Locked out distributor advance question

[Dave Muller]

Originally Posted by Bruce Fulper

Between all of the allowable tolerances of the cam and dist. gear and the rubber band up front, (timing chain) you'll never remove all of the slop. But don't worry about it. When it's floored its tightened up.

Agreed, when I said no more movement I meant in the centrifugal advance mechanism itself. There was no noticeable change in the gear clearance, and I didn't add to the shims.

[Mark Yacavone]

Back in the 70's, GM sold a pack of distributor shims. They were .010 or .015 maybe ?
Ten to a pack , and it would take about half of them to shim up a distributor gear to remove most of the play there.
Always wondered why they left them that loose . GM must have seen as a hi-po issue, or they wouldn't have sold them.
I wonder if they are still available or somebody has them as NOS ?

[Coleydog]

I always use one very light spring on the advance. Engine starts at a small degree then flings out after 500 rpm to full advance. Easy to start any high compression engine. Also use a locking collar to allow no shaft up and down movement. I use a stock dist except when needing a tach drive.
Mike

[1320racer]

Originally Posted by Coleydog

I always use one very light spring on the advance. Engine starts at a small degree then flings out after 500 rpm to full advance.

This^^^ I would never recommend a locked out distributor when using a stock or stock type distributor. I’ve been running my distributors with 18-20 degrees mechanical advance and all in by 2000 rpm for 25 years. The reward is no hard starting, no kickbacks, no broken flexplate teeth and no broken starter drives. Spins over like the plugs are out.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by 1320racer

This^^^ I would never recommend a locked out distributor when using a stock or stock type distributor. I’ve been running my distributors with 18-20 degrees mechanical advance and all in by 2000 rpm for 25 years. The reward is no hard starting, no kickbacks, no broken flexplate teeth and no broken starter drives. Spins over like the plugs are out.

We class racers use an MSD timing control with fixed distributor. It'll take 15* or so out for starting. Also , we class racers sometimes use it to retard the timing in high gear.

[MR DERBY CITY]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

We class racers use an MSD timing control with fixed distributor. It'll take 15* or so out for starting. Also , we class racers sometimes use it to retard the timing in high gear.

This is a perfect example why 1319.5 E.D. Needs to hang out in the .90 neighborhoods....

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by MR DERBY CITY

This is a perfect example why 1319.5 E.D. Needs to hang out in the .90 neighborhoods....

Like the name... I call him YB E.D.

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by Coleydog

I always use one very light spring on the advance. Engine starts at a small degree then flings out after 500 rpm to full advance. Easy to start any high compression engine. Also use a locking collar to allow no shaft up and down movement. I use a stock dist except when needing a tach drive.
Mike

When we used points (been doing this way too long) I simply used no springs. The load from the ppoints would pull the advance back out for easy start ups. Small throttle whack = full advance even at idle. EFI makes it much easier.