Thread: Swapped Distributor problems

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Originally posted by Thunderbucket
Your point is well taken,,,i've just never had to do it that way before.

i wouldnt normally do it that way either, but he had it running, the timing was set, it was no need to change it. once he set the time with the light that part was over, now its time to move on. i think he got crossed wires.

I guess i've been doing it the same way for so long,,that i must have become set in my way's,,,but at least i'm coming out on top,,,I learned something new.

Originally posted by Thunderbucket
I guess i've been doing it the same way for so long,,that i must have become set in my way's,,,but at least i'm coming out on top,,,I learned something new.

sometimes its nice to know, i have had a car that i couldnt use
#1 in the cap, so i had to put it so i could get a little adj on the dist., a blower motor for one. ive had mechanics tell me they couldnt set the timing because they couldnt move the dist. enough, and they had no idea all they had to do was move the plug wires in the dist. around one notch.

Well i'm not to proud to be wrong,,and i appreciate learning new stuff,,,just takes a while to stick sometimes though. LoL

Originally posted by Thunderbucket
Well i'm not to proud to be wrong,,and i appreciate learning new stuff,,,just takes a while to stick sometimes though. LoL

i agree on the stick part and it should be done the factory way when you can, but it nice to know there is a way out if you have a problem . ive had other mechanices almost kill me when they worked a 1/2 day trying to time one that i had changed the #1 in the cap and they didnt know it. so if you worked behind me you better check and see where #1 really was, before you tried to time a motor that i had just worked on.

Just had a thought,,,now that he has a pentronics HEI dist, on his motor,,,he should be increasing the gap on his plugs.
He didn't mention if he had,,,might make a bit of a difference,,larger gap,,stronger resistance,,,stronger spark.

Originally posted by Thunderbucket
Just had a thought,,,now that he has a pentronics HEI dist, on his motor,,,he should be increasing the gap on his plugs.
He didn't mention if he had,,,might make a bit of a difference,,larger gap,,stronger resistance,,,stronger spark.

he should have all of that and more, but if the plugs are close it wouldnt make it run that bad. the way he talkes he dont have anything off idle, unless its something wrong with that new dist. id be putting the old one back in by now and see if it would run with the old dist.

Ok,,,I just got back from another guy's experience with the petronics II system,,,,his motor did the same thing, imediatly went 30 degrees out,ran good on idle,but crappy on acceleration,,and after he spent many hours messing around with timing, and removing his timing chain cover and going through all of that,,,he finaly starts it back up again,,pulls off the number 1 plug lead and notices as it's arcing the gap between the end of the plug wire and that of the spark plug,,,the engine ran a bit smoother.
He found that nowhere in the instructions for the petronic II system was there any mention of the need to set the plug gaps wider,,,,he adjusted his plug gaps to 045in and his motor now runs beautifull.
I've been checking other sites to,,,and there are more people out there having the same problems with The Petronics II system.

Originally posted by Thunderbucket
Ok,,,I just got back from another guy's experience with the petronics II system,,,,his motor did the same thing, imediatly went 30 degrees out,ran good on idle,but crappy on acceleration,,and after he spent many hours messing around with timing, and removing his timing chain cover and going through all of that,,,he finaly starts it back up again,,pulls off the number 1 plug lead and notices as it's arcing the gap between the end of the plug wire and that of the spark plug,,,the engine ran a bit smoother.
He found that nowhere in the instructions for the petronic II system was there any mention of the need to set the plug gaps wider,,,,he adjusted his plug gaps to 045in and his motor now runs beautifull.
I've been checking other sites to,,,and there are more people out there having the same problems with The Petronics II system.

tell him, that would be worth a try. where did he go?

Oh yeah,,he also had to reposition his distributor drive to make up for the 30dgrees and to get no1 back again.
There must be something seriously wacked with that system.

Originally posted by lt1s10
i agree on the stick part and it should be done the factory way when you can, but it nice to know there is a way out if you have a problem . ive had other mechanices almost kill me when they worked a 1/2 day trying to time one that i had changed the #1 in the cap and they didnt know it. so if you worked behind me you better check and see where #1 really was, before you tried to time a motor that i had just worked on.

