So I'm digging into the 440 that I picked up last fall and finally got around to taking a look at the distributor. Just as I assumed, but hoped wasn't true - a bronze shaft was staring back at me when I pulled the rotor. These distributors were sold by Mopar Performance starting in 1999/2000 and were produced by Mallory/Accel. They are known to have a really bad advance curve and suffer from spark scatter. Ehrenberg has recommended several times in print that the only course of action is to just throw them away.

For the very few miles that I ran this engine I did feel that the curve was way off, as it would idle just fine but seemed to fall flat on its face once you got on the throttle. Is there any hope? I don't know much about this style of distributor or if it can be reasonably modified. I believe the MP spring kit is NS1, if it would even help, and I seem to recall a suggestion about adding a collar to the shaft to control the scatter. The vacuum can should be adjustable, assuming it has enough travel to slow down the advance.

I had a pre-Mallory unit in my last 440 and it worked like a charm. This car has a 1967 block and 915 heads, so I'm guessing CR is somewhere in the 9s. Cam doesn't seem much more than stock. If I can't tame this Mallory hunk of junk I'll be looking at a remanned OE unit.

Thanks