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I picked up a cap and rotor the other day from Napa for my 300 powered '75 E150, and the one they gave me clamps on. Mine bolts on. I went back today and they couldn't find one listed in that style. Is this a distributor from a different year, or is it an aftermarket distributor?
So it is electronic. PO told me it had points. That's a plus. What years did the electronic ignition come in? And does that mean that I should remove the resistor on the blaster coil that I just installed?
Hmmmm. My '83 has a clip-on and it is a non-points DS2. The one in the photo above looks like an older points dizzy. I suggest pulling the cap and look in it to verify what you have.
There are two types of caps listed for 75-electronic and non-electronic. Same with rotors. The clip cap is pictured with the non electronic part number, screw cap with the electronic description. Since either one is around ten bucks apiece, just order both and return the odd one. ~Bill
Awesome. Thank you for the insight, Bill. I guess I'll be removing that ballast resistor then.
I have seen people using a msd box along with the blaster coil. What benefit does it provide? More aggressive ignition curve?
The only real advantage to MSD or any other capacitive discharge ignition is multiple spark below 3,500 rpm.
OTOH, the Duraspark II set-up is about a reliable as it gets and gives good enough performance in anything but a straight-up race vehicle. It can be done with junkyard parts on the cheap or with a new distributor and module for ~$100. Spending a lot of money for an MSD box wouldn't make a noticeable difference vs. a freshly tuned Duraspark II ignition on a stock 300.
I see. I just read on another thread that the durasparks can be recurved. Does that involve changing the springs out like on the points distributors? It starts instantly, low end and high rpm power is good, but the midrange is so so. Could timing or carb settings have anything to do with that?
Affirmative. Just cleaning up the stock distributor plus cap, rotor, and wires may help. If the carb is ratty a kit may help and at the very least it's likely a PO has messed with it somehow.
You might also try increasing the base timing in 2° increments to see if that helps.