Hi. New to car (69 Dart 225) & new here. I have timing scatter at idle (+/- 8*). I will take distr. out Sunday & check for loose weight springs. But I see my spare distr. has a plastic gear. This bothers me. Wouldn't the plastic teeth wear down over the decades? What years did they make these plastic drive gears on SL6s? Thanx.

They are nylon and last for decades. They usually fall apart after years and years of heat cycles rather than wearing out. I think the factory only used nylon gears on passenger cars. There used to be an aftermarket replacement metal gear you could get from NAPA, but no more. I think the Aussies have a bronze gear, but it's not cheap or necessary.

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Joshua

Think its OK then? Well I'll just go with the advance spring theory for now and check for shaft play.

I can't see it or check if it's brittle so I don't know if it's serviceable or not. You can buy a gear and roll pin kit for about $5.

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Joshua

Welcome on the board. Distributor pinion info is here.

Tune-up parts and technique suggestions in this thread.

See also valve adjustment procedure; your '69 requires it every 20k miles or so.

Get these three books as quickly as you can.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Pandora's box opened! Great info. And that explains the 1/4" shaft play on my spare. I thought that was a bit much. Thanx guys. I'll call nearby stores tomorrow.

Sometimes it is in the "Help!" section. I have one on the fridge out in the shop. I had to order mine.

part# 90450 it says Help on the top of the package

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'72 Duster 198 stock cam, 3:23's Hookers on jack stands for 8 years in the driveway
'79 Maxivan 360 Offy Qjet Comp RV cam/rusting in the driveway.
93 D350 160HP Cummins Auto Dually Clubcab needs a injector pump
2005 Golden Couch Buick

Does distributor use the big O-ring AND the cork gasket or just the O-ring to seal the body? I know about the little o-ring for the shaft. May be part of problem, someone used both and it may be raising the distr. up on the cam gear too much? Maybe someone tried to compensate for the vertical shaft play which obviously wouldn't work cause it still would climb up and down.

The distributor shaft housing has a small rubber o-ring that you have to remove the gear to install, and the bigger rubber donut seals the under side of the dizzy plate to the engine.

-D.Idiot

i bought a gear recently and the hole for the roll pin was about a 1/4 or 1/8 inch to low. i think it was from carquest so check it first

where can you ger the right gear?

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1973 plymouth duster 225 slant six .30 over, erson 270 cam, 9.5 to 1 compression, big valves, headers, and a holley 4 bbl
http://cardomain.com/ride/3135091

hey that thing got a hemi? naw its just a slant six

I had to order from Pep Boys "Help" section as RugTrucker posted. Cost almost $11.00. Seems all the new gears have to be re-drilled. Didn't solve spark scatter though. Then I found the distributor flexes! I tightened both mounting plate bolts. I can see the timing change when grabbing on the dizzy while its running. This is nuts. Anyone have this symptom ever? Then I have to retime it every time I loosen or tighten it. But this explains why the fast idle has to be tweaked all the time.

I point again at the distributor pinion thread I linked to above. ALL replacement distributor pinions need to be drilled; the hole they come with has never been in the correct location for the roll pin.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Glad somebody said something. I will keep that in mind when I install this.

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'72 Duster 198 stock cam, 3:23's Hookers on jack stands for 8 years in the driveway
'79 Maxivan 360 Offy Qjet Comp RV cam/rusting in the driveway.
93 D350 160HP Cummins Auto Dually Clubcab needs a injector pump
2005 Golden Couch Buick