Mike,

I used to do that all the time on my GTO. Drop the distributor in any old place (it had no vacuum advance), then just wire it up according to the firing order. Same thing on the race car. #1 Cylinder doesn't have a clue where your distributor housing is facing.

There are a few way's to connect up the system such as:
the white/bluestriped wire on the module can be run to the ignition switch (the module will retard the spark for easier starting) or you can tape off the white/bluestriped wire, and just run the red wire to a power source.
Also some guys have been throwing away the magnet sleeve thinking it was just a piece of useless plastic.
Without this sleeve the unit will not work.
Install magnet sleeve and make sure it is lined up with the cam and securely seated"]
if this applies in your case.
There are also more than a few units sent back to petronics,,and they turned out to be faulty.
Good luck.

Originally posted by Henry Rifle
Mike,

I used to do that all the time on my GTO. Drop the distributor in any old place (it had no vacuum advance), then just wire it up according to the firing order. Same thing on the race car. #1 Cylinder doesn't have a clue where your distributor housing is facing.

ive all ways did it that way, but on some of my blower motors, the dist. wouldnt go in, but one way and you couldent turn it very much after you got it in, so you had to put #1 in the cap so you could set the timing, but it want on the factory #1.

Wow 4 pages in a few days since I checked and some good little battles. Let me just say with the whole timing issue, I believe LT1 to be correct. As long as I'm on the #1 plug with my light and I'm at 6 degrees then I'm in time. I think I was 20-30 degrees off putting the new one in because I couldn't get the distributor to sit where I had guesstimated the mark from old to new to be and I had to skip a tooth or two over to get the distributor to seat.

At any rate, in the time between having the problems the new cables and plugs I ordered came in (haven't messed with the setup since). I rewired precisely as I had the cables before, (old ones out, new ones in, one at a time). Double checked wiring and it was all good for the timing order. I then installed the new plugs and fired her up. Let me just say this thing is running like a scalded cat now. Weeeee!

I have yet to test the old plugs that came out, but I'm guessing one of the old ones was cracked, fouled or not firing properly. That or the distributor had an issue with the old wires. I know the book that came with the Pentronix said not to use solid core wires, but I seriously doubt that is what was on there. I'll cut one open tomorrow and see though. I was just so happy the thing was running well, I couldn't stop driving it to look at the old stuff.

I gapped the new plugs to factory spec so it's definately not a gapping issue. I'll keep you informed on what I find with the old equipment, but thankfully all the work I did was proper during the install. That's always a good thing

I appreciate all the help gents. I certainly came away from this knowing more about conventional and electronic ignition systems...

Thanks again and I'll let you know what I find.

Originally posted by buddychiefguy
Wow 4 pages in a few days since I checked and some good little battles. Let me just say with the whole timing issue, I believe LT1 to be correct. As long as I'm on the #1 plug with my light and I'm at 6 degrees then I'm in time. I think I was 20-30 degrees off putting the new one in because I couldn't get the distributor to sit where I had guesstimated the mark from old to new to be and I had to skip a tooth or two over to get the distributor to seat.

At any rate, in the time between having the problems the new cables and plugs I ordered came in (haven't messed with the setup since). I rewired precisely as I had the cables before, (old ones out, new ones in, one at a time). Double checked wiring and it was all good for the timing order. I then installed the new plugs and fired her up. Let me just say this thing is running like a scalded cat now. Weeeee!

I have yet to test the old plugs that came out, but I'm guessing one of the old ones was cracked, fouled or not firing properly. That or the distributor had an issue with the old wires. I know the book that came with the Pentronix said not to use solid core wires, but I seriously doubt that is what was on there. I'll cut one open tomorrow and see though. I was just so happy the thing was running well, I couldn't stop driving it to look at the old stuff.

I gapped the new plugs to factory spec so it's definately not a gapping issue. I'll keep you informed on what I find with the old equipment, but thankfully all the work I did was proper during the install. That's always a good thing

I appreciate all the help gents. I certainly came away from this knowing more about conventional and electronic ignition systems...

Thanks again and I'll let you know what I find.

sound like you had some bad plugs or wires, but you got it fixed, everbody learned a little and we didnt get to fighting. its hard for us to tell you your plugs are bad, we have no way of knowing that.