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rottenralph

Well-known member
Joined
May 27, 2014
Messages
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Location
Cordova, TN
My Car
1972 Bright Lime green Mach 1. Has 351c 4v heads with Holley manifold and summit 650 cfm carb, power steering, Power disc front brakes, FMX 3 speed auto tranny, and A/C. The car sits on 17 inch Eleanor wheels with 225/45 front and 245/45 rear. Car is nice bust needs some love under the hood.
My new carb is on the table and I am thinking of going to a simpler ignition system. I have a MSD box(not all that up to date on what its purpose is), MSD blaster coil, and an unknown distributor. I received my carb and I am going to put it on this weekend. I think the ignition is no better than the carb but I am not sure. What distributors do you guys recommend for dependability. This car will be my daily driver come Sept. and I need to have it be plug and play. Should I get vacuum advance or mechanical. My last Mustang had a Mallory Unilite with mechanical advance and it worked like a charm.

I am working behind someone and I know it does not run well but I guess I will just have to figure out what they did.

One other question, Carb has a one in spacer but new one has about a 1/4 inch spacer with it. Why choose one space over the other? What should I expect from the different heights?

 
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In my opinion, pretty much any electronic distributor made these days are going to provide reliable performance. Unless your going racing full time, get a distributor with mechanical and vacuum advance. The purpose of the vacuum is to provide additional advance when cruising to provide additional economy. The MSD box is a unit which triggered by the distributor, provides multiple sparks to the spark plugs during each firing event. Think of it like a supercharger for the ignition coil. Personally, I do not run one. The added complexity and cost of the setup is not worth it in my opinion unless I'm going to the racetrack.

Carb spacers have different benefits and disadvantages depending on the thickness. Aside from hood clearance issues, thicker spacers usually help insulate the carb from engine heat and can provide increased high RPM horsepower. The disadvantage I have seen is cold starting issues and or an off-idle hesitation. I don't think one would really notice much of a difference between a 1/4" and a 1" spacer. Depending on your engine configuration, (cam, compression, etc...) a spacer plate may or may not make a difference. Try em' both and see for yourself.

 
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Thanks for the quick response. I was thinking the same thing on the racing thought. The PO has 3.5 inch header exits into giant pipes to flowmasters. It looks like it was being built to race based on carb, igniton, headers, lopey cam(not sure what), and exhaust. I just want to cruise but be able to punch it for fun. I go beat by an early 90's Honda the other day from a stop sign and that has to change. Tuning, new carb, sensible exhaust, and a new distributor ought to really help smooth everything out.

Just curious, is my car supposed to have he rear honeycomb tail panel between the brakelights? like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/360820200899?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

 
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The Mach 1 does have the honeycomb panel between the taillights.

In my 71, I have a Mallory electronic distributor, with everything else stock (coil, wires, etc.). I had the factory carb (it's a 429) professionally rebuilt, with no spacer and a new, 1/4" insulator gasket. IT starts and runs great.

Will never get beat by a Honda, so, yeah, you need to change that!

 
Reliability? When I rebuilt my 302 I put a Duraspark II distributor with the big cap, see the engine compartment picture in my photo album. This was done in 1991 -- no problems since.

My brother had a Mallory Unilite on his 351 C and I wasn't too impressed, they are overpriced too. He later used a Ford Duraspark II.

I got my distributor (76 302 mustang) and TFI module at auto parts store (you could still use the MSD box), replaced the gear to match the material on camshaft, and got small section of wiring harness at salvage yard to connect the distributor and module. This is one of the best upgrades I have done to my Mustang.

 
Interestingly enough there is a company in Memphis called "Performance Distributors" They make a GM style HEI for just about everything and they actually tune them to your needs on good old fashioned distributor machines. I have been to their facility and have been runnig one of their distributors for about 5 years now. It is a great product, but the HEI large cap and height of the unit require me to use a offset base air cleaner, which makes proper use of ram air impossible,

They have other options including duraspark based systems- IT is really worth a trip over to their shop for you to see what they do and talk to them in person.

http://performancedistributors.com/product-category/distributors/ford-distributors/

 
Jeff, they are only about 5 miles from my work so I will head over there and see what they have for me. I imagine I can sell all I have to pay for a nice new Distributor.

 
Well their prices aren't cheap compared to the ebay versions from China-but just go talk to them-I think they will help you make up your mind.

And remember it is a big sucker and there is no easy/practical way to make Ram Air work with it-if that is important to you-then look at their duraspark conversion.

 
I changed the carb and it turns out I have an ignition problem. Carb was a problem anyway but probably because of the ignition. I like shiny new parts so the new carb stays. Now to the ignition, I have a few pics and I need some help identifying the distributor and another item that looks like a ballast resistor or something. So, any clue what kind of distributor it is?

20140531_132818.jpg

20140531_133025.jpg

20140531_132830.jpg

 
Only see 3.4 volts going to the coil when I try and start. My guess is that it should be 12. Confirm please.


Where is the fuse box? my 65 was under dash on drivers side.

 
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I think that is a duraspark distributor

The porcelain piece is a ballast resistor

voltage to the coil should be more than 3.4, but running though a ballast resistor it will not be 12-probably closer to 8-I'm no electrician, but I would question whether the ignition control box is good-IIRC they are prone to failure.

Also, I notice you are missing the strut tower braces-do you just have them off, or are they gone? If gone you need to replace them.

 
Looks like you already have a Duraspark.

Yes, you should see close to 12 volts going to the coil, from red wire with green stripe. If you have less then it seems that you may have a short, mine was due to damaged insulation on this wire. I had to do some rewiring, you should look at wiring schematic and trace this wire and look for any indications of a short, e.g., melted wires. Also check red wire with blue stripe (power only when ignition is at start position).

 
I thought it odd that with all the apparent new hardware up front the strut tower braces were missing. Will buy them soon. Still need to put new interior parts and wheels and tires on. Also need to remove the stupid shackles that have the back end up so high. Not a fan of that look.

 
WTF.... Someone put an MSD igntion on it.. There should be NO ballast used with it. Holy crap, that's all wrong.

That is a capacitive discharge ignition. Two wires from the box should go the the coil, and would be the only wires hooked to the coil.. It looks like they have them running back to that ballast resistor. The green and violet wires get spliced to two of the three wires of a durspark distributor. Disconnect everything, rip out the junk and start over. You can use the MSD box if it's wired correctly. First, do you have three wires coming out of your existing distributor, or just one? That we need to know so the MSD can be wired correctly.

Here's a wiring diagram:

streetfire-magpickup_zps69b3dbe6.jpg


streetfire-points_zpsb298ac9b.jpg


Instructions: http://www.street-fire.com/pdf/5520.pdf

 
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