What Next? 1973 Ford Contry Sedan

Yeah points are a pain... flip matchbook cover and a set of feeler gauges and after swearing at it for awhile you'll set the points only to have to set them again every 5,000 miles...

 

What he said, plus, you then have to verify the dwell, then verify the timing.

 

I ordered another D3MA-12127-AB type distributor today--it'll be here tomorrow. Then I parked at a store and the car stalled and all it would do was crank. #5 spark plug wire showed no spark to the cast iron intake. I removed the air cleaner and the distributor cap to inspect & just jiggled the points--no gap check,just grasped them. I put everything back together and the car started. I just have a feeling that the Chinese "new" distributor is somehow the problem. Anyway,there's that sticky plate in it. But,if I do go Pertronix,doesn't the plate still move in response to vacuum advance?

 

No, you lock the breaker plate to the base plate, so the advance moves them both in unison.

 

I wonder if the connections on the little junction block are loose, or the capacitor has an intermittent open.

 

I've installed allot of pertronix and never locked the plate. You need to find a mechanic with knowledge of the older cars . You seem to be chasing a problem and throwing parts at it. Even with the old cars they will perform as original if properly adjusted with no problems. Compression tester , timing light , feeler gauge , tach , voltmeter , vacuum gauge and knowledge of how it all works .I'm not knocking new technology but your system is pretty simple and never had a problem getting it to be dependable . You can add all the technology and if the basics are not right you have nothing .

 

And OK,too,I've had more than 10 Fords (lost count) with points and condenser and never had this kind of problem. I have all the tools you listed and have checked everything. I admit I have done some parts throwing. But: the original distributor's breaker plate came loose and caused the muffler to explode. I was away from home and the shop I was towed to put in a distributor which also had breaker plate issues. Then I bought a "new" distributor which turned out to be the dreaded "Made in China" part with a breaker plate that didn't return properly and some other internal problem causing the stalling/not starting. Today I got a beautifully remanufactured "Real Motorcraft"distributor to put in,but we have blizzard conditions here,so I'll get to that when I can. The return on the Chinese unit will cover the cost of the new one,and the previous unit was worth $20.00 as a core. All I have to do is pop the new one in there and do timing & dwell.

 

Ya know, I have all those tools also (how many have an actual Sears ignition file?), but when you have to go through all the procedures to make the damned thing run halfway decent every five thousand miles and replace the points and condenser every other time you do it, newer tech looks really great. And before you say anything about carrying a spare point set, I've only replaced two coils, three pick-up coils and two TFI modules in all of the Fords with electronic ignition since my first car in '89, as compared to my one '74 Ranchero Squire with a Cleveland, where I truly cut my teeth on point-condenser ignition because I was farking with it every few thousand miles, and even had point float on a near-new set at 3800 RPM during an acceleration on to the freeway, not even racing. The only other car I ever owned that had points, my '70 Delta 88, I didn't have for all that long a time, but the GM setup was really a cool timesaver.

 

I didn't mean to ruffle feathers but if my memory serves me you have had problems with cars performance for a long time. EGR , wiring , carb , distributor and others . My opinion is you don't need to service every 5K miles the old systems because back in the day you did it when needed usually before winter . Most likely when your muffler exploded the backfire was caused by something other than the distributor but took it as the weak point in valvetrain . Then comes chinese dizzy . There are certain things should be replaced with oem parts on Fords . If I were you I would have went with the Dura-spark system that Ford started using in74 a simple change to make. I'm not an arm chair mechanic for I have 50+ years as an auto/diesel mechanic with schooling till 2014 when I retired. I like technology but still love old stuff . Proper diagnostics and your system will be dependable without electronics . Once you get it right then pertronix if you like . Good luck with your car and I hope you get it right.

 

I worked out in the yard to get this done in snow & ice & rain. I got the new distributor in and the car ran like crap with points @ .017,dwell @ 26,timing per the sticker at 12B. I then figured I'd screwed up,so I verified #1 cylinder on compression stroke,rotor pointing at #1 on the cap and to the mark on the intake,but wait! It was a little off. So I pulled the darn thing out again to try to get it closer,but the movement of the rotor when the teeth engage covers more degrees than that. It was then that I realized that when the thing was remanufactured they did everything perfectly until some bonehead drilled a new set of holes to locate the gear--an THAT is why it is off,and why the car is barely running when that distributor is installed. Moving the gear teeth results in the points' rubbing block not being on the lobe. Not including the original distributor,this is the 3rd one! And all defective in one way or another. And the Chinese distributor is just a hair off the very peak of the lobe,which makes me think that the rough idle for 3378 miles was a result.
OK,so I'll return two distributors tomorrow,and inspect the next one and the next one,until I get one that's on the money. I'm no expert,but I don't think I'm wrong about this.

 

I know about the 1974s. I don't think there are any in the yards nearby. On the '85-'86-'88-'89 wagons I had,it was usually just replacing the module.

 

Allot of replacement gears have two sets of holes . Usually at 90 degrees of the other. Ford had problems with the timing on the 400 and change specs to 10 ' btc to correct . Rough idle is usually related to egr spacer and carb resulting in slight vacuum leak on these also.

 

Actually,it is 12 BTDC per the sticker on the valve cover. Earlier in his drama,I thoroughly cleaned the aluminum EGR spacer and the EGR valve and got a 1972 carb/spacer gasket and fabricated another for the EGR itself,so it is blocked off two ways and all potential leakage dealt with.
But what I am dealing with now is am I right about the distributors being rebuilt wrong? DOESN'T THE ROTOR have to be precisely on the #1 terminal in the cap? Isn't that why my engine won't run right? I mean,why have a mark on the distributor body in the first place if when the distributor is in place,the rotor is in between terminals?
Right now,I have two distributors in hand. One has the floppy plate which plays havoc with timing but the rotor's on the money,and the other is new remanufactured with the rotor pointing away from any terminal. So I can just swap breaker plates and have a good unit? Can't I? And my only question at this point is: Doesn't the rotor have to be precisely on the #1 terminal to make everything work?

 

The rotor does not have to be precisely on the money, although having the rotor blade as close to the #1 post as possible does help, it's the dwell that determines the placement of the rubbing block on the lobe to get the longest charge time for the coil. The changing of the driven gear's position does not necessarily change the particular operation, as long as the rotor blade is close enough to transfer the energy to the proper post without causing a concurrent fire in one or the other adjacent two posts. IIRC, the outer dizzy body is the same through the use of Duraspark II, and since DS II, along with all other high-potential electronic ignitions, needed to have the posts separated so as to not cause cross-firing, perhaps, obtaining a DS II center ring, cap and rotor, and seeing if the bad runability lessens with using those parts or not.

 

I guess I'll try the next reman one they hand me. I had two of these apart tonight swapping plates and got nowhere. Your explanation above clears my mind,but I don't really understand why the most recent reman I got didn't even hardly work. And what is the DS II center ring? Been a long time since I had a Duraspark car: 10 years ago almost,with the '88 Country Squire.