While at a SSCOA meet last weekend, I got a copy of an artical written by Larry Shepard about running the air gap in the distributer at .018" instead of .008" He said one would get a power increase by doing this. A couple of guys there said they did this and did notice a difference in performance. Jack Poeler was there and said he did this and used the stock coil and controll box. Has anybody done this them selves? If so, why would the increase in the gap make more power? Will it work on a stock engine? I plan in trying it this weekend, and want to know if it is worth doing.
Eric W

ecwfury@wbtv.net

Don't see how. Can you point us to the article?

DS

redbear@vrx.net

There was an article in a past issue of Mopar Performance (I think that's the title, I'm not sure) that my friend gets. It too said more power by setting the gap wider that specs. (This is official info from the boys at MOPAR!) However it did not say why. Next time I visit my friend I'll inquire about the magazine and get a copy of the article IF he still has the magazine.

cfield@ll.net

I'll be interested to hear the reasoning; on the face of it there's no reason why this mod would increase power at all. If there's an explanation, I'd love to hear it. But this is a good illustration of a situation where it's wise to think about something before you try it. A couple of Mopar mags got "egg on their face" a number of years ago when they reported fantastic results with the "Torque Plus" intake gasket that had window screen material over the ports, and that turned out to be almost as big a scam as flammable refrigerants .

In a case like this, where you can always change it back, it probably won't hurt to try it. But it seems strange that all the service manuals list a bunch of driveability and running problems with the cause being "Reluctor air gap too wide" and the fix being "Set reluctor air gap to 0.008 to 0.010 with non magnetic feeler gauge".

DS

redbear@vrx.net

Hello Dan. The artical I made reference to is a copy I got from Jack Poeler. The column is Tech Insider, the artical is titeled "Fired Up! The Basics Of Electronic Ignition". It is in the July issue of MPN (?), not sure of the year, though the auther made reference to the year 2000. Sorry, thats all the info that I have. If you like, I could mail you a copy through the USPS (I have webtv, so I can't scan it for you). Let me know.
Eric W

ecwfury@webtv.net