Thread: GM Distributor .. thing..

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I'm in the process of putting my motor back in my car and I was sorting through my parts and i found the little metal thing that looks like the other half of a ying-yang and i do not know where exactly it goes back into my distributor!

It's a Proform HEI distributor.

If you know where it goes, could you please be descriptive as to where and how i get it into the distributor? Thanks a bunch.
-Tom

P.S.:
Any picture links telling me where to put it would be GREATLY appreciated >_<

How about a picture of the little metal thing that looks like the other half of the ying-yang.

i can't find one so i'll probably have to draw a rough outline of it >_> give me a sec..

edit:
http://crowbie.awedco.net/thing.jpg

Originally Posted by Crowbie

i can't find one so i'll probably have to draw a rough outline of it >_> give me a sec..

edit:
http://crowbie.awedco.net/thing.jpg

how did you get my ying-yang? i've been looking all over for it.

You have to have TWIN YING-YANG'S They don't like to be seperated. There joined at the shaft.

Sounds like one of the weights for the centrifugal advance.

Originally Posted by cffisher

You have to have TWIN YING-YANG'S They don't like to be seperated. There joined at the shaft.

i had one YING YANG, i had lost one.

That's one of the two mechanical advance weights from the inside. You need two, and you should have a spring also. Without those weights and springs installed your distributor won't distribute. If you don't know how to fix it, find someone who does.

yeah it looks like those weights but it looks nothing like a "normal" MSD / GM hei stock weight.

Curse you, proform.

How do I get it to go back in its place? >_>

Originally Posted by lt1s10

how did you get my ying-yang? i've been looking all over for it.

HELL. .. it looks exactly like MSD weights.. when they're not BROKEN

great. Who knows how long i've been driving with that.

I threw a weight in the distributor of my '68 GTO years ago. The weight jammed between the rotor and the housing and spun the entire distributor. It pulled all the sparkplug wires off and the engine shut down.

While this was going on, an extra rich mixture was being fed into the exhaust system. With one last spark, both of my Thrush header mufflers blew up. It split the seams in both mufflers, and opened them up like a gutted carp. Made quite a bang, too. I thought I just blew the whole engine.

oh man. um. that story? kinda reminds me about.. a year ago when i was driving down the street and it did that same thing but to one muffler and did NOT shoot my wires off.. ...

so i've been riding around for a year with a broken weight?!

dear lord >_<

possibly..... so that whole time you thought it was running bad cause you needed a rebuild that you couldn't afford.... it was just a weight...

Well I've rebuilt and installed and got the sucker running!

It feels alot stronger than it did last time. It's got more punch to it.

And when we pulled the pistons out? Yeah the ring gaps were practically next, if not aligned, to each other.

Hmmm. Something tells me the last guy that helped me build the motor.. didn't know jacks#!+ about building a motor. Now I know; and knowing is half the battle! (G.I. Jooooeee! )