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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: RSNOMO]
#1617554
05/07/14 11:22 PM
05/07/14 11:22 PM
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 12,291
Kent, Wa
340SHORTY
Truck Nut
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Truck Nut
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 12,291
Kent, Wa
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Reman from your favorite local parts house. Usually around 50 clams. Your 383 dist wouldnt of done you any good. The shaft is to short for use in a 440.
Last edited by 340SHORTY; 05/07/14 11:23 PM.
I am truckless..
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: WyleECoyote]
#1617555
05/07/14 11:39 PM
05/07/14 11:39 PM
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,040
Lincoln Nebraska
RapidRobert
Circle Track
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Circle Track
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,040
Lincoln Nebraska
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I know you said new but I'd suggest a good used non Mallory electronic OE dist & take it apart & clean/lube it & reduce the lower shaft end play to .005". Taking the clip out is a pain but when you get the springs/slot length finalized your all set & the real power is in the coil/ballast combo & the dist is pretty much just an on/off switch to trigger the ECU. NAPA has an Echlin #MO3000 rotor for $8 & change that has a .060" longer blade & check/correct the rotor phasing. You could clean/polish the exterior to match the quality of your new eng paint/finish. I understand there is something that ain't quite right with the mechanics of the new Mallory based MP dizzys
live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: 340SHORTY]
#1617556
05/08/14 12:28 AM
05/08/14 12:28 AM
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,377
Tennessee
WyleECoyote
OP
pro stock
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OP
pro stock
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,377
Tennessee
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Quote:
Reman from your favorite local parts house. Usually around 50 clams. Your 383 dist wouldnt of done you any good. The shaft is to short for use in a 440.
Right. The deck height is different between the 383/400 and the 440; makes the distributor shaft longer on the 440's. I just didn't want to pay for a complete "conversion" kit when all I need is the distributor.
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: dogdays]
#1617558
05/08/14 01:37 PM
05/08/14 01:37 PM
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,040
Lincoln Nebraska
RapidRobert
Circle Track
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Circle Track
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,040
Lincoln Nebraska
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No need to cringe bro  . Dog what is going on with you that the content of my (or anyones) post would be getting under your skin?. What works for me is: to ignore the stuff I dont agree with/apologise when I post something erroneous (which hopefully ain't too often)/try to give helpfull advice wording it as a suggestion rather than a must do/ignore the haters on here unless they jump on me personally. Every post should offer or attempt to offer something constructive so with that in mind here goes: I believe there is ALOT of gain to be had by dialing in the curve dead on with the dist installed cuz every eng is different. If the OP wants a new drop in dist which will be close but not dead on then I'm sure he is capable of making that decision & yes taking the center clip out is a pain but it ain't bad once you get the hang of it. RR
live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: RapidRobert]
#1617559
05/08/14 02:25 PM
05/08/14 02:25 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 74,974
U.S.S.A.
JohnRR
I Win
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I Win
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 74,974
U.S.S.A.
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Quote:
No need to cringe bro . Dog what is going on with you that the content of my (or anyones) post would be getting under your skin?. What works for me is: to ignore the stuff I dont agree with/apologise when I post something erroneous (which hopefully ain't too often)/try to give helpfull advice wording it as a suggestion rather than a must do/ignore the haters on here unless they jump on me personally. Every post should offer or attempt to offer something constructive so with that in mind here goes: I believe there is ALOT of gain to be had by dialing in the curve dead on with the dist installed cuz every eng is different. If the OP wants a new drop in dist which will be close but not dead on then I'm sure he is capable of making that decision & yes taking the center clip out is a pain but it ain't bad once you get the hang of it. RR
RR , why are you so sensitive when someone doesn't agree with suggestion and says something about it ?
Maybe you should heed your own advice to ignore it and move on ...
Also , I'm curious , what's SUPPOSEDLY wrong with the Mallory unit ??
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: floridian]
#1617565
05/09/14 10:37 AM
05/09/14 10:37 AM
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,472
Overland Park, KS.
Joshs68
pro stock
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pro stock
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,472
Overland Park, KS.
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I had a low cost parts sore unit go bad on me. I replaced it with a mopar unit from FBO. It was a higher quality distributor than a parts store replacement and after I walked him through my combo he set it up and it has worked great right out of the box. The price was not high either. Just my personal positive experience. www.4secondsflat.com/
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: WyleECoyote]
#1617566
05/09/14 11:19 AM
05/09/14 11:19 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 74,974
U.S.S.A.
JohnRR
I Win
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I Win
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 74,974
U.S.S.A.
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Quote:
 
So a stock electronic distributor isn't any good?
That orange piece of junk they come with is outdated.
As far as what is wrong with the distributor, one guy thousands of miles outside the US says he found something wrong, and the person passing that info along can't remember what it was ... so yes ... junk ...
