Older MP electric distributor

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Shane

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I have kinda a dumb question.

Is there a way to adjust the factory vacuum advance canister?

i am running 18 degrees intial with 14 mehcianical. (I got help on here last year in figuring that out)

The car runs great with that set up, without the vaccum advance hooked up.

With it hooked up, I swear I can here those rattles(ping) a little bit when I get on it.

So I disconnected it and drove the rest of last year without it. I have now been reading another post about the benefits of running with the advanced attached.

Is it possible that my vaccum canister is bad? Or can it be adjusted? Or am i crazy and not making any sense??

Thanks!

Shane
 
ahahah K i am going to read that right now...

I'm glad I have an electric one to...that solar one I was trying to use was giving me a hard time..ahahah
 
:poke:well, the solar one would still be electric, but I'm pretty sure I killed the horse! LOL

your dizzy is electronic as opposed to breaer type....yours is also called breakerless---no points
 
and what you are adjusting is not how much, but when...as in at what rpm

to adjust how much vac advance would require a dizzy change unless you can find the vac unit by itself. this is prob not needed
 
mopar340dave said:
and what you are adjusting is not how much, but when...as in at what rpm

to adjust how much vac advance would require a dizzy change unless you can find the vac unit by itself. this is prob not needed
Click to expand...



Sorry if I am jack-a&&ing this thread slightly but my question runs along the line of his work being done..
Ahhh, why not just run it with the vaccume portion disconnected or remove it and tack weld the part that moves from vaccume? I am running a 440 with the vaccume hose disconnected / removed. wonder if that is not optimal.. Is the mech advance not enough, or come in all at the crazy wrong time? does the mechanical part not suffice?

Maybe the mechanical advance comes in all at 450 RPM starts pinging, and comes out at 1500 then the vacume kicks in?just kidding :thumblef:
 
Shane,
The vacuum advance should only be operating at light load, small throttle opening cruise. Are you getting detonation when you stomp on it or as you roll into the throttle? If it's happening when you stomp on it it is likely the advance mechanism is hanging up and not releasing the advance fast enough. If it happens when you roll into to it adjusting is what it needs.

I use a mighty-vac hand held vacuum pump to check and adjust the vacuum advance. If you pump the mighty-vac to get full advance and release the vacuum the advance should go back smoothly and quickly, if it doesn't look for something hanging it up and fix as needed. You say it's an old MP unit, does it have the adjustable mechanical advance or is it pre 2000 vintage that is just a stock distributor with light springs? If it's a stock advance mechanism they are known for hanging up.

The other thing you should do is check with the mighty vac is what the vacuum is to start the advance moving and what it takes to get it to full advance. To adjust it put a vacuum gaue on your engine and see what the vacuum is when cruising at a steady speed on a level road. Then adjust the advance using the mighty-vac to be full in at that point. If this causes detonation when rolling into the throttle you can then back it off until it stops.

If you don't have a mighty-vac it is a very useful tool. Besides using to tune your advance it comes with bits and pieces so you can use it to bleed brakes without an extra leg to pump brakes. The all plastic ones are in the $20-$30 range and the all metal ones are up in the $60 range.
 
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