[VB] Good News

[david raistrick]

try to do a quick ground of the points plate back to the body (pinch
between the points and the plate) to see if it's related......

On Fri, Aug 18, 2017 at 4:01 PM, Kevin Guarnotta
<kevin at guarnottadesign.com> wrote:
> Ok. Ill try that shop rag option, and see if i can solder the distributor
> wire, hope i didnt lose it.
>
> After coil replace, thought i was doing well. Drove around. Got some work
> done. Heading home, stalled.
>
> Ive run out of AAA tows.
>
> I think the only part left has to be fuel pump. I replaced thay less than
> 1000 miles ago. Shorter style push rod.
>
> If a fuel pump failed, would it fail intermittently?
>
> Im also thinking of trying to find a spare distributor that i know is good,
> and see if thay fixes the problem.
>
>
> -Kevin
>
> Sent from my phone, please excuse the brevity and lack of wit.
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: david raistrick <keen at icantclick.org>
> Date: 8/18/17 12:12 PM (GMT-05:00)
> To: Kevin Guarnotta <kevin at guarnottadesign.com>
> Cc: c.dreike at verizon.net, dasbusking at gmail.com, vintagebus at type2.com
> Subject: Re: [VB] Good News
>
>> Although I don't have that felt below the rotor. Is there something else I
>> could get to put in there, to keep the lube?
>
> A wadded up piece of shop towel will probably do the job - stuff it
> into the gab nice and dense, then soak it with oil.   or a piece of
> felt (maybe fold up some of that furniture foot felt).
>
>
>> Shaft wobbly - is this something that you can feel - or does it just need
>> to be off a tiny bit. IE if I grab the distributor shaft and it doesn't seem
>> to wobble, am I good? Or do you need a special tool to measure the wobble
>> because it can be so small?
>
> With the distributor installed - it's mostly visible by watching an
> analog dwell meter, watching the needle bounce around.     But extreme
> play can be felt (ha) while installed - easier to feel when it's out
> of the car though.
>
>> The little ground strap is no longer on my distributor - it didn't look
>> like it was attached? I would think something like that - if it was a
>> problem - would either work on not work. As opposed to working
>> intermittently?
>
> The ground strap was added because the path-to-ground through the
> moving plates and the lube between them is not fabulous.   It could
> very much be the source of your problem.    The end of the strap
> should be welded (which is not an easy task) back to the plate.   You
> can probably pull it off with a HOT soldering iron - the plate needs
> to get hot enough to melt the solder before you attach it.
>
> You might be able to pinch it under the points (or another wire if the
> strap isn't long enough) - just make sure it doesnt cause the advance
> mechanism to bind.       You definitely want to ground that plate -
> it'll cause no end of chaotic spark problems without it.
>
>
>
>> As for going pointless - I'd like to do that, but wanted to try to figure
>> this out first. For a couple reasons - I don't want to start introducing
>> variables, if the distributor is bad, I'd probably want to get a
>> points/distributor all in one to save a few bucks.
>
> What carb (and what distributor part number, for that matter)?  The
> carb/distributor relationship is important - the idle-to-power
> circuits of the carbs are really designed to match the matching
> distributors advance curve, and tossing on an aftermarket svda or
> mechanical advance distributor might get you going in a pinch, but can
> leave you with fun tuning issues around acceleration off idle (among
> other things).
>
> What I'm trying to suggest - the pointless ignition module fixes most
> of the age related wear problems on a distributor and avoids the need
> to replace it with something that doesn't match... :)