Slant 6 Distributor

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cchrishefish

cchrishefish

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I have a couple questions. If I replace my distributor on my slant 6, do I want it to have a nylon or metal style gear, and what is the advantage or disadvantage. Also, is this control box on ebay hype or something I should consider? And, would this part allow me to make future performance upgrades without having to do it a second time?

MOPAR Hi-Perf ECU Electronic Ignition Control Module Upgrade Dodge Plymouth | eBay
 
Just stick with the nylon gears. No advantage to the metal ones (which are actually from a 6 cylinder Ford application). Others will have to chime in on that control module.
 
Badvert65 said:
Just stick with the nylon gears. No advantage to the metal ones (which are actually from a 6 cylinder Ford application). Others will have to chime in on that control module.
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Thank you, I have a coupon for 15% off today only, so I am seriously considering buying the complete kit with distributor. I know about the do it yourself kit, but I really do not want to fuss around to upgrade my current pertronix kit. I just want to set my engine at top dead center on the compression stroke, pointing to number one, and connect everything up. And adjust the timing.
 
Any opinions would be appreciated, I leave for work in 1 hour 20 minutes, and my coupon is time limited.
 
cchrishefish said:
I have a couple questions. If I replace my distributor on my slant 6, do I want it to have a nylon or metal style gear, and what is the advantage or disadvantage. Also, is this control box on ebay hype or something I should consider? And, would this part allow me to make future performance upgrades without having to do it a second time?

MOPAR Hi-Perf ECU Electronic Ignition Control Module Upgrade Dodge Plymouth | eBay
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Just use nylon works fine with me, and for that box I have a performance slant six and can barely reach 5k so a regular one is just fine.
 
I think the ebay ECU is an okay unit, but a bit expensive. You don't need to have a high rev up to 7500 RPM. A 225 slant will never get to that RPM in daily or show car driving. I think you should save the money and install the HEI conversion. Get a distributor from Old Car Parts Northwest and collect all the other necessary parts from local junk yards and parts stores. I went the route you are thinking of going, and then I ripped it all back out and went with HEI. I am very pleased with the result.
 
Slantsix64 said:
Just use nylon works fine with me, and for that box I have a performance slant six and can barely reach 5k so a regular one is just fine.
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Thank you, I have wanted to upgrade my ignition for quite some time. And, the entire kit comes complete, with distributor, box, and ballast. The price seems very fair.
 
The price comes out to $156.67. I thought the HEI do it yourself would be about the same.
 
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cchrishefish said:
I have a couple questions. If I replace my distributor on my slant 6, do I want it to have a nylon or metal style gear, and what is the advantage or disadvantage. Also, is this control box on ebay hype or something I should consider? And, would this part allow me to make future performance upgrades without having to do it a second time?

MOPAR Hi-Perf ECU Electronic Ignition Control Module Upgrade Dodge Plymouth | eBay
Click to expand...
I have the ECU in my slant...works good...happy with it, very easy to install.
 
You want a nylon gear in case the oil pump locks up it will shear and stop the motor. It comes off of the camshaft then drives the oil pump.
 
halifaxhops said:
You want a nylon gear in case the oil pump locks up it will shear and stop the motor. It comes off of the camshaft then drives the oil pump.
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HUH? The distributor gear drives directly off the cam gear. The oil pump also drives directly off the cam gear, not off the distributor.
All slant six distributors came from the factory with a nylon gear. Absolutly nothing wrong with them. At one time there was an aftermarket metal gear available, but it has been discontinued for many years, and was a total waste of time and money.
 
Your right don't know what I was thinking both off the cam.
 
Charrlie_S said:
HUH? The distributor gear drives directly off the cam gear. The oil pump also drives directly off the cam gear, not off the distributor.
All slant six distributors came from the factory with a nylon gear. Absolutly nothing wrong with them. At one time there was an aftermarket metal gear available, but it has been discontinued for many years, and was a total waste of time and money.
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Hmmmm, not to be a Contrarian, but I consider $15 more dollars, (the diff in cost between a Nylon vs Steel gear Dizzy), an investment in PEACE OF MIND...... Ive had OEM Nylon Timing gears shear teeth on my 318 with no warning. That doesnt happen quite so dramatically with steel. I guess its a Glass half Full vs Half Empty kind of thing....
 
Just do your research. The nylon gears are fine, although I've not heard anything bad about the metal gears. Ma Moper thought nylon was fine and they held up in millions of slants for bajillions of combined miles.

