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Author
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Topic: distributor gear: iron or steel?
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project66
Gearhead Posts: 246
From: Baton Rouge, LA
Registered: Jul 99
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posted 05-09-2001 10:03 AM
   
Thought it might be prudent to put a new gear on the Duraspark I yanked last week. Ford sells a cast iron and a steel variety. First, what's the utility of the two, and second, which do I want for my hopped up driver?TIA-
JimO
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jimb
Gearhead Posts: 136
From: s. holland, il usa
Registered: Nov 99
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posted 05-09-2001 11:12 AM
If your engine has a factory roller cam you need to use a steel gear. If not the gear will destroy itself in a matter of minutes.
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steve'66
Gearhead Posts: 8796
From: Sonoma,CA,USA
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 05-09-2001 11:54 AM
JimO,Yes you want the cast one. There's some good info in the Racing forum on recurving it too. (perk's timing post) SteveW
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project66
Gearhead Posts: 246
From: Baton Rouge, LA
Registered: Jul 99
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posted 05-09-2001 03:51 PM
As always, thanks guys-Steve, I'd been reading Perks thread but will admit to not following a lot of it. I've printed it to study once I start going through this. I assume that the 21L and 16 being discussed related to weights (or positions for weights). Also, someone in that thread mentioned not using the vacuum advance. Why not? First principles, I know! Can someone shed light or better yet, recommend reading? JimO
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steve'66
Gearhead Posts: 8796
From: Sonoma,CA,USA
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 05-09-2001 04:30 PM
quote:
Originally posted by project66:
As always, thanks guys-I assume that the 21L and 16 being discussed related to weights (or positions for weights). Also, someone in that thread mentioned not using the vacuum advance. Why not? JimO
Assuming you're building a street/strip car, the vac advance is more trouble than it's worth. The vac advance pulls timing out under low speed load conditions, etc. A strip engine wants full advance except for starting and idling. The serious strip-only cars have locked timing, and retard the advance only for starting. Since a street/strip engine is a compromise, you recurve the distributor to allow full advance at (usually) 3000 rpm and above. During a drag race the engine should stay above 3000 the whole time anyway, so it might as well be locked. But for driving around town with low rpm loads the ignition will be less advanced and the engine will run cooler and hopefully won't knock/ping. This is just a simple explanation of why you want to re-curve the distributor. There are a lot of things left out like cam profiles, power curves etc. But I hope it helps. When you're ready to do it, we'll walk you through it. The 16L and 21L refers to notches that limit the movement of the advance mechanism. They are the total degrees X 2. The 16L slot is 32 extra degrees of advance. (that's where I have mine) My initial advance is 7 and total is 39. I used the light Mr Gasket springs on the advance weights, and the total advance is in at 3000. Perk is going more extreme than I, trying to get all advance in by 2000 rpm. Different engines and cam combos like different curves. Just the basics, hope it helps, fire away with questions if I/we lost you. SteveW [This message has been edited by steve'66 (edited 05-09-2001).]
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