I did a search on "Lean Burn" and was a bit overwhelmed with all the results so I'm posting on it again.

I'm working on a 63' Dart rebuild and just got around to looking at the distributor (no previous experience with slants). Comes to find out it's a dual pickup Lean Burn vacuum distributor. I'm guessing that it was updated at some point in the past. This car will be primarily a drag strip car so should I stick with the Lean Burn setup? I was thinking about going the mechanical Mallory Unilite route.

Whatcha members think?

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Andrew

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GM HEI upgrade or 73+ Mopar Electronic Distributor are the most popular mods. I did the Mopar Electronic Distributor with a Mopar Performance/MSD box.

+1 on the switch to GM HEI. What sort of box is controlling the ignition on your car? Points are a big step backwards in every way. Mallory unilite is also outdated.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

OK, sounds like I'll go the GM HEI route. Thanks,

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Andrew

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Here's a pic of the engine compartment. Maybe it's HEI already since I don't see a spark control box. I guess I would have expected something other than a canister coil. Not sure why there's two control modules, only one was hooked up.

So, do you think it's already and HEI system? Anything performance wise that can be done to improve it?

<img src="https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10926199_921084927901825_2013880982604316385_n.jpg?oh=1b518b7207fadfe30a0ab7f974a2e045&oe=552A4A50" />

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Andrew

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Looks like you already ave HEI, but I don't know why you have a dual pickup distributor.

The first thing I would do is get rid of that single chamber master cylinder. Switch to a dual chamber for safety. Second would be switching from a mechanical voltage regulaor to an electronic voltage regulator.

After that, you can fine tune the distributor timing advance curve for more performance.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

You need a distributor with a magnetic pickup to trigger the existing HEI module and mechanical advance so that you don't have to suffer with fixed ignition timing.

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Joshua

Yep, front brake upgrades are on the list, which includes a new master cylinder. So, what's needed to swap out the voltage regulator?

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Andrew

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Not sure why you have the late dual pickup distributor, it would only be needed if you plan on an all out race car and wanted to run fixed timing.

If you haven't gone through all the posts on distributors you are looking for a 1973 to about 1983 single pick up with vacuum advance... Remans are a crap shoot on what curve they have... if you can find a stock one that has it's tag and hasn't been altered (or NOS from a swap meet, Ebay, or Dan's source up north)...Priority would be a 1977-1980 supersix/Federal dizzy (3874876), next up would be the 1976-1977 "598" distributor, these allow more initial that really perk up even a stock slant...the less desired, but still useable and modifiable are the 1973-1975 car distributors, and the stock truck distributors...

Took the distributor in to be tested and it looks like we need a replacement. So where does one easily find a 1977-1980 supersix/Federal dizzy (3874876) distributor? I don't want to go hunting one too hard. Can I just use the CARDONE SELECT Part # 843690 (Electronic) with Vacuum from RockAuto?

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Andrew

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Swap meets, Ebay, junkyards...
Yes, but you get a crap shoot on what the curve is, and the cast pot metal housing is a bit subgrade on the cap fitment.... You'd be lucky if you got a 9R or 11R governor (gotta pull it apart to find out....or you'd get a 15 or 13 L and have to get a buddy to weld the slots up and get new springs...

And there are two HEI modules in there - one for each pick up? That doesn't make very much sense as the pick ups are at different angles, and I suspect only one would be any good for someone who wants to run fixed timing.

Lean Burn distributors can be useful to play around with for people who want fixed timing or computer controlled advance. Not a good choice for more normal applications.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

The distributor may work out after all. There's a distributor guy here in Vancouver that it was taken to. He removed the non essential second pickup and spun it up (whatever that means). There's no tag attached to the distributor but the numbers "3874876" are stamped on the vacuum diaphragm. I just got it back yesterday and need to look at it a bit closer.

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Andrew

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I was thinking about picking up a new ACCEL Ignition Control Module. Right now it has an MSD Blaster 2 Coil and I'm not sure what the functionality of it is. What's the best performing coil I should look at if I need to replace it?

Andrew

Ford e-core coil off a late 80s/early 90s Ford v8 product.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.