Distributor questions

[55 Tony]

Does anyone make a stock old chevy style (with or without window) distributor cap with male plug wire terminals?

In the top of the stock style distributor, is there supposed to be a felt washer to hold oil?

Should the first washer above the gear have a tang on it to keep it from spinning?

And where do I get these parts?

Thanks

[55 Tony]

Let me explain that better. The cap with the male terminals like an MSD RTR cap. MSD ones are slightly smaller than the cap for a stock distributor. I did hit mine with a grindstone on a drill and it now fits but I'd like another one for a different distributor. The distributor is off a 283 and it's cast iron. The missing felt washer I'm thinking goes under the top of the shaft, not the very top of the shaft, under it in a little *oil cup* type area. Maybe I should have taken a picture.
The tanged washer would be the first one put on so the tang stays in the notch and any wear is in the shims, not the bottom of the distributor casting.
Right now I put a nylon washer for a shim and it's perfect size. Nylon lasts pretty darn long, I wonder if it will last there?

[Rick_L]

I've never seen a cap for a 57-74 Chevy points distributor with male terminals, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. It would be a welcome addition, as the male terminals and the wires used with them seem to be superior.

If there is a felt washer, it would go under the points cam. There is a small lip on the points plate around the cam.


Some (maybe all) distributors have that tanged washer. I don't think it's essential.
Don't know of a source for the felt or the washer except a used distributor. You can buy plain distributor shim washers through hot rod parts channels - try Moroso or Mr. Gasket.

[55 Tony]

You can grind/file a little off the inside of an MSD cap and they will fit, that's what I did. Now I need to get a new one so it fits tight on the MSD distributor. The old distributor I was working on had no washers at all and of course a LOT of play. I looked closer at the old points before throwing them out, the cam follower was worn only on the top half, that's how much play it had and how high the shaft was rising!

I'm still trying to track down a miss. Now it's only easily noticable in gear at about 1500rpm and only does it once every 2 to 30 seconds. I was using the point distributor to trigger the msd box to rule out the magnetic trigger of the msd distributor as the cause. So now I'm down to a bad plug or wire, or the cap.

[chasracer]

Lift the hood, crank her up and turn off all the lights in the garage - you might be amazed at what you see.

[Rick_L]

That may work, but when you do that the engine is not under load and the cylinder pressure is low - so you can have problems and not detect them with that procedure.

Check the resistance of each plug wire with an ohmmeter. Suspect any wire that has higher resistance based on length. Also look for carbon tracks on the outside of each wire where the spark could be jumping to ground. Same with the cap and rotor - any black marks are suspect areas.

[55 Tony]

Lift the hood, crank her up and turn off all the lights in the garage - you might be amazed at what you see.

I tried that, no fireworks.

[55 Tony]

That may work, but when you do that the engine is not under load and the cylinder pressure is low - so you can have problems and not detect them with that procedure.

Check the resistance of each plug wire with an ohmmeter. Suspect any wire that has higher resistance based on length. Also look for carbon tracks on the outside of each wire where the spark could be jumping to ground. Same with the cap and rotor - any black marks are suspect areas.

I didn't try a resistance check, will do that today.

[55 Tony]

I've never seen a cap for a 57-74 Chevy points distributor with male terminals, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. It would be a welcome addition, as the male terminals and the wires used with them seem to be superior.

Hey Rick, look what I found. I'm going to buy one and see if it fits on both chevy and msd distributors.
https://www.jegs.com/i/Pertronix/751/D650711/10002/-1

[55 Tony]

https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/40470/10002/-1
After the chat guy at jegs tried to sell me different caps, he finally answered my question and said the one above will fit a chevy distributor and a msd. All I know is that the msd one I have did not fit my very old msd distributor or a chevy distributor. It was just a little too narrow.

