You'll have 28 degrees total mechanical advance. I use two aftermarket springs from a recurve kit. You'll have to experiment with this, but what works for me is a curve that starts at about 1100 RPM and is all in by about 2500 RPM. Use the 8.5 vacuum unit. This will give you a total of 28 + 17 = 45 degrees spark. Most vacuum advance units are adjustable with an allen key. Inserted through the vacuum hose port, turn the adjusting screw all the way clockwise 'in'. This gives the fasted rate of vacuum advance. If the engine pings, adjust the screw counterclockwise two turns at a time until your ping goes away. After you install your distributor, note if your timing light stays steady or 'floats' around on the balancer. If it floats, you either have too much end play or, more lilely, have excess play in the shaft bushings.

Rather than buying a Cardone, I would buy an NOS someone keeps listing on Ebay for something like $50.

The vacuum port that connects to your distributor is positioned right above the throttle plates. As you open the throttle, the plates expose the port to manifold vacuum. At light throttle, your manifold vacuum will be relatively high. As you open the throttle further, while the port is exposed, your manifold vacuum will drop with increasing throttle opening. Maximum spark at wide open throttle (WOT) is what most people refer to when talking about your distributor's spark curve. At WOT, your manifold vacuum will drop to near zero. That's why they do not include the added spark from the vacuum unit when referring to you maximum timing. You should run in the neighborhood 28 degrees max timing (mechanical, not including vacuum). How much additional timing you may run using vacuum must be determind by driving the car.

Mitch

Alright, I think I understand how vacuum advance works now. See I knew it was under almost no vacuum at idle. I wasn't thinking where the port is in the carb. However this was my thinking at the time... Even at WOT there will still be some vacuum in the Venturi, if there wasn't the carb wouldn't work, but sense the port is below the Venturi there is very low vacuum, for so odd reason I was thinking the port was up in the venturi, doh! thanx guys..

di, Are all cardone Distributors @ 9deg, Did you mean the Vacuum pods are 20 engine or distributor degrees? I hope engine .. 40 degrees would sure be a lot. It says at schucks website that the module is not included?
What are the settings MP distributors?

Thanx a bunch guys, I think I now have a firm grasp on how it all works!

_________________
Mike C
http://cuda.iclownz.com
67 - Barracuda Coupe - 225 - Automatic

I've bought 3 and they all came with 9R's...one thing to watch on the OEM one's is what they came out of I have a couple that are 11 and 13R....yeah, the vac. adv is a '10' which is 20 degrees...

Check the previous post on this subject but the MP distributor is"
10R governor
10 vacuum pod
one 'light spring' (i.e. remove the heavy spring from your distributor)

This was all meant to be put in at 10BTDC, and 'all in' by 1200 rpm...good for drags not for street...

-D.Idiot