The previous owner locked the timing on the distributor. Would it be worth it to switch over to DLIDFIS? The car already has two accel coils.

 

Any ideas?

 

Is the car turbo? I dont really think there would be any benefit to having locked timing on a NA car exept maybe some slightly better low-end response.
I dont think those Accel coils would even make a noticable difference, however definetly upgrade to direct fire on the leading igntion, you will definetly notice a smoother idle and a few ponies. But i would probally find a unlocked dizzy to throw in there. You can then play with your timing a little more, set the split etc..

 

Bump also noticed the other day their is no vacuum hoses hooked to it at all. Is this a bad thing? Right now the only real vacuum hose is the one on the intake manifold going to the brake booster. Is that right?

 

Well, as long as there is some way of evacuating the crankcase gas, yes. The Gas tank has vent hose too, but it could look like another fuel line coming off of the firewall. A locked dizzy will have no vacuum lines going to it.

 

Did he lock the mechanical advance too?

 

^I have no clue, tell me what to look for. And I will answer the question.

 

Take the distributer cap off and see if you can turn the rotor a few degrees, it should feel like it's spring loaded. I welded mine up and locked the dizzy COMPLETELY just to try it out. Once I get my engine broken in I'll compare locked and unlocked dizzys.

 

Sorry that it took so long to get back to this put here are some pics of the distributer with the cap off. I tried turning it a few degrees and it felt very loose. No spring back. I could turn it almost 1/4 of a turn before it stopped. I don't know if I lined it back to were it used to be when I first took off the cover. Will that matter?

 

there's really not a whole lot of harm with havin the dizzy locked... you will notice better low end response and torque as stated above.... you will however want to to tune the idle a little richer if you plan on advancing the timing. you should be able to safely run about 20 degrees of advance... so long as you fatten up the idle.... the reason for richening the idle is to acoid pinging/detonation from the advanced timing... other than that I say let 'er be.....

 

Here are two short videos of it running. Sorry I don't have any video editing programs so it is kind of sloppy.

1st video, start up and walk around
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=467WCzSsVi0
2nd video, rev the car slowly (partial throttle) to 4.5k rpm then a quick rev to 4.5k rpm. I'm still in break phase 850 miles so I didn't want to rev it WOT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bsiEn343fQ

 

bump, didn't realize this thing got knocked down to the second page.

 

After more experimenting with locked timing, I've found that having the vacuum pots hooked up really helps your low end. My dizzy has the mechanical advance locked, and the timing set at ~11-12 degrees BTDC, and the trailing set about 4 degrees more retarded. I had it set at 22/16 BTDC with everything locked, and even after messing with the timing to see if I could make it better, it had no low end, and ran like crap at idle, fouled plugs too. After I re set everything, and hooked up the vacuum pots to the second line from the front on the plastic plate between the carb and manifold, it came alive, and held a steady, put-less idle.


81WideMariah, That distributor was not rebuilt either, like you said it was, I had to rebuild it. Please get your information straight before you try to sell people your crap, Thank you.