Hi all, maybe someone can help me out here. Trying to get motor prepped to start after sitting 20+ years. 1969 350/350 4 spd. Pulled plugs and put some MMO in to soak. Going to give it a full tune up but the distributer that's in there is an Accel 30100T. I googled and searched Accel and its been long discontinued and I cant find a rebuild kit or new points, condenser, rotor or cap.

My question is multi.
1. Should I keep the dizzy that's in there and see if it will start with it? Is there a rebuild kit out there somewhere for this dizzy?
2. Put a new dizzy in like stock?
#. Upgrade now to stock looking HEI unit and if so which unit does everyone recomend? I know from reading a lot of posts that guys are either pro points or pro HEI. I know points perfectly set will run just fine but I belive a HEI unit would run just as well if not better and be less maintenance.

Thoughts and suggestions always appreciated!

Thanks.

 

I've had MSD on a few different cars, a couple being drag race cars. They have never let me down, but some will argue that point, and that's fine.


I just finished a rebuild on my LS-5 454 that's around the 500-550hp area, and MSD ignition and tach drive distributor are working great. I don't have patience for unreliable crap, hence, what I have has been proven to be reliable, to me.


I understand about the money and the cost, so that is, if you have the money to do it, I don't have that money any longer since I retired.

 

try NAPA, Accel and their house brand Echlin I think are the same, of course you need to find an old timer who knows what points are, I also have a couple of rebuilt factory tach drive distributors available if your interested

 

points dist. is just fine if you have no major wear, because you are in start up mode.
I would leave the dist. get everything running then consider if you want to upgrade your ignition.
you may have more and bigger, problems bring it back to life.

if you add HEI, none of your current chrome Dist. covers will fit.
and you may have conflict with space for your current Air breather.

 

That's my main concern. Most cars sat for 20-30 years because the something happened that made them stop running and they just sat. No very often someone drives a car into a garage and never comes back. If it ever warms up past freezing here I'll get to work trying to crank it over.

 

with all the plugs out can you get a socket on the crank pully/balancer and turn over the engine by hand?

 

Yeah, motor turns freely by hand and rotor spins with no lag so keeping fingers crossed it was one of those just parked and walked away ones!!

 

Points are really simple- As long as they see a ground on one side, power on the other, the condenser is good, and they open and close, they work. From that point it's just fine tuning.

 

That's sort of my problem. With the Accel 30100T I cant find any parts for it such as condenser or cap. If these are no good I'll have to replace to whole distributer?

 

I would put a Heli in. They run forever, unless you are going NCRS.


Last summer I put an $100 cable drive Heli in my friends Camaro - 7k miles and no issue. (from Flee Bay - he bought it)

I prefer the stock distributor with the electronic module.

I would suggest spinning the oil pump if you haven't already. Then turn the engine and spin it again.

I would also add break in lube to the oil.

I'm trying to remember back to the 70's - aren't the parts for your distributor the same as stock? . A good speed shop should have them.

 

thanks for the info. I plan on pulling the distributer and spinning up the oil pump. Guess I should take off the valve covers to make sure the oil is moving up and around? I bought a bottle of zinc additive that I was going to throw in, good enough or get break in lube?

I've googled that Accel 30100T after I bought stock parts for the rebuild. The stock is different rotor so I just assumed the rest probably wouldn't work either. I cant believe there isn't anyone out there seeking pieces for this distributer?

 

There was a 1970ish stock distributor for sale here that looked great for $350 I believe. You can put a point less system or an egi system in it and it would be better than the Chinese ones on ebay

 

Here are 2 articles I've published here before about distributors and ignition systems. Hopefully you'll find some useful info here:

The "best" distributor and ignition system to use is the one you're comfortable with setting up and tuning. Any two systems, set up with the same timing curve, will perform virtually the same on a mild street car. For a mild performance street-driven car, I also highly recommend getting one with vacuum advance, and there are many to choose from.

To demonstrate the equivalent performance from one system to another, I actually did dyno testing at Westech with Hot Rod Magazine several years ago. Here are the results that I've published here on the Forum before:

A few years ago, I did a bit of dyno testing at Westech Performance with Matt King, former Editor of Hot Rod Magazine. We tested several of the aftermarket capacitive discharge systems and top-end distributors against a plain ol' points-type distributor. The engine was a nice street-type 302 Ford putting out 370 horsepower. We tested ignition systems and distributors from Crane, MSD, and Mallory, making sure that each distributor had exactly the same centrifugal advance curve in it with the same total timing. Once these nice aftermarket systems were tested, we went out in the parking lot and pulled the stock points distributor out of Matt King's crap Falcon: We set it up with the same advance curve on Westech's distributor machine and dropped it in the 302 test engine. Results: There was no change in the engine's performance whatsoever at any point on the rpm curve. Absolutely none.

So here's the recommendation: Run whatever distributor you're comfortable with tuning and curving, and set it up with a good performance curve to match the needs of your engine. Whether this is a tach-drive points-type distributor, an HEI, or an MSD ProBillet is completely irrelevant as long as you can get it set up right. Buy something of good quality that is easily tunable, and make sure you run vacuum advance on any street-driven engine. Trigger boxes, amplifiers, huge coils, and fancy systems will not gain you anything on a moderate performance street engine - spend your time getting the curve and total timing set up right on whatever system you use - that's where the power is.

