Hello:

I realize this has been covered many times, but just looking for folks advise on what the best current options are for a distributor?

I am working to bring a 1971 225 that has been stored since the 80s/90s back to life.

It’s currently a stock points distributor. I am intending to run a stock Mopar Electronic setup.

I am pulling out a very tired 1973 225 with 96k that has an electronic distributor now that I’ve not had issues with.

I am setting this new motor up at a 2bbl BBD. Totally stock. Automatic. Car has 3.23 gears and would like to maximize what I get out of it.

I could:

1) re use the one in the motor I’m pulling...
2) grab this reman from Rock auto https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dod ... butor,7108

3) ???

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks

I would vote for option number 1.

The reman stuff, may work fine, but likely you will have to optimize it as well.. Installed, and wired up, the parts you have are a good beginning.

Thanks for the response.

I was looking for a NOS, but it seems the available supply has mostly dried up.

Reusing the current one is likely the route I will go for now.
Is there something specific I should look for when I pull the current one?

I hate to go the “new” Chinese route...but has anyone had any luck?

A “rebuilt” Cardone unit I can across was in fact not rebuilt—it was a replica and did not accommodate the mounting strap/bracket. It is missing the flange to keep it flat to bolt to the distributor body. I can’t see how it is usable.

The AutoLine unit from rock auto at least appears to be a rebuilt Chrysler unit. But I have no experience with them.



Thanks.

I don’t know if they are still around, ten years ago I got a NOS distributor from Old Parts Northwest.
In lieu of you finding a NOS unit, I would rebuild the one that you have, take it down, clean it well, lube the shaft, put in a new vacuum can and pick up and you will be good to go.
I think Big Slant Six Fan still sells re curve kits.

I just googled Old Parts Northwest and a store web site with phone number came up, so look there.

_________________
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Thanks for the tip.

Having seen it on this forum, I checked Old Parts Northwest first...but they are out of stock

Searching for NOS has not yielded much...but there does seem to be many Chinese copies floating around.

I will look into doing a rebuild myself and see if the recurve kits are available.

Thanks.

there is a MOPAR NOS reman /6 dist on FeeBay right now for $75. judging by packaging (labels etc) Id guess it's ~40 years old. I'd trust that one if I had to get a reman over more current ones....

I got my NOS dist (new not a reman) on Feebay about a year ago for roughly the same money, don't exactly remember the price now but it wasn't as ridiculous as some of the remans from companies like Cardone that are on there today. Id avoid them,. read the fine print in the listings.

Id rebuild what I had myself vs buying one from Cardone. That Rock Auto one you linked is most likely a Cardone sourced rebuild. Yuck.

This is the one on eBay that is intriguing...
https://tinyurl.com/5vpfphc

This guy seems to sell a lot of Mopar parts with positive reviews....however they are not NOS

The Cardone one I came across was simply not the right body for the mounting strap...garbage

yeah, Rick Eherenberg (the seller of that distributor) does tech for one of the big MOPAR magazines. and has (had?) a Q&A section on Moparts for years.... I haven't looked him up in some time.
I dunno when he started doing repro parts, he used to have a stash of OEM/NOS stuff on Ebay all the time.

Yeah, I stumbled upon that as well and tried to find some info on the “hirev 7500” he is a selling. Seems like most folks are happy with the reliability and performance. The feedback I saw was mostly positive for both V8 and /6 conversion kits. Its possible some actual thought and care went into the design of these parts—unlike a lot of the knockoff Chinese stuff.

For now, I intend to use the old distributor until I get everything running—but may look at it again.

I have Petronix units on the 68 Barracuda and 67 Valiant. They have both worked flawlessly, but for some reason I’m always waiting for them to fail. I like the idea of having a full stock system rather than a vendor specific item. Petronix always warns you about potential damage to the unit if you leave the ignition on without the car running. I’ve done this a few times inadvertently—so far the Petronix has survived.

I may look at trying one of the full conversion kits he sells as a test on one of the cars.

I would be curious if anyone on the forum has tried the HiRev 7500?

Thanks.

go over on FABO and check out the classifieds. There is a member there (halifaxoops or something like that) He's always advertising hand rebuilt distributors for all Mopars.
IDK if he would want yours back as a core, never needed one from him.... (I might here soon, for a V8 in one of my other vehicles, that needs the Lean Burn to disappear)

Also (haven't seen anything from him here in a while) but right here member "Duster Idiot" used to offer the same, have heard of a few members using his services.
there are a fair amounts of old posts here scattered around about the innards of a distributor. There really ain't that much to them, it's just a matter of setting one up right for YOUR setup. That's where the trickiness comes in, and any distributor you get could use some tweaking to get right-- for YOU.

but, the biggest thing is to be sure of things like a good drive gear, a good (not "blown") vac advance can, no worn out bushings, and that the advance weights aren't seized in the distributor you have now. alot of guys I see at car shows, etc don't use the vac advance. they cap it off, which itself is dumb, because any "vacuum leak" would be from the other end of where the vac advance should be hooked up.....