I have been having major problems with my new engine, as it turned out the new dist had an internal problem with the weights advancing nearly 40 degrees at times. Would not start at TDC as it should have.

I have spent hour after hour after hour trying to figure out what the problem was, I am not a mechanic, if this problem comes up again I would hope that someone on this site might pass that along as a possability to the next guy.

Save him the time and grief. Thanks to everyone that tried to help me diagnose the problem.

What distributor did your get and how was it set up so you could get 40 degrees of advance without the vacc. advance? I don't see how this could happen unless the weights stick because the mechanism was caked with old grease, or you got one that the springs were removed from and the advance was 100% right off the bat.

-D.Idiot

I believe they were 100% off the bat as you say. I am trying to contact Old Car Parts Northwest too purchase a new dist, no answer and no call back yet, does anyone know what their story is, maybe a part time thing for them?

Maybe the holidays?

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1964 Dart GT

Good thinking, hadent thought of that

Duster ( or anyone ) is it possible to disassemble these dist and correct what problems might be there, I hate to toss the dist. The dist that I am using in its place has prob. seen alot more miles and abuse.

Id like to save what I believe to be a better dist if at all possible.

Distributor wrench and piston stop tool are two items you need to adjust timing and patience to go with those two....hadn't realized that my harmonic balancer had two marks on it either. The piston stop tool will show you top dead center. I was using the wrong mark, found out when I rotated the ,motor by hand and the piston stop tool stopped the cylinder TDC both ways and the mark in between was TDC. Loosened up the two bolts on my distributor and adjusted timing to 5 degrees BTDC...running like a champ....

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1964 Dodge Dart 270 four door. Three speed automatic 225 Slant with a Carter BBS carb.

It's not hard to pull one apart clean it and reassemble, but if it doesn't have it's springs anymore then you are going to need a spring kit or a donor to pull the springs out of.

Either way, don't toss the distributor, there are no more being made and I know in my area there are none left in the local yards (I went to every yard in a 60 mile radius and they only have the ESC distributor-no advance mechanism). So keep it for parts for later on.

Also make sure that the distributor clamp is tight after setting the distributor, although the 1979-1987 clamp is awesome allowing lots of adjustment, if the fork isn't tight on the ring it will rotate on it's own while the engine is running...

-D.Idiot

I plan to make this piston stop tool and check out my balancer for accuracy, thanks

Ok than I am going to go ahead and see what I can do with it, a few questions though.

I found out when I removed that dist that was giving me all the problems that if I sucked in on that pod there was nothing to suck against, I was just drawing in air......

On the dist I am using now I can suck in and that pod evidently has a bulb of some sort cause it too pull the advance plate.

Whats up with that?

Do you know of a good step by step on this site or other that will guide me thru the process of fixing this dist.

I made a mistake in my post above in saying that the dist I had installed initially was new, I assumed it was new, it was removed from a truck in the salvage yard, it barely had an ounce of grime on it, new condenser points ect. This is the dist I would like to now try and re-build.

Are the Napa recon. dist any good, I called my local Napa, there is not one locally but they can get one, it will cost about 75.00 with the extra shipping, am I wasting my time, am I better off getting the NOS unit from Old Car Parts Northwest assuming they even have one, I dont know yet cause no return call.

When I reassemble dist ( assuming you cant point me in the direction of a step by step re-build thread or video ) do I need to lubricate moving parts within the dist and if so with what?

This grimy used dist that I have installed that started my truck on TDC is also giving me problems now, erratic timing..........I set the timing where it should be when the engine is hot and the vacuum port is disconnected and plugged.

I let the truck cool down, sit for a while, come back and the truck RPM when started are super high, when the truck warms up and the choke opens fully the RPMs drop quite a bit but the timing is still advanced, now-where near where I had left them 5 degrees before TDC

I will go in today or tomm and play around with this dist. that initially gave me all the problems, I would like to post pics and show you what I find when I take it apart but this site requires a host or whatever its called and my shop comp. wont let me do all of that so not sure what to do in this case.

I dont suppose you are ever on the ramcharger forum......I can post pics their easily.

I google.........rebuilding the 225 slant six distributor...........and get nothing relevant

Autozone has one locally, a cordone re-build. Is it worth fooling with?....

For 38.00 I dont see how I can go wrong just too experiment with trying to get the truck too run more consistent, I understand I get what I pay for but again ..........

What do you guys think?

Another question, since I can suck in on that vacuum deal I am going to guess that it would mean that my advance was just slinging around in there.....I am assuming that when I was trying to start the truck that it was advanced fully giving me that 30-40 degrees advanced reading that I was getting from my timing light.

Does that sound correct?

No, it doesn't.........what springs are on your distributor? Sounds like your missing the secondary spring and have the initial cranked up over 10 degrees.

Go to these pages and read them carefully. http://www.dutra.org/doug/draft-webpage ... ibutor.htm

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Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

I dont know yet what springs are there, a spring kit was mentioned above so I am trying to find out what all that is and where too get it.

I will check out those pages, thanks