Here's Matt King (black shirt) and me setting up the points distributor from his Falcon in the 302 test engine to run head-to-head against the top-end capacitive discharge systems:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...sWestech14.jpg


Notice that we even used the old crap wires out of Matt's Falcon for the testing:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...sWestech13.jpg


Here's the same engine with one of the fancy aftermarket systems in it and some really nice red plug wires:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...rsWestech3.jpg


Famed Westech Dyno Operator Steve Brule (left) overseeing the testing:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...sWestech12.jpg


Results: Absolutely no change in power whatsoever from one system to another, as long as the advance curve remained the same (note Matt King's astounded "I can't freakin believe it" expression):
[/QUOTE]
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...rsWestech1.jpg

Tach Drive Distributors – The Condition I See Them In

I’ve done a lot of posts on this Forum about the constantly-degrading condition of Q-Jet Carbs: The carbs I received for rebuild are in a constant state of degrading condition. The carbs are more damaged, screwed up, altered, and corroded than ever before, and more replacement parts from “donor” carbs are required to keep the carbs “alive.”

But it’s not just the carbs that are getting worse: I’m also seeing original tach-drive distributors (used up through the 1974 model year) in severely declining condition. If you’re rebuilding your own distributor, you need to be aware of the problems than can exist. Common issues that I see on a regular basis include:

• Badly damaged & worn housing crossgear thrust surface, requiring custom machine work and custom-built parts to salvage the housing (failure to repair will result in immediate re-failure of tacj drive gears)
• Stripped mainshaft gear (due to the above)
• Stripped crossgear (due to the above)
• Destroyed lower bushings from crossgear thrust surface wear debris in bushing
• Destroyed mainshaft from lower bushing debris
• Missing thrust button
• Missing crossgear washer
• Missing upper shaft seal
• No lube in upper lube well
• Incorrect upper bushing installed with no lube bleed hole
• Distributor drive gear installed backwards
• Severe slop in breaker plate attach point to the vacuum advance rod, causing “timing scatter”
• Incorrect vacuum advance control unit installed (usually too stiff)
• Ruptured vacuum advance control unit (inoperative)
• Missing breaker plate retaining snap ring
• Excessive shaft endplay
• Vacuum advance curve too long (over 18 degrees typically – should be 12-14)
• Centrifugal advance curve too long, caused by missing limit bushing or incorrect cam plate installed (slot too long in plate)
• Centrifugal advance curve too slow
• Centrifugal advance curve too fast
• Bent cam plate weight supports
• Incorrect weights installed
• Seized centrifugal advance
• Worn out weight pivot pins
• Broken or missing breaker plate ground wire
• Broken or damaged primary lead wire

…and that’s just to mention the more common and obvious issue to look for.

Here’s the common state of distributors I’m getting for rebuild now. This one was received disassembled, with severe wear in the housing thrust area. Gears were stripped, and over half of the issues noted above were present. Machine work and replacement parts were needed to bring it back to life:



Once repaired and assembled, the Pile-O-Junk was run and curved out on the SUN machine to produce a perfect performance unit that should run another 40 years:




Be aware of the issues and potential problems, buy good quality parts, and set these things up carefully: Even “junk” can be restored to produce very high performance parts.

Lars

 

whatever distributer works and is comfortable for you.

I'm a little ( a lot) over- cautious so I go with the break in oil / lube. I also paint and coat the valve stems / rockers with oil. I always pour some oil down the push rods and turn the engine again. I always felt an extra 1/2 hour now is better than something bad happening = just me.

My feeling on points - they work well, unfortunately the quality is not where they should be. Two weeks ago I spent 1.5 hours on the phone guiding & explaining how to change a set of points on a friends NCRS 67 on the highway. Glad I put an extra set under the seat w/ Allen wrench. He did not have a clue - it worked - he got it running. The tab that rubs on the shaft to open the points actually broke off. Just my feeling.

 

That Accel actually uses GM style points....2 sets being a dual point distributor. You will see 2 round rubber circles on the side of the distributor....these are the access points for putting in the Allen key to adjust the points. On the external lead wire to the ignition coil there is a bullet connector, this is there to adjust the dwell settings on the dual points....you disconnect the bullet connector find the point set that effects the dwell setting with the bullet connector unplugged....set the dwell to 26 degrees.....plug the bullet connector together and set the other points to get a total of 36 degrees. The cap&rotor are same as Mopar V8s as I recall or Prestolite type V8 distributors. If you can't see the ignition points when you take the cap off and all you see is a metal plate you have a later Accel dual point distributor with the high RPM shaft support and the cover has to be removed to access the points. Myself....I might just forgot the agony of playing around with the Allen key and dwell meter and install a Pertronix Ignitor II type of breakerless points conversion....make sure to get the "LSC" type of conversion....it's the same kit a 69 Vette would require.

You will want to only use NAPA auto Parts Ehclin brand points....point set CS86 is a medium tension spring....those distributors had CS7860 super stiff high RPM points sets in them when they came from Accel.