The wiring harness and ballast resistor are probably ok ...
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: JohnRR]
#1617567
05/09/14 12:27 PM
05/09/14 12:27 PM
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 4,707
Florida
BDW
master
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master
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 4,707
Florida
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Cut-n-paste about problems with newer MP distributor The whole story is in the Feb '14 Mopar Action. I just read the Mopar Action article. I've used the newer MP distributor in the past and it worked in my application but both the mechanical advance and vacuum advance were disabled. The distributor was locked out. Based on that I can't comment on the spark scatter issue from a personal perspective but i have seen some erratic timing on other car's i've helped to tune. It can be frustrating swapping out springs and resetting/adjusting mechanical advance with marginal results. :P The MA article does make mention of the FireCore billet distributors and upon testing they found that timing was rock solid with the Firecore unit. Ehrenberg even summerizes the article by saying ; your best option is to find an old 73 distributor and rebuild/modify it or purchase the FireCore unit. More or less of what i've been telling members for the past few years ; Firecore is a top shelf product and i wouldn't be recommending it to my friends if it wasn't.  As for the ECU's ; there is a member on Moparts who has been doing a fair bit of dyno testing on the replacement style ECU's and the only ones he likes are the rev-n-ator and FBO box. All the other chinese knockoffs pull timing and higher rpm and loose power at peak volumetric efficiency which is when the greatest demand on the ignition system occurs. Mopar performance is out of the electronic conversion market at this point which isn't necessarily a bad thing based on recent reports.
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: 383man]
#1617571
05/14/14 11:09 AM
05/14/14 11:09 AM
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,377
Tennessee
WyleECoyote
OP
pro stock
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OP
pro stock
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,377
Tennessee
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Thanks everyone!  Like dogdays said, I just want to stab it in, set timing and go - and so with everyone's comments here I do believe I will just buy the FireCore distributor (thanks cnxt) for my Road Runner (already wired with ECU). I also have a 71 Charger with points that I will convert with a pertronix ignition conversion and see how that goes too! (thanks Kilrbee) Thanks again to all that took the time to share.
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: WyleECoyote]
#1617572
05/14/14 01:43 PM
05/14/14 01:43 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,376
dogdays
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,376
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Here goes again.....As many have said before me, and I rely on their veracity, unless your distributor is completely worn out the Pertronix conversion is a slam dunk. But don't expect it to make a difference in how the car runs. You may "feel" a difference, but I remind you that in at least 30% of the population, the placebo effect works.
Now, what will make a difference is getting your advance curve right.
Here I go a little off topic. I divide the automotive world into "weekend drivers" and "weekend racers". Blazin' Bob is a weekend racer. As such, he knows how to recurve a distributor, and the benefits from that. A weekend driver won't generally know how or why to recurve a distributor.
That is why I cringe every time a weekend racer tells a weekend driver to buy a stock rebuilt distributor and put a Pertronix kit in it. The weekend driver, not knowing how or why, will probably not recurve the stock distributor with its lazy curve. On the other hand, if the weekend driver buys a distributor with a high performance curve and stabs it in, the results will be much better. At this point the weekend driver says, "Wow, changing from points to breakerless ignition really woke the car up!" Weekend racers will understand that it was the better curve that woke the car up.
Properly-set-up points type ignitions, especially those triggering an electronic box, will support a very high performance engine. What one gains from the breakerless conversion is repeatability, rpm, and freedom from wear effects.
R.
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: BDW]
#1617573
05/14/14 06:57 PM
05/14/14 06:57 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,350
Aurora, Oh.
max_maniac
master
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master
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,350
Aurora, Oh.
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Quote:
Cut-n-paste about problems with newer MP distributor
The whole story is in the Feb '14 Mopar Action.
I just read the Mopar Action article. I've used the newer MP distributor in the past and it worked in my application but both the mechanical advance and vacuum advance were disabled. The distributor was locked out. Based on that I can't comment on the spark scatter issue from a personal perspective but i have seen some erratic timing on other car's i've helped to tune. It can be frustrating swapping out springs and resetting/adjusting mechanical advance with marginal results. :P
The MA article does make mention of the FireCore billet distributors and upon testing they found that timing was rock solid with the Firecore unit. Ehrenberg even summerizes the article by saying ; your best option is to find an old 73 distributor and rebuild/modify it or purchase the FireCore unit. More or less of what i've been telling members for the past few years ; Firecore is a top shelf product and i wouldn't be recommending it to my friends if it wasn't.
As for the ECU's ; there is a member on Moparts who has been doing a fair bit of dyno testing on the replacement style ECU's and the only ones he likes are the rev-n-ator and FBO box. All the other chinese knockoffs pull timing and higher rpm and loose power at peak volumetric efficiency which is when the greatest demand on the ignition system occurs.
