Thread: For Don Shilady

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HOW TO SET UP (spring + bushing) in MSD distributor for the street?

I'm back, just getting the roadster ready for summer. Actually I ended up teaching as a replacement for a colleague who was seriously ill (passed away a month ago) from November, 2016 through Spring, Summer and Fall of 2017. I did manage to attend a local Friday night meet a few times in the Summer but no long trips. Over the summer the starter began to make a noise more frequently but I let the car sit in the garage over the cold months. Finally the THIRD starter in three years made it very difficult to start so now in the Spring of 2018 I took the car to my favorite shop for a Spring tuneup. It turns out that this 3rd starter was seriously cracked at the gear end. Now for the question. I am mostly sure these three starters all failed due to engine kick back and the engine backfired because the initial timing was too advanced. The distributor is an MSD unit with what looks like L13 on the side. An MSD salesman said all the MSD distributors have the same weights and spring set. He also said Drag racers have a unit which keeps the advance low to start the engine but then the advance is set as high as 42 degrees total for racing. My otherwise excellent shop foreman says the distributor just came ready to install for a street engine and he really is a super mechanic but he also races an aluminum block drag car so I think he may have set the spring too weak. So I ordered a set of six (6) springs and six (6) bushings for the distributor from JEGS. This offers 6x6=36 possibilities for the springs and bushings so I need to learn how to set up the distributor so the engine will start without destroying the starter again and then have enough total advance to get good performance. The cam in the SBC 350 is a very mild grind about 398/410 with 1.5 rocker ratios, shorty headers and a Preformer RPM intake (I know a PES would be better) with an Edelbrock 1406 4-barrel so I would guess I need a strong spring like #5 (?) with a bushing allowing about 34 degrees total like #? Is this a total trial-and-error process or can I do this with a timing light? MY MAIN GOAL is to have a car with a starter that will last for several years of less than 2000 miles/year. I should mention that I am also on my third flexplate but it survived this last starter because it is an expensive billet plate and in spite of a severe disagreement with the starter no gear teeth were damaged on the flexplate. Soooo, How do I pick out a (spring+ bushing) to prevent kick back when starting the engine?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder