In search of an elusive short condition in my ignition, I finally located the culprit inside the distributor. A loose black lead with a flag terminal poked down inside the dist. Now where does this fellow call home?? Also cannot identify the advance springs. What should they be for the 365HP and any set up help now that its out on the bench. Already done the shim and rebuilt the tach drive bushings, etc..
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Re: 64 Dist. Questions
Sounds like an open, not short. The breaker plate has a black lead that should be tied to the housing under one of the screws for the vacuum advance. This is the lead that grounds the coil when the points are closed. Without it you have an open circuit and no ignition. The '63 Corvette Shop Manaul has a good section on the distributor.
Other than very early 365HP engines your point distributor tag number should end with "069". It has a very aggressive centrifugal advance that is all in by 2350 engine revs. The springs are light and in free state I recall that the coils do not actually touch, but distributor springs can be difficult to visually identify. The best way to characterize them is to test and record their advance curve.
Duke -
Re: 64 Dist. Questions
Duke, Thanks for the response but I'm getting more confused now. I understand that the lead should mount under the vacuum screw. How I "think" I found a short problem was an occasional stumble with the rpm's dropping. After searching for the "short" in the dark, I discovered an arc between the vacuum pot and the coil braket. I could chase this short to the intake manifold by rotating the dist. Any thoughts here or am I just confusing what I saw?? 069 it is and you describe the sprngs acurately!Comment
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Re: 64 Dist. Questions
Connect that ground wire to the front vacuum advance retaining screw and see if the problem with the coil bracket doesn't disappearBill Clupper #618Comment
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Re: 64 Dist. Questions
Follow Bill's advice and make sure the breaker plate ground lead is secured to a vacuum can mounting screw. In fact, you should also verify that the ground wire is properly secured to the breaker plate, or just replace the breaker plate.
The distributor should ground to the engine via the steel clamp, so check that the distributor housing is grounded. 12V won't jump much of a gap to create an arc, but any arcing near the coil would make the coil suspect in my mind, so you might want to swap the coil with another to see if this has any effect.
DukeComment
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Re: 64 Dist. Questions
Normally, the short black ground lead that connects the breaker plate to the housing to provide a positive ground circuit had a ring terminal on each end.
A black lead with a flag terminal inside the distributor housing sounds like the coil wire whereas the flag terminal attaches to the points or possible it is the black lead from the condensor. Just a thought.Comment
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