I just bought a retired fire truck, Ford C-800, 14K miles, XD 389 engine, trying to get it running. Engine cranks fine. I have no spark. Voltage is present on the + plus side of the coil. I do not get the pulse-to-ground that I should be seeing coming from the one wire of the distributor (points). When I remove the distributor cap, I only see the rotor, then a black bakelite cover the full inner diameter of the distributor and it covers where I expect to see points.

1) How do i remove the black bakelite piece? It has evenly spaced notches around it's edge. It doesn't want to spin off or pry off.

2)Parts houses don't seem to show the 389 engine so what other engines would share that distributor as I'm loking for parts?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will try to post pictures, but I wanted to get started with some help since today is an unseasonally beautiful (for December) 70-degree day in VA.
Thanks, Bill

 

Here's what I'm seeing.

 

I believe the 389 is a smog version of the 391FT motor, a distributor from any FT motor (330 HD, 361, 391) should fit it.

I can't say I've ever seen a distributor that looks quite like that one.

Sam

 

Having never seen one like this before and needing to get into it, I took a chance, spun the black piece and it came off exposing the points. They need replacing. I was able to file them and get some spark happening. I got the truck to run a few seconds. Once I poured gas into the bowl through the vent, it all ran out due to the gaskets being dry and cracked. So now I have removed the carburetor for a rebuild kit. Now for the research to see which Holley 4 bbl carb is on it so I can get the right rebuild kit. Thanks for the response.