DISTRIBUTOR REPOSITIONING.

[Dick Koch]

The 318 in Charleen with the dual quads has been missing terrible lately. The fuel pump has a glass bowl filter on it so I took the bowl off to clean it, it had a small amount of debris in it. The rear carb had gas flowing even after the engine shut off, I took it off and cleaned it out real good and the engine ran good for a couple days. Then it started running bad again, I cleaned the bowl again but it only had a couple of small pieces of debris this time. When the engine shut off the front carb had gas flowing so I took it off and cleaned it out. The car ran better but still has a miss. I took the sparkplugs out, cleaned them, reset the gap and reinstalled them but it didn't help. I installed petronix ignition a couple years ago and that didn't seem to be the problem. Was talking to Frank Lamp and he advised to put the points back in the distributor. I thought that might solve the problem because a couple of years ago I remembered I was having similar problems with my Desoto that I has also installed Petronix in. I damn near replaced the entire electrical and fuel system on the Desoto except for the Petronix. A local Mopar Mechanic told me that if Petronix doesn't see a constant charging rate it will go bad (Generator). I put the points back in the Desoto and it has been running smooth ever since. SO I reinstalled the points in Charleen but when trying to time the engine the vacuum advance on the distributor when turning counterclockwise hits on the dual quad intake manifold. THE QUESTION IS can I move the wires on the distributor cap around one position or turn the distributor 180 degrees or is there some other way. I have it running but until it's timed properly I won't know it it still missing or not. HELP.
Dick.

[big m]

You can move the wires clockwise or counter-clockwise on the distributor, just be careful to go the correct way with them to allow for more distributor movement in the proper timing range. Also, double check the firing order once you have done this, as it's easy to cross two wires.

---John

[Dick Koch]

John - Thanks for your reply, I had thought of your suggestion but a shade tree mechanic friend of mine said it would'n work. I had already turned the distributor and cap 180 degrees leaving the rotor pointing at #1 cyl. Then moved the wires accordingly. Now there is plenty of room to time the car. Started it up and don't you know it was still missing, gave up for the night, upon your warning this morning I traced the wires and don't you know I had two wires crossed. Adjusted the carbs and it's running real smooth now. I took out the Petronix and reinstalled the points, I also took out the Champion Sparkplugs on the advice of a racing engine builder friend of mine thats in the racing hall of fame and installed autolite sparkplugs.
Dick

[big m]

Glad to hear you've got the problems sorted, Dick. When I had my repair business in the '80's and '90's, we ran into many problems with customers cars running Champion plugs. Seemed they would foul and would not clean up. We only installed Autolite plugs, and never had those problems again.

---John

[rogerh]

I, too, have heard that Champion plugs are no good.