And they point the wrong direction.

First you have to beat on the tin so the dizzy cap will fit. Then you have to index the dizzy drive shaft cause the rotor points at I don't know what. The vacuum cannister interferes with the oil filler tube. Kind of a mess

Here's where the dizzy drive is indexed for the stock dizzy. This is what makes the mess above

Remove the dizzy drive and this is what you see. The thrust washer that you don't want to drop into the crankcase.

Reindex the dizzy drive about 130 degrees and things work better.

yeesh! this is what i gotta look forward to

Rotor points toward cylinder #1. This isn't the same as stock but, I think it gives the most adjustment.

Dizzy static timed to 12 degrees BDC. It takes about 20 minutes on the bench but it's gotta be a bitch in the car.

Dave

Is this TDC #1 or #3? One way to find out. Pull the valve cover off the left side

It's #1 cause both the valves are closed. Incidentally, there is no notch on the body of the distributor so once you get it set you probably should mark the body so you know where TDC #1 is. Otherwise you will have to check the valves on #1 everytime you need to find TDC #1.

Dave

I've never seen the point of "indexing" the distributor driveshaft to the crank. I set the distributor on (I have the Mallory Unilite vac. advance myself) on the motor and crank #1 to TRD. Rotate the works until it lines up near a point on the cap and arrange the wires in their firing order. AFAIC, the only reason to make sure the rotor is alinged on the proper area of the cap was back in the days of #3 being retarded for T1 motors.

Is this correct?

Tom

If you use stock wires, you'll end up with a short one.

Carlos

I did it because I just plain couldn't get it to rotate enough to be able to time it. Believe me I didn't want to index it since this is short term until I get a fueling map and some hint of an advance curve. Then, I'm changing to a crankfire programmable ignition and I'll sell this. I just didn't have enough confidence to try to tune a new fuel injection map and ignition map together.

After I get rid of the dizzy I'm gonna run a dummy and keep the dizzy drive indexed to the stock position. Someday I hope to include a cam position sensor so I can run coil on plug and possibly sequential injection.

Dave

Hmm, good point. I've run all aftermarket wires and haven't had a problem (yet). But, I could see that with a stock set.

Later,
Tom

Dave,

My unilite is "indexed" so that #1 points straight at the front right hand corner of the rectangular base of the oil filler. That places the vac nozzle pointing straight at the center of the rear of the engine case, which is about 35-45 degrees counter clockwise from what I see in your pic. This provides plenty of room for adjustment and points the vac hose more in the direction of the passenger side carb which is where mine feeds to. Keeps it more out of the way and allows the shortest vac line.

I marked the side of the mallory to indicate #1. That with a 180 degree mark on the flywheel helps keep me straight when adjusting my valves.

Maybe I can get a pic of it and send it to you.

I guess it doesn't matter where you select the index as long as the vac is physically free to avoid the oil spout base.

I'm with Tom on this issue. Does it really make a difference where you locate the #1 in the distributor as long as you maintain the proper firing order?

Of course, the ignition wire length is something to think about!

I agree it doesn't make any difference where #1 is located as long as the firing order is correct. In my case there was just no room to rotate the distributor body. Between the inlet for the vacuum advance hitting the oil filler neck and the clips that hold the distributor cap on hitting the sheet metal I had about 15 degrees of adjustment. I didn't think that was enough adjustment so I changed it.

Dave

Dave,
I really wish you would have gotten the full centrifugal unit..

Thats not just for the physical size issues either.

dave must be drilling. jake, when dave ordered his mallory, aircooled didn't have them in stock. prior to him getting this one, i was going to buy it from him when he went back to mega. i don't want a vac adv unit.

kevin

I think Jake had an engine failure on his dyno due with a vac unilite. I'm thinking it has to do the the tiny circlip that holds the lever from the canister to the advance plate. Maybe Jake will share.

Carlos

It didn't happen on the dyno.. I would have caught it if it did..

It happened in a bus when the circlip popped off and the timing went to hell..

EGT raised so high from retarded timing that all 4 exhaust valves baked, and one dropped. The engine had 10,000 miles on it when it happened. The driver did not notice it and just kept on driving!

Centrifugal can't do that.

I have a vac adv unit from Aircooled. Whats the big difference between this and the other?

im awaiting a wholesale price from a buddy.

im gonna order the vac advance.....

Vac is MUCH harder to set and also has the failure issue i spoke about before.

performance wise I have not seen a gain, even in fuel mileage or running temps.