That said, be careful what you call an "upgrade". This is where your research comes in. When I did the compression test on mine right after I got it in January of 2019, all was well, so I did a major tuneup including a reman distributor. I disassembled it and gave it the once over and surprisingly, it was a really nice job. @hallifaxhops also fixed me up one with a performance curve that I may go ahead and swap in the little 170. I may not. It runs dang good as is.

Biggest thing to remember from all this hoorah is be careful what you call an upgrade. It may well not be.
 
I know 'a guy' who could use a points distributor if anyone has one for sale or less. Nylon running a no load distributor is a no brainer. Would not consider that on an oil pump, neither did Ma. Now what they were thinking driving the cam with a nylon toothed cog is beyond me.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Just do your research. The nylon gears are fine, although I've not heard anything bad about the metal gears. Ma Moper thought nylon was fine and they held up in millions of slants for bajillions of combined miles.

That said, be careful what you call an "upgrade". This is where your research comes in. When I did the compression test on mine right after I got it in January of 2019, all was well, so I did a major tuneup including a reman distributor. I disassembled it and gave it the once over and surprisingly, it was a really nice job. @hallifaxhops also fixed me up one with a performance curve that I may go ahead and swap in the little 170. I may not. It runs dang good as is.

Biggest thing to remember from all this hoorah is be careful what you call an upgrade. It may well not be.
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Thanks for the insight. Since many Nylon gears have gone hundreds of thousands/millions/bazillions of miles, I agree with you. My "research" also tells me there is nothing wrong with going with a steel gear either. I grew up in the points/condenser world, so, imho, Electronic ignition is an upgrade, however, buying off of Flea Bay vs good ole American OEM, is also a variable so I get where u are coming from. Ya cant jury rig Electronic ignition with a beer can pull tab like u used to be able to do back in the day. When a Black Box fails, u r done.....
 
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pishta said:
I know 'a guy' who could use a points distributor if anyone has one for sale or less. Nylon running a no load distributor is a no brainer. Would not consider that on an oil pump, neither did Ma. Now what they were thinking driving the cam with a nylon toothed cog is beyond me.
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I just may have one available, if they're not in a hurry....


LOL, dont beat him up too bad.... cuz Im going to make a lot of those...
 
RustyRatRod said:
Just do your research. The nylon gears are fine
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The nylon gears are terrific. They last for decades. If something jams the distributor—a dropped screw, say, or a long rotor + ground-off-centre distributor cap (increasingly common due to declining cap/rotor quality) or something else, the gear shears/breaks and the engine stops and that's it.

although I've not heard anything bad about the metal gears
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Allow me: if something jams the distributor, the metal gear doesn't shear, then you face the prospect of more stuff breaking below the distributor. AND the engine stops.

careful what you call an upgrade. It may well not be.
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+1.
And don't waste money, time and effort fixing problems that don't actually exist.
 
pishta said:
I know 'a guy' who could use a points distributor if anyone has one for sale or less. Nylon running a no load distributor is a no brainer. Would not consider that on an oil pump, neither did Ma. Now what they were thinking driving the cam with a nylon toothed cog is beyond me.
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I have some rebuilt. Shoot me a message with the cars info to see if the curve is right.
 
slantsixdan said:
The nylon gears are terrific. They last for decades. If something jams the distributor—a dropped screw, say, or a long rotor + ground-off-centre distributor cap (increasingly common due to declining cap/rotor quality) or something else, the gear shears/breaks and the engine stops and that's it.

Allow me: if something jams the distributor, the metal gear doesn't shear, then you face the prospect of more stuff breaking below the distributor. AND the engine stops

And don't waste money, time and effort fixing problems that don't actually exist.
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That's exactly what I was thinking! Lately it seems people are trying to fix or improve things that don't need it. The nylon gear is sacrificial and designed to fail to save other components. Would you rather replace an inexpensive nylon gear or a cam or oil pump? Reminds me of when I was designing bulk material equipmrnt in the last century. It was standard to include a SHEAR PIN in the drive system. Things like snow blower angers typically also include them. One thing I've learned about Chrysler engineers is they were very thorough and pretty much got their way with using quality parts and materials. Unlike some of their competition.

When I rebuilt my 1964 225 the nylon gear was actually cracked so I changed it out. 97,000 miles at the time but the car had sat for 31 years.
 
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