[55 Tony]

I feel stupid posting this simple problem I found, but #2 wire read open. Not just a lot higher resistance than the rest, open. I made an old wire fit and it seems to be about 99.9% good. The a/f meter stayed more steady than it was. In 5 minutes it did miss a couple times, but nothing like with the open wire. I dissected the open wire ends to check the crimps and they are fine. Where ever the break is it must be close enough for the spark to jump it most of the time. I may have to dissect it all the way out of curiosity. The a/f meter is a nice tool for something like this, I think some time I will weld a bung on the left header reducer and swap the oxygen sensor to see if that side stays as steady, or more steady? I always thought the movement of the oxygen sensor was due to the carb not being perfect, but it's very steady now. Who needs EFI with a Quadrajet up top? :)

[55 Rescue Dog]

I would at least be replacing 8 plug wires without a doubt.

[55 Tony]

I would at least be replacing 8 plug wires without a doubt.

Of course. I ordered them not long after I found the bad one. Just put the used one on to test it.

[55 Rescue Dog]

A old Sun oscilloscope would make a great tuning tool on older engines, and I'm sure there are still plenty of them out there collecting dust in someone's shop. I wish I hadn't sold mine several times now. Paid $3000 for it used in 1980, and sold it 3-4 years ago for $125. It worked great for ignition issues by being able to see each cylinder firing, and the best part was the cylinder power balance function. You could quickly find exactly what cylinder wasn't firing. There was a button for each cylinder, and you could kill them one at a time, right down the firing order looking for one that didn't have a rpm drop. Some of the scope consoles were huge, and took up a lot of space, but they make great "garage art"
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/repair-and-maintenance/garage-classic-sun-performance-analyzer-1115-the-most-fun-under-the-sun/

http://bambam.gmu.edu/sun/

[markm]

I have always found changing plugs worthless most of the time, new wires priceless.

[markm]

Hey Rick, look what I found. I'm going to buy one and see if it fits on both chevy and msd distributors.
https://www.jegs.com/i/Pertronix/751/D650711/10002/-1

I run that cap on an old MSD tach drive dist. on my 1974 Z28 drag car.

[55 Tony]

I have always found changing plugs worthless most of the time, new wires priceless.

I don't have nearly as much experience, but I believe this is the first time I ever had a bad wire. I've replaced them on various drivers over the years but never noticed an improvement.

The only time I ever found a new plug to make it run better was when I first had the 55 on the road years ago when #8 plug was very crusty from oil. Not only did it need new valve guides, but the guy that rebuilt it forgot to put an umbrella seal on #8 intake.

If I hadn't found the bad wire I was going to change 2 or 4 plugs at a time to see if it fixed it in case one of the plugs had a crack from my fat fumble fingers dropping a plug now and then.

[55 Rescue Dog]

There are creative ways to safely ground each cylinder one at a time either at the cap or sparkplug, to check power balance, and which cylinder is dead, either by spark, or compression. I even did that on a 1930 Model A just using an old plug wire to ground/kill each cylinder looking for an even rpm drop on each one. Old school tech. Using your ears, you don't even need a tach. Just remembered on the Model A, I just used a screw driver to ground each cylinder, since the plug wires used back then were just brass straps straight out of the cap, and to the plugs. Simply genius.

[55 Tony]

There are creative ways to safely ground each cylinder one at a time either at the cap or sparkplug, to check power balance, and which cylinder is dead, either by spark, or compression. I even did that on a 1930 Model A just using an old plug wire to ground/kill each cylinder looking for an even rpm drop on each one. Old school tech. Using your ears, you don't even need a tach.

I've used that method, but this time the miss was non existent or not noticeable at idle, and very intermittent. I've pulled wires from the spark plugs with a boot puller while it's running. I put a little jumper wire from the tool to ground so the spark doesn't find me.

[55 Tony]

A old Sun oscilloscope would make a great tuning tool on older engines, and I'm sure there are still plenty of them out there collecting dust in someone's shop. I wish I hadn't sold mine several times now. Paid $3000 for it used in 1980, and sold it 3-4 years ago for $125.

Oh that would be so cool to have! $125! Makes me drool.