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Already have an ignitor 2, flame thrower 2 coil, and plug wires from pertronix. Works great so far on start up. Unfortunately they don't make a dizzy for the y block and $500 isn't in the budget for an FMO or MSD one.
I see the tsps appear to be MSD rebranded - either cheap copy cats or possibly the same quality. Who knows. Figured for $120 I'd give it a shot and worse comes to worse I'd return it.
Any thoughts, advice, knowledge on inspecting it for things that don't look so great? Shaft play side to side, what about up and down movement? I thought I saw a tolerance for this somewhere (at least for the stock distributors). Measurements I should check, gear height, bushing and bearing issues, etc. I'll get lots of pics and see if I can't help form a better opinion on these. I know most knock offs are cheap, but there are those parts that are rebranded and the same exact parts as the "quality" brands.
So why do you want to replace your dist if it "Works great so far on start up"?
I don't like replacing parts just to replace them, they have to be worn out before I do.
Dave ----
See if you can find someone with an ignition oscilliscope. Or just buy one, the old school units are pretty cheap as they are more or less obsolete. They show any defects in the entire ignition system, from the ignition switch to the plugs mostly electrical defects obviously but also including excessive distributor play or "cam wobble". If you've got a decent distributor now, there's no reason to change it, I'd agree with that. Might be interesting to compare your current setup on the scope with the import special.
Distributor is a critical component for a smooth, powerful running engine. One disadvantage to the Ford distributors, is it is highly inconvenient to mess with the internal timing, the slots and springs &c. And depending on the particular parts needed they are getting harder to find for some versions. Modern distributors make setting up the timing curve pretty easy.
See if you can find someone with an ignition oscilliscope. Or just buy one, the old school units are pretty cheap as they are more or less obsolete. They show any defects in the entire ignition system, from the ignition switch to the plugs mostly electrical defects obviously but also including excessive distributor play or "cam wobble". If you've got a decent distributor now, there's no reason to change it, I'd agree with that. Might be interesting to compare your current setup on the scope with the import special.
Distributor is a critical component for a smooth, powerful running engine. One disadvantage to the Ford distributors, is it is highly inconvenient to mess with the internal timing, the slots and springs &c. And depending on the particular parts needed they are getting harder to find for some versions. Modern distributors make setting up the timing curve pretty easy.
Guess I'll have to figure out how to use one. Found a few for under $100
Yeah, there's a bit of a learning curve to them. Not too bad. Make sure it is complete with all the wiring and induction clamps and such, and the instruction/user manuals. Ignition can be tricky, just throwing new parts at it and high output coils and the rest of it doesn't necessarily always work better, it has to work together as a complete system. The scope will tell the tale better than anything, short of a dyno probably.
TSP is one of the many rebranders of the Chinese distributors. For a long time, I did not hear anything bad about them but recently I have, in relation to the electronics quitting and to be fair, MSD had a similar problem with their ready to run distributors so a recognizable brand doesn't guarantee against that or similar problems. It doesn't matter which brand, they all have problems now and then.
Another possible concern is parts availability for tune-ups. I don't know if they are close enough to the MSD that MSD parts work. From what I understand, TSP do offer replacement components, confirm with them but businesses come and go and there is no guarantee that they will be around to provide what you need down the road. So at best, it may do just what you need and at worst, it may be a throw away distributor that you will be replacing within a couple years.
From another forum I was given measurement from tip of shaft to gear 1" and from that point to the seat bottom should be 4.991- something else. Don't remember.
From bottom of new dizzy shaft to the worm gear is .971. now there's a raised portion around the gear in the center. If we're talking teeth of the gear then .988.
From seat to gear teeth (from where the .988 ended) I have 4.933. unless you include that lip shown in the pic, but I suspect not.
Billy, that machined pad on the bottom of the gear rides on a machined surface bearing in the block. That's the measurement point, from the bottom of the gear to the housing collar with the shaft pulled down. As I recall there was a special Ford fixture discussed in the Shop manual for measurement. What wasn't clear was whether the fixture setup pulled or extended the shaft assembly down, or pushed it up when the measurement was made. Seems to me the shaft is extended or pulled down to take the measurement.
The idea of course is when the whole shootin' match is installed in the engine is that the distributor gear itself rides directly on the machined pad in the block, and acts like a bearing or thrust surface,has correct engagement with the cam gear, yet has at least some clearance to move up and down, that it isn't jammed into the upper housing on the high side, and spins freely, and engages fully with the oil pump rod yadda yadda.