Mopar performance is out of the electronic conversion market at this point which isn't necessarily a bad thing based on recent reports.
I must comment on this subject. First of all here are my disclamers: I do not write articles for any Mopar rag and I do not have a dyno machine. In fact my engines have never been on a dyno as I use the track as my test.
I switched from the Mopar dizzy to a Firecore when they first came out and was impressed with the piece and the steady timing. Did it improve mt ET on the track? Not at all. So after running it for a while in a high 9 sec car I started having issues when I towed to a race in St. Louis and I live in Ohio. Was going some rounds and then the engine started breaking up and getting worse with each run and I could not find the problem at the track so packed it in and towed it home to diagnose the issue. After looking at valve springs and many other things I noticed the distributor screws on the side of the base were loose??? I tried to tighten them to no avail so I take the thing apart and find that the plastic mounts for the weights are worn and cracked and the weights are flying around in the distributor  Not good on an expensive race engine so I get in touch with Rick and he swaps it out for a new one  he said there were a couple issues but that was resolved. So in goes the new and improved one and only into my 3rd race and the same thing starts happening again. First thing I checked is the distributor!! Bingo - same issue. So in my application of using the Firecore for race only it is no longer an option for me. I cannot risk the expense of the engine to a distributor so I went back to the Mopar one and problem solved. In fact I will be upgrading to a crank trigger now anyway. I also know personally of 3 others that have had the exact same issue and if they want to add to this then they can as I will not mention their names.
In the end the Firecore may be good for some but for me it is a no go and will never have another on any of my cars.
Russ
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: dogdays]
#1617574
05/14/14 07:04 PM
05/14/14 07:04 PM
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 4,154
bethlehem pa
mikemee1331
master
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master
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 4,154
bethlehem pa
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Quote:
Here goes again.....As many have said before me, and I rely on their veracity, unless your distributor is completely worn out the Pertronix conversion is a slam dunk. But don't expect it to make a difference in how the car runs. You may "feel" a difference, but I remind you that in at least 30% of the population, the placebo effect works.
Now, what will make a difference is getting your advance curve right.
Here I go a little off topic. I divide the automotive world into "weekend drivers" and "weekend racers". Blazin' Bob is a weekend racer. As such, he knows how to recurve a distributor, and the benefits from that. A weekend driver won't generally know how or why to recurve a distributor.
That is why I cringe every time a weekend racer tells a weekend driver to buy a stock rebuilt distributor and put a Pertronix kit in it. The weekend driver, not knowing how or why, will probably not recurve the stock distributor with its lazy curve. On the other hand, if the weekend driver buys a distributor with a high performance curve and stabs it in, the results will be much better. At this point the weekend driver says, "Wow, changing from points to breakerless ignition really woke the car up!" Weekend racers will understand that it was the better curve that woke the car up.
Properly-set-up points type ignitions, especially those triggering an electronic box, will support a very high performance engine. What one gains from the breakerless conversion is repeatability, rpm, and freedom from wear effects.
R.
nicely put  and where have you been all my life! 
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Re: Mopar Electronic Ignition Distributor
[Re: mikemee1331]
#1617575
05/15/14 12:37 AM
05/15/14 12:37 AM
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,377
Tennessee
WyleECoyote
OP
pro stock
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OP
pro stock
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,377
Tennessee
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 Okay. I have to breath here. I AM a weekend driver. Or thought I was… Or wanted to be. Or maybe I am just being too lazy. No, I AM being too lazy. I guess it's time for me to step up to the plate and learn all this distributor, curving, and timing stuff. My daily driver cars make it too EASY to be lazy because they run fantastic! My 72 Imperial (130,000-mile all original), my 71 Super Bee (71,000-mile all original with a Mallory Uni-lite {Installed before me}) and my 84 Crew Cab Dually (440 engine from a 72 Imperial that had 85,000 miles on it) - are all jump-in-and-drive vehicles with no thoughts or maintenance. Now, the 440 that Hensley built for my Road Runner isn't a stock engine though like I just mentioned. 9.9:1 compression; 564/570 cam (274/280 - 236/242 @ .50), port matched heads with 1.88 and 2.14 valves. I don't know really what all that means so therefore I'm sure that its time for school and as I said, learn more about timing and the distributor. Maybe after the journey I'm about to embark upon, I'll write a "Mopar Timing For Dummies" Book and take all-ya'll out on my yacht to celebrate! I didn't mean to turn this thread into what it has - I thought I'd get one person to reply and say "Summit" and that would be the end of the thread! No such luck!!  Maybe I outta move this over to the Unlawful thread 'fore I get kicked out of here!!! Thanks everyone!
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