Swapping distributors in 85 GS ???
 

I have been chasing a gremlin in my leading ignition. It works on start-up, but soon (minutes) it quits working (it seems to occur sooner the warmer the temperature is). It is not the coil (the problem occurs with my 2GDFI set-up and the original set-up), it is not the wires (the leading coil wire wasn't even used on the 2GDFI set-up). I have replaced the leading igniter 3 times with no change. It is not the cap or rotor as those were reconfigured in the 2GDFI set-up vs. the stock set-up (I ran the trailing thru the leading location with the 2GDFI set-up).

I have a complete distributor from an 82 or 83. I was going to swap the whole thing out.
Any problems putting it in my 85 GS?
Any issues I need to pay attention to?
I know it must go in in the same tooth location, but are there any TDC compression stroke issues, like on a lowly piston engine?

Any other help/ideas?

Thanks

It should be Ok, just follow the proper procedures for lining up your timing marks on the front cover and the dimple and arrow on the dizzy shaft and you should be fine.

The yellow timing mark should be aligned with the timing pin on the front cover (and dizzy rotor pointing at L1 on the cap . then pull it out align your timing marks on your dizzy and stab it in. pretty straight forward.

make sure you have the clips that hold the cap on in the "up" position when you drop in the new dizzy as they can't be rotated upwards once the dizzy is installed making you pull it out and restab it back in.

Get away from the stock ignition, your halfway there. Switch to use some GM ignitors.

Seriously, it still sounds like igniter failure. Those symptoms of failing when it gets warm or is warm
is pretty telling. Have you checked your voltage drops across the grounds and so on? Could be bad
connection that changes when warm.

Thanks TG.
How does one perform such tests?

Use a DVM and set it to measures voltage. The just check the voltages at each end of the wire
with a nearby ground and see how much it differs from the voltage at the +/- terminals on the
battery. Pretty simple, if you see a large difference it probably means a poor connection. You start
hunting it down by moving up the wire until it gets better.

This is good advice.
I had a no-start condition on a SE once and tried everything. When I finally checked the voltage at the ignitor it was out of spec. The wires on the connector get bent over the years and break inside the plastic insulation. very difficult to detect from appearance alone. Once I spliced in a new connector, the problem went away .