That is crazy! Haven't heard anything good about those Firecore distributors.

Might want to think about at least locking it out or possibly going to a crank trigger. I love the crank trigger on mine.

I liked it because the mechanical advance was adjustable and I had it reduced down to 8* of advance. The Hemi liked that a lot. So now I am re-contemplating what you said, lock the distributor out.

But, I have been down this road before. I have a 7AL and when I did this last time, it kicks back pretty bad. I tried an MSD start retard add on box to the 7AL, and it never worked on the first try, only the 2nd...So I will buy the MSD Distributor, and see if I can make it work with that and light weight springs. If not, then a digital Petronix box it is with built in retard, and a locked MSD. I loose a little spark, but gain some control, and it still beats the Holley efi box...And I have one in the other car, so I have a spare.

I have to be honest with you guys, there is an interesting back story to this little saga I have not mentioned that has played out over and over again over the years. Only about four people know about it. But this car has a habit of weird break downs like this. If I drive it some more this year, I bet you will see somthing else like this happen...


The back story is, way back when this car was raced either late 70's or early 80's, they were loading it on the trailer, and it came off the front of the trailer and pinned the kids father between the car and truck and it killed him. I was told this from the owner who had it back in '92 and he gave me a collection of pictures of him and his brother restoring it I still have today. We believe it was the owner of the trans shop that was painted on the side of it that they painted over that was the person involved in the accident.

Since then, its like anytime you take the car anywhere weather driving or racing it, it has a break down...Its been that way since I have owned it. We believe, the spirit of the guy killed tries to keep it from hurting anyone else by stopping it from running...My GF didn't believe me at first, but after years of weird things happening, she is positive about it now...

I figured I would let you guys in on that little bit, and one of these days, I will have to research it some more, as I have the old pictures with the name of the shop on the side. But I am pretty sure a bunch of it is true. Some aspects of the car back up the fact it hit somthing at one point a long time ago.

Yep welcome to the busted Firecore Junk Distributor club - Had three do the exact same thing - counter weights came loose and all hell breaks loose inside - one cost us an entire engine

We use only MSD distributors now - never have had an issue

On the one that hurt an engine, what happened?

Now I am a little worried, as my one valve cover that the distributor hit was loose, and I have not pulled the plugs and covers and rolled the motor over to see if the valvetrain is alright. I assumed it was ok, but I probably should do more inspection. If it hurt somthing bigger than the parts themselves, Firecore will hear about it big time.

I've used a bunch of different distributors over the years including Direct Connection drag race Mopars and MSD.
On your deal I would buy a new or used MSD RB distributor and replace the timing bushing with MSD black bushing and use the Mr. Gasket 925B spring kit, works well and lasts a long time
As far as the car and curses take good care of it and replace the weak parts before wearing them out or breaking them while racing it
We can create our own luck to a certain point, especially racing luck

Distributor & wires are ordered, and its a new MSD black one...My engine builder has a way he likes the springs and stuff setup on these. I usually let him set it up. If I don't like the idle quality or how it runs, I will lock it, and order a Petronix ignition box. And use its start retard.

And I do over build somthing if I can, but this car has a little gremlin of some kind. Seems to work overtime when I start enjoying it.

My car have some issues, but they never killed anyone. That is some bad medicine right there my friend.....

You talking about your car's history made me think of a story I've heard about not a car, but an engine. Back in the late '60s/early '70s here was a corvette locally here that was an L88 aluminum headed 427 car that was crashed and killed the driver. The engine was bought from the wrecked vette, put in a Camaro that then crashed while street racing, and killed that driver also. A friend of my dad's bought the motor and put it in his '66 chevelle. He did a lot of racing w/ it, but eventually crashed and rolled the car. Hurt him pretty bad, but he survived. He scrapped the chevelle, but kept the motor. They kinda joked that the motor must be cursed. As far as I know he still has the engine, and I believe he put it in a project car he started working on about 15 years ago. Not sure I'd want to ride in that thing, lol.

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"On the one that hurt an engine, what happened? "

When the timing goes to 70+ degrees because the distributor decides to self advance itself - ugly things begin to happen at the top end quickly - Like cracked main caps - then a rod bearing grabs the crank and then a self ventilation of the engine block follows

That same dizzy is sold by Jegs and Summit as a house brand also - its not an exclusive product - Some folks swear by them - others at them - I do not think Fire-Core sells them anymore - I could be wrong

Once you see how simple an MSD is to adjust and how well built it is - you will like it - I do keep an extra cap and rotor on hand as I run a 7AL3 with the MSD big coil on 16V and it is a little rough on the cap and rotor

I had great success running a MSD Distributor.

The only thing I would say is…. that if the car is parked up for a while, the cast iron reluctor / sensor pick up can go rusty. I used to remove cap & give a liberal dose of WD40.

Agreed...I keep an extra cap and rotor as well. You can hear that 7AL buzzing away under the dash....I got hit by it once, friken ouch!

Success! I got it all done late yesterday.....

New blacked out MSD with a race curve and 15* in it`
New Taylor wires, lots of assembly required.
New Oracle white halo LED head lights
New Mech Man 170 billet alternator
New LED tail light bulbs
New divorced super size trans cooler

New 3.73 gears from the weekend before...

Went to a far away cruise night +24 miles....Car runs great! Rear brake lights and blinkers still not working right yet. Very low voltage back there.

Show Off !!!

Love the car. Needs twins now

just a thought . LED are no where near as sensitive to voltage so low shouldnt hurt . I know with a couple i have done you needed a inline resister , because @ less than 2V the globes would still come on . As long as earth is good as well .


Tex

I cannot believe how many hours I spent in the garage last week..or money...I think I worked till 10 every night as the parts kept coming in. Car seems to run good with the bigger timing curve. I am surprised. Alternator kept 13.1 volts with everything I could turn on at an idle....

Even my digitails sequential tail light LED's came in, but I don't have enough voltage back there to make them work so I put in LED bulbs for now. And I added some new grounds that helped the running lights, but it had no effect on the brake lights or rear blinkers...Going to check one other thing, but I have an emergency brake job to do tomorrow.,

Next step, order a real radiator and fans...from Wizard and an XS 1150 battery.

And then this winter, I think I am going with a Leash board and new ignition box when I redo all the wiring.

But it’s nice to be rewarded after the efforts, car looks great & good to hear it’s running better

I am just glad its done....Its been a long time since I could enjoy this car and go on all the cruise nights I want to....

I guess I am not done wrecking parts yet.....So even after the ball joints were changed, I keep hearing a clicking noise when I turn left.....Found it!!!!

Right front wheel broke into 3 pieces!

Not to mention I have a big big car show this Saturday, and now, no front wheels....This is going to be an expensive week!

Man, I sure hope things change for you soon! I know that's gotta be frustrating.