This is why a 1/4" here or there matters, and thousandths of in. here or there matter, with those phony balogna reman distributors for example the clearances were off enough that the distributors were chewing themselves up in the housing under the advance plate, the gear and the teeth wore an odd pattern, and the pump rod was barely engaged by the distributor shaft. "Close" isn't good enough here.
I saw your question about carb mixture screws. Every engine is a little bit different - that's why they have mixture screws to begin with, instead of fixed jets. But somewhere between 1/4 turn and 1 turn out is in the "zone". If you're super picky, carb guys start talking about enlarging idle air bleeds and all kinds of stuff so they end up at exacfly 1/2 turn out or 1 turn out or something like that. I'm not that picky. Both idle mixture screws on my Y end up right around 3/4 turn out. Sounds like you're getting a good sharp tune. Smooth idle, high vacuum, go for a beer!
Billy, that machined pad on the bottom of the gear rides on a machined surface bearing in the block. That's the measurement point, from the bottom of the gear to the housing collar with the shaft pulled down. As I recall there was a special Ford fixture discussed in the Shop manual for measurement. What wasn't clear was whether the fixture setup pulled or extended the shaft assembly down, or pushed it up when the measurement was made. Seems to me the shaft is extended or pulled down to take the measurement.
The idea of course is when the whole shootin' match is installed in the engine is that the distributor gear itself rides directly on the machined pad in the block, and acts like a bearing or thrust surface,has correct engagement with the cam gear, yet has at least some clearance to move up and down, that it isn't jammed into the upper housing on the high side, and spins freely, and engages fully with the oil pump rod yadda yadda.
This is why a 1/4" here or there matters, and thousandths of in. here or there matter, with those phony balogna reman distributors for example the clearances were off enough that the distributors were chewing themselves up in the housing under the advance plate, the gear and the teeth wore an odd pattern, and the pump rod was barely engaged by the distributor shaft. "Close" isn't good enough here.
I saw your question about carb mixture screws. Every engine is a little bit different - that's why they have mixture screws to begin with, instead of fixed jets. But somewhere between 1/4 turn and 1 turn out is in the "zone". If you're super picky, carb guys start talking about enlarging idle air bleeds and all kinds of stuff so they end up at exacfly 1/2 turn out or 1 turn out or something like that. I'm not that picky. Both idle mixture screws on my Y end up right around 3/4 turn out. Sounds like you're getting a good sharp tune. Smooth idle, high vacuum, go for a beer!
Sounds good to me! Did it twice over to be sure, as a starting point of 1.5, to an end point .75 is quite a difference fromy experience with tuning bike carbs.
Did it twice over to be sure, as a starting point of 1.5, to an end point .75 is quite a difference fromy experience with tuning bike carbs.!
Well it is what it is. A lot of guys don't get in the manuals too much, and just read the mimeographed 40 times barely readable "rebuild instructions" from the carb kit guys. It says something about 1.5 turns out and they think that's the end of it, or that is the permanent setting for every car and truck.
It will end up somewhere within that range, it's kind of a diagnostic, if the engine will only idle at say 5 turns out or something way off the beam then there is a huge defect somewhere else, probably a vacuum leak or internal carb passages blocked. Carburetors very often get mistakenly blamed for idle or performance problems due to all kinds of other stuff. When you get everything else setup right, ignition and timing and compression and valve timing etc etc, the final pass through on the carb adjustments will have a very definite or precise "peak". Those idle mixture screws are actually super precise, just a slight turn will alter the fuel air ratio a whole point, though you'd never hear it. When the engine tune is all buggered up though, the mixture screws won't seem to respond or do much of anything. It's called the "idle circuit" but it's important all the way up to 35 or 45 mph, and just off idle acceleration.
An overly rich idle mixture will tend to get vague and "load up" the plugs after a few minutes, and they will start to foul. Plugs should burn very clean with modern gasoline even in these old school engines. Plug reading is tough, if you drive around town a lot and stop and go driving they will get a lot of deposits even with ethanol laced gas, but after a highway run that will give a lot more accurate indication of jetting and power circuit. A whole bunch of gasoline is often wasted right out the tailpipe if a carb is just bolted on without any tuning or calibration, and it won't run any better with all that extra fuel or starts contaminating crankcase oil. EFI came around for a reason, that's for sure.
