Advice on cleaning a rusty MSD Distributor

Took apart my MSD distributor after see this. Can I salvage that magnetic pick up? Also what should I scrub the star and magnetic pick up with to remove the rust? Apply dialetic grease after?

I'm assuming that this is why my car is backfiring at 3k rpm and higher....

Thanks guys!

Sad that an MSD looks like that after 2 years!

That’s not the distributors fault.

Emory cloth

I'm still running a 20 year old one that looked way worse than that. The wheel looked like a sea urchin. I cleaned it up with some rust penetrant and bolted it back in the car. I would check your plug gap for the back/misfire situation. If you are running the #8261 HVC-II coil gap at .025.

MSD doesn't properly coat any of the internal parts. I've cleaned and coated the ferrous parts with a rust converting spray that turned them black. I also drilled a couple large holes in my cap, and made sure the rotor was properly phased, which required an expensive adjustable rotor turned to nearly full travel to correct the phasing issue.

The venting and phase alignment helps reduce the ozone issue mentioned in the post directly below this.

Pretty much the norm for MSD or any distributor for that matter, Oxygen is ionized into ozone by the high voltages and ozone is highly corrosive. I just keep mine oiled and squirt some rust inhibitor in there from time to time.

You can wire wheel those parts with a Dremel. I like the idea of the coating. More info? An adjustable rotor for proper phasing is one way, or just make your own locating tab in the spot you need it after you dial it in.
Rust is caused by moisture in the air. By the time I was close to finishing my chassis, surface rust was working its way across the earlier installed bars. If it's a drag car or weekend beater, maybe removing the cap and throwing a towel over the distributor would be a good practice. I have also seen that from engine vapors backing up through the shaft if there is no pcv system on a street car.

Glass bead, small wire brush, maybe easier and cheaper to just throw new parts in it, including a pick up. Vent the cap. Hit it all with WD40 once in a while.

Brass brush. I wipe them with a little bit of PB blaster on a rag.

I clean them and coat em as well. Just cheap [censored] stuff from MSD for not treating the materials properly for the job they will do.

That add a buck to the price!

This post reminds me that I need to clean the reluctor in my MSD distributor. My spare shows no sign of rust but it has what looks like some kind of coating. I think it's the one in the link below.


https://www.amazon.com/MSD-8627-Distributor-Reluctor/dp/B001GA82QW

that looks like your basic zinc plating that comes on your hardware store bolts.
it is rather comical that amazon lists the pickup as a commonly bought item with the reluctor.

Not really sure what caused that. This one had been sitting on my workbench for over 10 years, recently found cleaning...

This is one of my MSD distributors out of my cigarette boat with twin 588 cu in BBC. I completely wire brushed the rust and cleaned both dizzy's about 9 months before this pic was taken.... i shot the insides with some CRC spray and this is what they both looked like when I pulled them out 9 months later, about the same as before I cleaned them up originally. It is a well known problem with MSD and boats, even though no water or spray gets in the bilge area.

I called MSD tech to see if they still rebuild them, and since they have been sold, they do not offer this anymore. I told the tech it was a marine application that requires Coast Guard certified regulations for spark control in case of bilge fumes etc...... and he told me the best thing to do would be to drill huge holes in the cap to let ionized air out to see if that helps

I again disassembled them, wire brushed the steel parts to bare metal, and shot each component, including the weights (which had been rusted solid on the shaft) with a light coat of epoxy PPG primer that I was using for something else at the time.

I had some 2 part Sharkhide (brand) acid cleaner and sealer that I also had laying around that I used for the the aluminum distributor body as it also had badly corroded, then I assembled with new magnetic pickup, rotor, and the correct marine distributor cap that does NOT have the small black vent cap on top like the regular automotive ones have (coast guard regs.... no vent/spark hazard from a vented cap).

I also sprayed inside a very light mist of Gibbs Spray on everything including the reluctors and pickups before closing it up

I just took dizzy's out a couple weeks ago after running them again for about 8 months to redo some intake gaskets and this is how they still look.... I was kinda shocked as there is minimal corrosion after doing these simple mods. (the rough aluminum look is from the previous corrosion).

My theory, at least on a marine application, even though there is no water or spray mist getting in the bilges, when the hot engines are shut off after a day of use.... including running them with fresh water for 15 minutes to flush, as the distributors cool off they are sucking humid air in as they cool down, which is causing the massive rusting problems.

I think that by this coating of all the inside components (there is minimal or no coating from MSD on these components whatsover) and possibly by NOT using the vented type caps (some air does still come in through cap edges i am sure) I think I found a solution of the corrosion/rusting that most ALL marine MSD users face......

I originally did a search how to combat this, and found TONS of automotive users were complaining of the same rusting issues on their MSD's

Have the same problem on mine in a street application. Drilled holes in the cap but still corrodes pretty fast.

You do know that those parts, the pick up coil and reluctor are ford parts don't you?? parts store stuff

Here's the part that I question. Why dont other brand manufactuars distributors have this issue? My 440 source looks like new after 7 years of use. Never had an issue with factory units either. Why?
Doug

good question about the "other" distributors doug. if i ever go with an MSD distributor, i will be coating everything inside with epoxy of some sort before installation.

I honestly thing they seal up that much better,,,,,,errrrr too much, and the condensation kickes their azz.

I have to take one apart tonight, blast it, and paint it with etch primer and run it.