Backfire

[Wes Bender]

Tinkering with a distributor without having a good distributor machine can be a bit dicey. I'll go back to my previous seconding of Jim's recommendation of having John Jenkins check it out.

Also, the fact that you rebuilt the distributor yourself 500 miles ago is information that probably should have been provided early on. Not criticizing you. Just making a comment. Changing the points, condenser or rotor are well within the capabilities of most of us. Fiddling with the advance curve is probably not.

Just my $.02,
Wes

[Peter Burger]

Wes,
Thanks for your $.02. I am sure you have way more experience with distributors and can judge my situation better than I can. I was just wondering how far one can go without having a distributor machine - hence experimenting with different springs, since I did not replace any of the main distributor parts. It seems to me replacing the wear surface on which the weights rest and cleaning / oiling the upper mechanics helped to weights to 'fly' out sooner. I did not work on the distributor drive shaft. I mentioned in my very first post of this thread that I did work on the distributor and the valves prior to getting into the carb

Still interested in further distributor inner workings
Peter

[Peter Burger]

I had a very good conversation with John Jenkins at 'Carburetor Rescue'. He gave me some good advice on what to look for. I worked on the distributer and ‘mapped’ a curve using s timing light. I got close to the factory range, however the advance - after I adjusted the spring tension - was now just a little too low above 2000 RPM compared to the factory curve. While the car drove well, it was just not peppy enough.

After speaking with John again I sent my distributor to him to have it dialed in on his distributor machine. He turned it around in just one day. I was very surprised once I received it back. John did a stunning job making the looks of the distributor like new inside and out and he replaced many of the inner parts. He also sent me the plot of the curve and some interesting technical details.

I installed the distributer a couple of days ago and the car now drives very well. I accelerates quick, revs up without hesitation and also idles great.
While some may say I should have done this weeks ago I think tinkering with the distributor for a while helped me to understand this part of the ignition system much better.

Thanks again to John for answering all of my questions and even more, for giving me back a great looking and working distributor.

Regards
Peter

[tony apcar]

Peter.. i would love to see the new curve on you fixed distributor.. and the intresthing technical details..and wich parts he replaced ( fiber and metal shims ? ) so i can learn too how they should work... tony

[Charles H Jacobus]

Peter:
Did you get rid of your backfire on decel? What solved the problem as I have the same thing.

ChuckJ

[Peter Burger]

Hi Charles,
Yes I got the backfire issue solved after I had the distributor rebuild. It also is a good idea to go with a new condenser. I once had one bad right out of the box.

Regards
Peter