B/RB vacuum advance source?

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004, Steve wrote:

> Something like a '72 C-body (440 or 383) would be a good starting point.

With that smogger advance curve? Yetch.

> If you can actually FIND such an animal for sale retail, let me know!

I'll get on it.

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004, Steve wrote:

> The only way I know to get a new vacuum advance unit is to buy a
> rebuilt distributor, put its vacuum advance on my old distributor, and
> throw the "reman" distributor in the attic in case I ever get desparate
> enough to be forced to use questionable junk some day...

Huh?!

Pages upon pages upon PAGES of brand new vacuum advances in the Echlin and
Standard-Bluestreak catalogues. Applications going back to the '50s and
earlier.

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004, Steve wrote:

> The only way I know to get a new vacuum advance unit is to buy a
> rebuilt distributor, put its vacuum advance on my old distributor, and
> throw the "reman" distributor in the attic in case I ever get desparate
> enough to be forced to use questionable junk some day...

Huh?!

Pages upon pages upon PAGES of brand new vacuum advances in the Echlin and
Standard-Bluestreak catalogues. Applications going back to the '50s and
earlier.

Steve wrote:

> Nate Nagel wrote:
>
>> Can someone tell me where I can find a source for an early 70's B/RB
>> vacuum advance? Preferably adjustable but not necessarily? I've hit
>> every parts store in the area and the only one that claims to be able
>> to get it just tried to sell me an A/LA unit (opposite rotation.)
>
>
> I'd like to know that also. Mopar electronic distributors last FOREVER
> (no side-load whatsoever on the bushings) except for the vacuum advance.
> The only way I know to get a new vacuum advance unit is to buy a
> rebuilt distributor, put its vacuum advance on my old distributor, and
> throw the "reman" distributor in the attic in case I ever get desparate
> enough to be forced to use questionable junk some day...
>
> The really sad thing is that whenever I find a junkyard distributor with
> a vacuum advance that doesn't leak, I grab it and use it and even though
> it may be nearly 40 years old, it lasts longer than the new cr*ppy ones
> they put on cr*ppy re-manufactured distributors :-/
>
> Interesting project you've got going, BTW. If you need to re-curve the
> Mopar unit, there are a lot of different advance springs that have been
> used over the years. Lightweight springs (fast advance) are easy to come
> by at speed shops or online, but if you need to slow the advance down
> you have to go junkyard diving. One interesting thing to note is that
> stock Mopar setups had one "light" and one "heavy" spring, but the heavy
> spring had a slotted end hook so it didn't do ANYTHING until the very
> end of the advance curve. IOW, running two stock "light" springs will
> actually SLOW the advance curve up to the point where the "heavy" spring
> would finally kick in, at which point it becomes faster. Not usually a
> problem, though, as speeding up the curve at the tail end of the curve
> (higher RPM) generally doesn't cause problems.
>

Yeah it appears that the Stude advance was set up the same way.
Actually this conversion is for sale commercially from one of the Stude
parts vendors but I'm chea^H^H^H^Hfrugal and decided to see if I could
figure out how he does it rather than spend $300.

Of course, I may come close to that by the time I'm done, but at least
I'll have spent lots of time on it and maybe I'll know what I'm doing <G>

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

Steve wrote:

> Nate Nagel wrote:
>
>> Can someone tell me where I can find a source for an early 70's B/RB
>> vacuum advance? Preferably adjustable but not necessarily? I've hit
>> every parts store in the area and the only one that claims to be able
>> to get it just tried to sell me an A/LA unit (opposite rotation.)
>
>
> I'd like to know that also. Mopar electronic distributors last FOREVER
> (no side-load whatsoever on the bushings) except for the vacuum advance.
> The only way I know to get a new vacuum advance unit is to buy a
> rebuilt distributor, put its vacuum advance on my old distributor, and
> throw the "reman" distributor in the attic in case I ever get desparate
> enough to be forced to use questionable junk some day...
>
> The really sad thing is that whenever I find a junkyard distributor with
> a vacuum advance that doesn't leak, I grab it and use it and even though
> it may be nearly 40 years old, it lasts longer than the new cr*ppy ones
> they put on cr*ppy re-manufactured distributors :-/
>
> Interesting project you've got going, BTW. If you need to re-curve the
> Mopar unit, there are a lot of different advance springs that have been
> used over the years. Lightweight springs (fast advance) are easy to come
> by at speed shops or online, but if you need to slow the advance down
> you have to go junkyard diving. One interesting thing to note is that
> stock Mopar setups had one "light" and one "heavy" spring, but the heavy
> spring had a slotted end hook so it didn't do ANYTHING until the very
> end of the advance curve. IOW, running two stock "light" springs will
> actually SLOW the advance curve up to the point where the "heavy" spring
> would finally kick in, at which point it becomes faster. Not usually a
> problem, though, as speeding up the curve at the tail end of the curve
> (higher RPM) generally doesn't cause problems.
>

Yeah it appears that the Stude advance was set up the same way.
Actually this conversion is for sale commercially from one of the Stude
parts vendors but I'm chea^H^H^H^Hfrugal and decided to see if I could
figure out how he does it rather than spend $300.

Of course, I may come close to that by the time I'm done, but at least
I'll have spent lots of time on it and maybe I'll know what I'm doing <G>

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

Daniel J. Stern wrote:
> On Tue, 2 Nov 2004, Steve wrote:
>
>
>>Something like a '72 C-body (440 or 383) would be a good starting point.
>
>
> With that smogger advance curve? Yetch.
>

72 hadn't changed much (if at all) from earlier. And you can always
migrate the mechanical distributor's weights and springs over to the
electronic housing.

Daniel J. Stern wrote:
> On Tue, 2 Nov 2004, Steve wrote:
>
>
>>Something like a '72 C-body (440 or 383) would be a good starting point.
>
>
> With that smogger advance curve? Yetch.
>

72 hadn't changed much (if at all) from earlier. And you can always
migrate the mechanical distributor's weights and springs over to the
electronic housing.

On Wed, 3 Nov 2004, Steve wrote:

> >>Something like a '72 C-body (440 or 383) would be a good starting point.

> > With that smogger advance curve? Yetch.

> 72 hadn't changed much (if at all) from earlier.

Had so. The small changes came in '68; the big change came in '70 and '71.

> And you can always
> migrate the mechanical distributor's weights and springs over to the
> electronic housing.

True, but that does nothing about the vacuum advance curve.

>

On Wed, 3 Nov 2004, Steve wrote:

> >>Something like a '72 C-body (440 or 383) would be a good starting point.

> > With that smogger advance curve? Yetch.

> 72 hadn't changed much (if at all) from earlier.

Had so. The small changes came in '68; the big change came in '70 and '71.

> And you can always
> migrate the mechanical distributor's weights and springs over to the
> electronic housing.

True, but that does nothing about the vacuum advance curve.

>

Just in case anyone was wondering, I almost got the electronic
conversion together and then went to look at a car for sale:

http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel/64vert.html

of course, this car has an (incorrect but more desirable, and easily
converted with Pertronix or similar) Delco "window" distributor so it
looks like the conversion won't be used, as I can't keep my '62 and the
convertible at the same time.

Oh well, such is life. I suppose I ought to finish it anyway just to
prove that I can do it. Thanks for the help, anyways. I did eventually
find a parts store that hooked me up with a vacuum unit that fit.

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel