well, i'll find out soon enough. I got my slots welded up tonight and tomorrow, I'll mill them out to give me the timing i want.

i milled out the slots to .355" (dead on too) and smoothed out top and bottom today. I also had the vacuum advance plate tack welded in position so it wont move or vibrate in the distributor. I cant run the vacuum advance anyways as the promax metering block doesnt have the provision for vacuum advance on it.

I have a feeling this is going to fix all my idle quality problems. no, I know it. I had previously adjusted the timing to 13 at idle or so before and it ran great at idle in neutral but when I dropped it in gear, the idle would drop down to 650-700 as the timing came out of it. This was with the stock springs and stock 30 degree slots.

I bet it runs harder too since my total (which probably came in at 5000 rom because of the springs in there) would have been in the 40's the way it was set up before....

time to put in the new pieces and

Well I slapped it all back together last night.

WOW! What a difference.

I couldnt use the magnetic pickup plate I tack welded (so it wouldnt rotate. im not using vacuum advance) because it still rotated after I tacked it. I had tacked the pivot on the bottom side of the plate where the spring clip goes but the plate could still rotate (with some force) because the pin that was staked to the top plate was rotating at the stake (not staked too well i guess). No biggie. i just used a another one i had and connected up a vacuum advance module to hold it stable.

I also changed out the nylon collar on the bottom of the shaft and set it so I didnt have any up or down movement in the shaft. the shaft was snug to the body but the shaft still turned well. took out the shaft movement really well.

I also used the collar on the bottom of the shaft near the oil pump drive to limit any movement down there. Im not really sure how that would keep the oil pump drive from moving up as the direction of the cam gear on it will always force it down. but I had it and people said to use it so I tried it.

I also removed 1 coil from the super light spring to stiffen it up and prevent the timing from advancing until higher in the RPM range (I was looking for something over 1200 and it looks like the timing starts to advance around 1300-1500. perfect). The other spring is the stock light one.

At strat up, I set the total timing to 32 degrees total. My inital at 900 rpm (in neutral) was around 20-21. it was a little more than I wanted. I guess the slots could be slightly bigger. It idled GREAT. and started great. hot restarts were great- no lugging- so I will leave it be for now.

Dropped it in gear and the idle dropped to only 750. Before doing this mod, I was idling at 1100-1200 (it would vary) in neutral and the idle would drop to around 600-650 in gear, lugging the engine soemthing fierce. So it looks like the mod was a success.

Timing is steady between at 1100 and lower (at 20-21 or so) and doesnt drop or change like it did before using the stock light spring and the stock heavy spring. before the timing dropped at least 5 degrees (that was because of the springs that were in there), probably more like 10 (timing wasnt steady so it was hard to get an accurate number).

Timing is fully advance by 2200 or so.

I didnt drive it but I will tonight. Operation looks like it was a success. Idles better. timing is STEADY at all rpms (I can actually read the numbers on the damper now instead of trying to pick a center spot like I did when it was jumping).

btw, I looked at the advance plate that I WAS using after I went to put the modded one in (the one I modded was marked 13 which was 26 degrees mech advance) and the one that I had in there was marked 17!!!!!!!! that was 34 degrees in mechanical advance. So when I set the total timing to 34 at 3000 rpm (before the mod) I probably wasnt fully advanced (probably because of the stock springs again). Before I had the timing set in the teens (lets say it was 15) so I was probably up in the 40's at 6500 rpm.

Im expecting the car to run much harder now.

CUCU when i hooked up my vac. adv. it made a big differance in idle. when i drop it in gear it only falls 200 rpm. i love vac. adv.
hey also i did the same thing u did on my oil pan gasket cut off about 3/8 on each side. i think i have finaly stopped the leak. they are making that rubber notch too big. i don't uderstand why they worked all these years but after the third pan and on and off maybe 6 times cutting the gasket down and useing right stuff for sealer seems to have worked.

great new on the oil pan. not sure why we have to do what we had to do either.

As for vacuum advance, I would have tried it had my promax metering block had the provision for ported vacuum but it doesnt so I cant.

Cucu I'm glad it all came together for you. holler back after you take it out. any possibility that you could drill into the carb & epoxy in a nippple for ported adv.

i think I looked at the metering plate and compared it to the stock one and found that the passage that goes to the vacuum advance tube isnt there in the promax plate.

i used manifold vac. it gives me more at idle. and the starter likes it better.

The problem with using direct manifold vacuum for the vacuum advance is you loose the advance as soon as you open the throttle. This can cause an off idle hesitation. That is why most vacuum advance pots are hooked to a ported vacuum source or have some other control device in line with them. If it works for you great.

i see what u are saying. it makes sense. there probably is a split second before the rpms come up and the mech. kicks in. i have light springs so it comes in fast. but you can't put as much timming in on ported vac. if u do the starter will hate you.

That's true but you can easily have to much timing at idle for the most efficient burn. Tuning the idle timing for max manifold vacuum will determine the best timing at idle.

Seems like low 20's isn't a problem for the starter in most small blocks. I run 17 initial in my 360 and the starter spins it over as fast as it does around zero BTDC.

cucu, you didn't happen to take any photos of the mods you made did you? I have been watching your post and I am thinking of doing the same. Im glad you got it worked out. Andrew

How long ago did the Mopar distributors become adjustable?

Instead of JB weld of welding, I have been soldering them for decades. I have a piece of aluminum with a hole in it and set it on it and solder it with a propane torch. It is real easy to file the slots and if you make a mistake, 1 minute later you can try again. Jim

If that chart doesn't belong in the tech archive, I don't know what does. That is great! Has anyone verified it (just curious)?

I have used .400 for years to have 20* mechanical and 20* initial for 40* total for 440-6 motors and the chart says about .390-406 so I would say that area is pretty close. Jim

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Seems like low 20's isn't a problem for the starter in most small blocks. I run 17 initial in my 360 and the starter spins it over as fast as it does around zero BTDC.

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yea i've run as high as 22* initial on my 360 with no starting problems.