Bubba rebuilt my distributor
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Instructor
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 116
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From: Rittman oh
Bubba rebuilt my distributor
I recently installed a new Crane XR -i point conversion unit in my 1969 L-68 tri power. Had a heck of a time trying to set the timing right ( or so I thought) She was running a little rough last summer so I decided to go with the points upgrade. After installing it, tons of rich, fueled smoke. The closer I got to the timing marks, the worse it got so I decided to pull the whole distrbutor and check it out. Low and behold the infamous Bubba had put a ton of grease under the cam weight base which had oozed up, dried out and was making the weights stick in the out position. It reminded me of the thick cosmoline that old military guns come with. Also, a word of caution for anyone else looking to install this conversion, The screws that come with the kit are too long for the standard BB distrubutor housing and must be cut down. Hopefully this will rectify all the problems I have had. I'll find out tomarrow. Has anyone else had this grease problem?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 971
Likes: 7
From: roanoke va
it is a common problem for the upper shaft to stick (weight plate). i am afraid bubba was general motors in this case. i recently went thru my 72 dist. and they had a over abundance of grease in there and it had dryed out. i have seen more problems with hei than points.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 844
Likes: 0
From: Central KY
I put in a rebuilt distributor (bought from a guy off ebay who sells rebuilts all the time) which looked perfect. When I installed it I could not get any mech advance. I field stripped it and found that the friction was too high for the plate to rotate. Further investigation found a nice thick coat of paint on the base - to include on the surface where the plate rotates. Once I scraped the paint off and smoothed up the mating surface, I had enough clearance and the plate rotated fine. I cleaned it well and only put a little grease on the raised parts under the advance weights... Just my story to give you an idea of something else to check...
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 3,000
Likes: 22
From: Boulder Creek California
I just discovered that my mechanical advance is stuck... again! I was getting terrible mileage when first driving the car (had sat 17 years with PO) freed it up, but about 1.5 years later now it is stuck again. Fuel mileage HALVED recently, and I thought it was from other problems I've been having! 
Anyway, any advice how to prevent this from recurring? Sanding down the contact surface for slightly greater clearance? What kind of grease/lubricant to use?
Thanks,
Chris
Anyway, any advice how to prevent this from recurring? Sanding down the contact surface for slightly greater clearance? What kind of grease/lubricant to use?
Thanks,
Chris
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 116
Likes: 0
From: Rittman oh
I used a blue assembly grease and just put in enough to just fill the journals under the weight assembly. When I put it together I noticed a liitle squeezed out so I took it back apart and took 1/2 of the grease out. Seemed ok. I just got done reinstalling everything and re-setting the timing everything went great, purring like a 400hp kitten. I also found some vacuum leaks where a few of the hoses had dry rotted and split at the intake which were compounding my problems. Changed all those out and all is well. I also decided to pull my sidepipes off and probably get some spiralturbo's. My mufflers are too quiet and restrictive. 
