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distributor mod

Printed From: TheAMCForum.com
Category: The Garage
Forum Name: AMC 6 Cylinder Engine Repair and Modifications
Forum Description: AMC-made I-6 engine mechanical, ignition and fuel from basic repair to high-perf modifications
URL: https://theamcforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=113177
Printed Date: Mar/28/2024 at 4:33pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: distributor mod
Posted By: formationrx
Subject: distributor mod
Date Posted: Nov/13/2021 at 5:22pm
i been looking at converting my distributor from the old style to an electronic one... upon looking into it...  seems there are lots of options..  im wondering which is the simplest best way to go... my car is a 67 rambler american with a 199 engine....  should i get a whole electronic distributor?... a conversion kit? or  distributor ignitor?... i have seen you guys chat about a Pertronix #1162A ? or a Pertronix 2?.... what are you guys doing to improve spark?



Replies:
Posted By: 5spdwagon
Date Posted: Nov/13/2021 at 9:04pm
I put a HEI in my 258

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Real hot rods have 3 pedals


Posted By: Heavy 488
Date Posted: Nov/13/2021 at 9:35pm
Ive had good luck with the pertronix myself.


Posted By: wittsend
Date Posted: Nov/13/2021 at 9:48pm
I have no idea what it takes to get a more modern electronic AMC distributor set up. Sometimes it takes a harness, ignition box etc. The very modern stuff is often crank triggered and a computer is needed for timing adjustments. This is just generic and not AMC specific.

 The Pertronix is straightforward and simple. Get the Pertronix 2. The Pertronix 1 can fry if the key is left on without the engine running in as short as 30 seconds - or less.


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'63 American Hardtop


Posted By: tomj
Date Posted: Nov/13/2021 at 11:45pm
Pertronix Ignitor II (I think is the product name) is just great. It's worth the extra money.

I suggest also fully disassembling the distributor. Pull the shaft out, gun-brush the bore, clean out the spiral groove, oil, etc. You'll be surprised how much freer the thing will spin.



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1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com



Posted By: formationrx
Date Posted: Nov/14/2021 at 4:24am
thank you... it means a lot to me you guys took the time to help me out...


Posted By: tomj
Date Posted: Nov/14/2021 at 9:54pm
At the bottom of this long list of images is an early Delco Remy distributor taken apart, and with an Ignitor II installed.

https://www.sr-ix.com/AMC/1960-Rambler-American-wagon/engine-install/index.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.sr-ix.com/AMC/1960-Rambler-American-wagon/engine-install/index.html



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1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com



Posted By: First_Gear
Date Posted: Nov/16/2021 at 5:48pm
If you have a manual with electronic overdrive you must stick with points fyi or run a relay.


Posted By: tomj
Date Posted: Nov/16/2021 at 10:04pm
Originally posted by First_Gear First_Gear wrote:

If you have a manual with electronic overdrive you must stick with points fyi or run a relay.

Are you sure? The Pertronix just "grounds" coil minus, just like points, only using a MOSFET or something. Grounding it externally shouldn't matter at all, and wouldn't harm the MOSFET. The pertronix wouldn't even "know".

Am I missing something?

(Ugh, stuck OD relay or governor contacts is not-good -- happened to me once, on I-5 up to Portland. Kickdown, it shorted the coil per usual, but FORGOT TO LET GO, since the gas-pedal was floored the exhaust filled with fuel+air. The relay/gov let go a half or full second later, and KABOOM! blew the entire end out of a brand new muffler. NOT GOOD. lol.)


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1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com



Posted By: wittsend
Date Posted: Nov/17/2021 at 10:39am
Originally posted by tomj tomj wrote:

Originally posted by First_Gear First_Gear wrote:

If you have a manual with electronic overdrive you must stick with points fyi or run a relay.

Are you sure? The Pertronix just "grounds" coil minus, just like points, only using a MOSFET or something. Grounding it externally shouldn't matter at all, and wouldn't harm the MOSFET. The pertronix wouldn't even "know".

Am I missing something?

I agree. When you consider all the circuits on an electronic board that share a common ground I don't see a problem. Of course there is always doing something stupid. I remember the time at the college when a student SOMEHOW (???) wrongly forced a polarized twist lock connector on the Fisher camera dolly and put 120 volts AC into the the ground side of a camera. BZZZZ..., $5,000 for a new camera head! Shocked


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'63 American Hardtop


Posted By: First_Gear
Date Posted: Nov/20/2021 at 3:31pm
I just had read this on the forum somewhere. Maybe it was Farna? I don't remember. Anyway just thought I would put it out there. Do you know what current the fet is rated for? That might tell us something.


