Ignition failure warning to all owners

[Michael J.]

Re: Ignition failure warning to all owners

George,
The distributor repair situation is worse than "not having grown up with them." The number of folks who have grown up with distributors is dwindling daily. Do you know how long it has been since an engine was factory built with a points type distributor? For Corvette it is 1973, and I doubt any other manufacturer is much after that. And yes I know the distributor without points went on to 1996 or so. We (my community college Automotive Department) quit teaching rebuilding distributors (carburetors, starters and alternators too) almost two decades ago. If that is typical of automotive education, and I think it is, finding an automotive technician who even recognizes those parts would now present a challenge. Your alternative? Do it yourself. While it does require some skill and knowledge, it is not rocket science. (No offense intended to the rocket scientists in our membership.) Duke has gone a long way toward opening that door for all of us. The Factory Service Manuals (FSM) have extensive information on all of the above.

Very true, and I recall what many of my friends said when I ripped out the unreliable and failing Pertronix unit in mine a few years ago and replaced with points and condenser, which is the way all my old cars are now. They couldn't believe I would do such a thing, how can you understand and adjust such an ancient and odd thing they asked. I just laughed and told them points and condenser are much easier to understand and adjust than an electronic black box.

[Duke W.]

Re: Ignition failure warning to all owners

One small correction, I think that '74 owners might be very suprised to not find points under the distributor cap. I made beer money doing performance enhancements on the 73-74 distributors.

Bill - do you have any current replacment part numbers for the breaker plate? See post #8.

Yup, '74 was the last year GM used points on any engine. For 1975, all was HEI.

Duke

[John H.]

Re: Ignition failure warning to all owners

Duke,
thanks. Saved and printed.

George

George -

Here's another rebuild resource, from Dave Fiedler's site:

http://www.tispecialty.com/articles/article6.htm

[Terry M.]

Re: Ignition failure warning to all owners

Bill - do you have any current replacment part numbers for the breaker plate? See post #8.

Yup, '74 was the last year GM used points on any engine. For 1975, all was HEI.

Duke

I guess that shows all of you what I know about rubber bumper Corvettes. I still stand by my comments about the lack of knowledge about distributors among auto repair places now days. Go buy a set of points from your FLAPS and see what kinds of stares you get. "And your VIN is?"

[William C.]

Re: Ignition failure warning to all owners

Duke, Group 2.385 part number 1962141 was the only part number in the 3-83 parts book, but same part for GM (all) pass car and Corvette so Lots out there. It was still shown in the '85 price book (latest one I have) so I don't know if they are still available or not. I really don't have a problem with a used one as long as the insulation on the wire is still soft. On the few I've seen broken, the insulation hardened and fractured and that made a stress point that let to wire fracture. The wire is special small strand, lots of them in the bundle to allow for the flex, but if the covering cracks, stress is concentrated at that point. I've probably got a lifetime supply of good used ones...

[Duke W.]

Re: Ignition failure warning to all owners

The original on my '63 340 HP engine had a worn bushing and wobbled. It may have been an exception. That was back in the seventies, and I was able to buy a new one from GM. Jim's '65 350 HP was nice and snug, wobble free at 95K miles.

Maybe Joe can tell us if the 1962141 is still available. I've never been able to cross that number to any other brand, so my suspicion is that neither SMP or any other manufacturer is making them.

Duke

[Clem Z.]

Re: Ignition failure warning to all owners

The original on my '63 340 HP engine had a worn bushing and wobbled. It may have been an exception. That was back in the seventies, and I was able to buy a new one from GM. Jim's '65 350 HP was nice and snug, wobble free at 95K miles.

Maybe Joe can tell us if the 1962141 is still available. I've never been able to cross that number to any other brand, so my suspicion is that neither SMP or any other manufacturer is making them.

Duke

you can do like i used to do when we had extra heavy duty points to prevent point float. i put epoxy in the cast iron part and after it hardened i machined the epoxy so the point plate rested on the epoxy to support it.

[George J.]

Re: Ignition failure warning to all owners

George -

Here's another rebuild resource, from Dave Fiedler's site:

http://www.tispecialty.com/articles/article6.htm

John,
thanks.

George

[George J.]

Re: Ignition failure warning to all owners

George,
The distributor repair situation is worse than "not having grown up with them." The number of folks who have grown up with distributors is dwindling daily. Do you know how long it has been since an engine was factory built with a points type distributor? For Corvette it is 1973, and I doubt any other manufacturer is much after that. And yes I know the distributor without points went on to 1996 or so. We (my community college Automotive Department) quit teaching rebuilding distributors (carburetors, starters and alternators too) almost two decades ago. If that is typical of automotive education, and I think it is, finding an automotive technician who even recognizes those parts would now present a challenge. Your alternative? Do it yourself. While it does require some skill and knowledge, it is not rocket science. (No offense intended to the rocket scientists in our membership.) Duke has gone a long way toward opening that door for all of us. The Factory Service Manuals (FSM) have extensive information on all of the above.

Terry,
My first car was a hand-me-down '77 Firebird. Even that had an HEI. When I received that car it was 1983, so even then there was not a need for learning about points. Heck, even my first Corvette was a '66 with TI.
There is a local group in SE Mich. that is very informal, and their name is the "Points and Condenser Preservation Society". Belonging to that has kept me from even thinking of trying a black box on my '65. ; )

George