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Distributor not advancing

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Kade06
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Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:58 am
Location: Whitesboro, Tx (Lake Texoma)
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Distributor not advancing

Post by Kade06 » Thu Jun 22, 2017 5:28 pm

Alright so I've had a hell of a last couple years but I think f I can get this problem fixed I may be out of the woods for at least a bit. So back a year and a half ago one of the tabs holding the springs in my prestolite distributor 4301-bb broke. I contacted a person ( who will rename nameless) with knowledge and experience rebuilding these distributors. I traded out for one I thought was rebuilt (more on that later) and when I received it the advance/springs seemed pretty damn tight compared to the previous distributor. Anyway boat ran but had steam which I thought could be related but chased other causes for the steam thinking the distributor was fixed. Fast forward to this year and after carb rebuild, exhaust manifold rebuilds and a list of other things the boat wont run over 1700-2000 rpm without falling on its face and still has steam. Did this before and after carb rebuild. When back to idle its loading up and will clear out and go back to idling and cruising fine up to the 1700-2000 rpm range. Took distributor off today and disassembled... if thats rebuilt I'd hate to see one that isn't....rust, old grease or lack of. Cleaned and greased whole thing and seemed a little looser this was after lighter springs a couple weeks ago because the advance seemed extremely tight. Anyway ran it today and same thing. Used timing light and mark on flywheel while running and mark didn't move telling me it's not advancing so I advanced by hand at the distributor and it picked up and ran smoothly up to 2200 before leveling out ( figured I was out of advancement by hand). So I think the distributor is not advancing because of a faulty distributor or too tight of springs but they came out of a advance curve kit and are the lightest springs of the three. So before I bought a used or new old stock distributor wanted to see if I'm missing something or if anybody has had similar issues. Thanks in advance.....Kristian
Chris Craft Cavalier Futura
1965 27 foot "Kristi D"

jfrprops
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Location: Powhatan Courthouse Virginia
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Re: Distributor not advancing

Post by jfrprops » Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:18 pm

coil resistor?

John in Va.
1980 Fairchild Scout 30
19?? custom Argentine Runabout 16'
1954 Whirlwind deluxe dual ckpt 16'
1921 Old Town Charles River 17' (founding Captain, James River Batteau Festival)

Kade06
Posts: 87
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:58 am
Location: Whitesboro, Tx (Lake Texoma)
Contact:

Re: Distributor not advancing

Post by Kade06 » Thu Jun 22, 2017 9:58 pm

the actual coil or is this resistor something different John?
Chris Craft Cavalier Futura
1965 27 foot "Kristi D"

Kade06
Posts: 87
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:58 am
Location: Whitesboro, Tx (Lake Texoma)
Contact:

Re: Distributor not advancing

Post by Kade06 » Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:02 pm

Jumping time was also mentioned
Chris Craft Cavalier Futura
1965 27 foot "Kristi D"

jfrprops
Posts: 2092
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:41 pm
Location: Powhatan Courthouse Virginia
Contact:

Re: Distributor not advancing

Post by jfrprops » Fri Jun 23, 2017 8:29 am

I think I am wasting your time with this maybe....but if she has a coil resistor it is mounted somewhere near the distributor...on a bracket off the block usually...and it is a little white ceramic gismo about 1/2 inch wide and thick...and 3 inches long...with a wire off each end.....on the underside is a wire coil and you can tell if it has burned in half....if that is the case it overloads the points etc and one of the symptoms is she won't rev up but will idle ok.

John in Va.
1980 Fairchild Scout 30
19?? custom Argentine Runabout 16'
1954 Whirlwind deluxe dual ckpt 16'
1921 Old Town Charles River 17' (founding Captain, James River Batteau Festival)

Kade06
Posts: 87
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:58 am
Location: Whitesboro, Tx (Lake Texoma)
Contact:

Re: Distributor not advancing

Post by Kade06 » Fri Jun 23, 2017 9:37 am

I don't think I have that but I'll check to make sure. Thanks John
Chris Craft Cavalier Futura
1965 27 foot "Kristi D"

jim g
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Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:55 pm
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Re: Distributor not advancing

Post by jim g » Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:18 am

The best way to check to see how good your advance is working is to get a timing light that you can advance. What it will let you do is 2 things. First you can rev the engine to any rpm and move the advance on the timing light and when the mark comes back to the pointer the timing light will tell you how many degrees of advance you have. The other thing it will let you do is set the max advance at the engine speed you should have it. So say you should have 32 degrees at 3600 rpm. You set set the advance setting to 32 degrees on the timing light and rev the motor to 3600 out of gear. If its timed right at idle and the dist. is working correctly the mark and the pointer should line up. If not you can turn the dist. until they do. If this throws idling and low end performance way off. Then your dist. or the pertronix igniter are not working correctly.

If you can tell me which dist. you have I can tell what the specs should be on the advance. i.e. what degree at what rpm.

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