Posted By: rgsauger
Date Posted: Nov/25/2021 at 9:26am
 You could also get a late 70s or early 80s DurasPark distributor and use it to trigger an MSD 6A. That’s what I have in my jeep and I absolutely love it! Use the big distributor cap from a 1981 Ford 300 straight six engine. The MSD and hot coil made all the difference in the world.  


Posted By: vinny
Date Posted: Nov/25/2021 at 1:00pm
I am using the Petronix in a Delco distributor in a 67 232. Use the Petronix coil and full voltage, no resistor. Touch the key and it is started.

I also have a Delco HEI from a Chev 79 Nova IIRC but I haven't found the right gear for it yet. I would put that one in my spare 232 engine. Anybody know a P/N for that gear? 
I used that distributor in my 66 truck for a while before switching to a V-8 and it worked perfectly.

HEI or Petronix, from my experience, they both work good.


Posted By: tomj
Date Posted: Nov/25/2021 at 2:28pm
Originally posted by vinny vinny wrote:

I also have a Delco HEI from a Chev 79 Nova IIRC but I haven't found the right gear for it yet.

I believe I've read the AMC gear will fit the hei distributor, so you may already have one.  


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1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com



Posted By: vinny
Date Posted: Nov/26/2021 at 3:36pm
I sent a Prestolite points distributor to a guy and he sent me back a defective something from a Jeep with two vacuum lines coming out of it. I tried that gear on the HEI but it was too big on the shaft. I guess I could have a repair sleeve machined to fill the gap. 

If it were from a Delco distributor then yes I think it would fit the HEI but up here the only Delco distributors were on the US made Rambler Americans. Canadian built cars used the Prestolite. I don't know what brand distributor they used on the later Jeeps with a 232.


Posted By: farna
Date Posted: Dec/09/2021 at 7:18am
First_Gear -- probably was me. I ran a Borg-Warner electric overdrive with an EFI system though. I didn't know if the (Jeep 4.0L, RENIX) electronic ignition module would like being grounded. Coil sat on top of the module, and I don't think I could ground the coil without grounding the module. So I put a relay in the power wire to the module so it quickly turned off/on. Grounding may have been fine, I just didn't want to burn a module up to find out. Since it's grounded for such a short time it probably would have worked for a while... until it didn't... Don't like being stranded without knowing exactly why!!  No fun even then, but at least you know what needs to be fixed! Took me a few hours to find an O2 wire melted to the exhaust manifold where it fell. Who'd have thought a grounded out sensor wire would kill an engine? Did on the RENIX!!


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Frank Swygert


Posted By: vinny
Date Posted: Dec/09/2021 at 4:07pm
 Picture no good

Yes Tom, it looks like the gear from Prestolite 3227331 (75/76? Jeep 232) may fit the GM HEI.

Any body know much about these Prestolite distributors and what causes them to fail? Rockauto has a picture of it.


Posted By: tomj
Date Posted: Dec/09/2021 at 5:46pm
Originally posted by vinny vinny wrote:

Any body know much about these Prestolite distributors and what causes them to fail? Rockauto has a picture of it.

Frank knows about them... I think the deal is, the signal from the distributor, to the electronic box, is very weak by nature, and the connectors get intermitent, high-resistance etc and make it fail. Cut, splice, solder the wires, clean the connector, etc might help.



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1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com



Posted By: farna
Date Posted: Dec/10/2021 at 6:22am
What TomJ says. Soldering the wires is actually in a service bulletin issued by AMC shortly after they started using the things. A better gold plated connector or cleaning the connector often would work, but...

The next thing that goes wrong is the plastic double diaphragm vacuum module (advance?). They go bad with age, and I don't think anyone makes a replacement. 

It uses the right gear for a GM HEI. So does the older AMC model Delco distributor. The Ford style distributor gear can't be used... makes sense!


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Frank Swygert


Posted By: vinny
Date Posted: Dec/10/2021 at 9:54am
Thanks guys, you do know your AMC stuff. 

Sure enough, the vacuum port of the 75/6 distributor is open. I pulled the gear to use on the HEI. Some material had to be removed from above the gear teeth to get the roll pin in. The GM gear does not have that excess height above the gear teeth.




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