Can this distributor be cleaned? it looks preety dirty and somewhat rusty inside. How do I clwan it?

Looks pretty clean to me!

(no pic.. )

You are right!
sorry

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Anything electrical in there or just mechanical? Carb cleaner would probably break apart most of it.

But I havent touched those dizzy's in years so I dont know if it would be bad for it or not..

#1 is an electrical wire and 2 looks like a diode


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#1 is the breaker plate ground wire.

#2 is a holder for a ball bearing (as I recall) The ball bearing is supposed to allow the breaker plate to rotate from the vacuum advance can.

It sure looks like the green wire has melted badly. The green wire hooks to the breaker points (not present in your distributor) and then to the condenser and to the coil. The wire is part of the condenser when you get a new one.

That is correct. Given the condition up top, the mechanical advance unit below the breaker plate is probably as bad or worse. I wouldn't be surprised if you are not getting any advance - vacuum or mechanical. Try twisting the rotor, it should move perhaps a half inch as measured at the end, then spring back. If it springs back, the advance system is not bound up.

I'd take the breaker plate out, clean it up, examine the mechanical advance system, if rusty hit it with penetrating oil like Tri-Flow, work it free, put everything back together, then don't forget to put a few drops of oil on the felt in the center of the shaft - keeps the advance mechanism lubricated.

Check your timing after all this.

Went through all this a few months. Not much work, made a big difference.

Yes, it can be completely disassembled , cleaned and rebuilt....all for a few bucks and your time.

Rich

Carb cleaner kills plastic !

The little "green" wire is the grounding strap to ground the points plate to the dizzy body. If it is toast you can buy some de-soldering floss and solder in a replacement. The desoldering floss is a flat braid of fine copper - soft flexible and works great.

Brian

I've never seen the grounding strap having a sheath on it. I suspect the strap is the original braided copy that has oxidized to the color green.

I think he means the green wire outside of the distributor body, upper right in the picture. It looks pretty melted, so you really want to replace the consdensor (which has that green wire as part of it).

--DD

No I meant Inside the distributor. I am aware that the wire is melted . Planing on using a compufire anyway . Not using points.

Got a ultrasonic cleaner? Take it apart and throw it in. It will come out clean.