Tilley

I have a 1965 200 inline 6 motor. My gas mileage has been about 9 mpg on the freeway. It was told to me that the problem was the distributor was not the original for the Autolite 1100 single barrel carb:

I tuned up the motor and replaced all the filters. Mileage still stunk and the spark plugs show my car is running extremely rich.

I have bought the original distributor and included the Petronix Ignitor I with a Petronix Flame Thrower coil. I have read some truly horrifying stories here about installing a new distributor, and I don't want to add to that list.

HOW can I install this original single vacuum-advance distributor without all the crap and drama other's before me have had to face?

How does this sound:

Carefully remove the old distributor out.
Insert new distributor in and hopefully it slides into the gears.
Car starts, I time it, tighten bolt, car drives great...

Too easy?

Please gives suggestions on the easiest way to accomplish this.

Gun Jam

1)start by figuring out what plug is plug #1
2) rotate engine by hand with large ratchet on crank until rotor is under plug wire 1
3) look at damper wheel and make sure timing mark reads 0 TDC

Then pull the distributor out and make sure the new one lines back up the same with plug wire 1.

Did you ever time the engine? Was timing actually 0 deg adv?

-Gun

ps The idea is you want the engine in a know location...That location is top dead center TDC...Piston 1 is at TDC on the compression stroke and the dizzy rotor will be directly under plug wire 1. Most issues come from not knowing what position the engine is in so you have no idea where the rotor should be pointing. THe 2nd big issue is having piston 1 TDC on the exhaust stroke (180 out of phase) If you see that the rotor is under plug 1 and the timing mark reads TDC you can be sure that you are not 180 out of phase and are indeed on TDC compression.

Tilley

Thanks again for your help. The timing was actually 12 degrees per:
http://classicinlines.com/SmallSixSpecs.asp#CR

Keep turning the fan by hand until rotor is pointing at #1 plug on distributor cap AND zero degrees TDC?

Gregski

I have found that unless I take the spark plugs out I can't turn over an engine by hand, maybe I'm just a wimp, anyway if you have the spark plugs out (there's no shame in numbering your plug wires with a sharpy, even if it's black on black so only you know it is there) you can gently insert a long screw driver into the #1 spark plug hole and watch it pogo stick up and down as you turn the crank, that should help you see when the piston is at Top Dead Center, also I would associate poor fuel economy with the carb so are you sure it has the proper jetting, 9 miles per gallon sounds insanely poor, are you driving it around with the choke on or something and running super rich, what do your spark plugs tell you, what color are they - good luck, let us know how it turns out

Gun Jam

I dont think the fan grips the belt hard enough to rotate the engine..you'll probably have to use the bolt that hold the damper wheel on (the big pulley at the bottom with the timing marks on it)

So rotate the engine until rotor points at plug 1 under the dizzy cap AND make sure the timing mark on the damper wheel says 0 deg or TDC.


I really hope that new stuff solves the problem....but...did you see the timing move to a larger number when the engine revved up? IF yes its not like you wasted money the petronix is good (assuming its not dead on arrival) but you'll end up finding out the whole issue was a bad inlet needle inside the carb ( cost 3.00) and Ill probably have to do the I told you so dance but hey you got petronix now!

P.S my MSD died today after bragging to you about how reliable its been...170 bucks / 8 years equals 21 bucks a year for pain in the *** free ignition

-Gun

Tilley

Okay! Gotta walk the dogs, then the rest of the day devoted to my car.

One more question (with many to come for sure):

Is this the "resistor ballast" and when I put on the new distributor and petronix coil, does this get bypassed or get connected up as well?

THUMPIN455

Wait a minute, mileage stinks, plugs are black, and you are changing the distributor. Well I guess it might be part of it...

I would also be checking to make sure the choke is pulling off all the way, there isnt fuel dripping from the booster at idle (float level causes that), and see if there are any leaks in the fuel system, including inside the carb. That thing is drinking so much fuel the rings are probably washed out and the oil should smell like gas. If you cant get high teens mpg out of a 200 in an early stang, there is something very wrong with it. Ive had 7.4L engines in 4000lb cars get more than double that mileage, so you should be able to improve it considerably unless you have 4.88 or 5.13 rear gears in it.

If you want, pick up a kit for the carb, clean it very well, get all the gas out of it, put it in a plastic bag, and mail it all to me. I'll rebuild it for free.

Tilley

This is what I have done to this point:

1. Put in new distributor w/ Petronix
-took about 30 minutes to get distributor seated all the way
-had to keep moving crank till it caught the gears

2. Put in new Petronix Flame Thrower coil.
Petronix Rep. said it was okay to bypass resistor ballist and put ignition wire and red wire from distributor to positive post on coil; black wire from distributor to negative post on coil.

3. New spark plugs (gapped)

4. Connected vacuum advance from carb to distributor.

5. Placed #1 piston at top of cylinder with timing mark at TDC.

6. Made the "old" #4 post on distributor now the #1 post (rotor was pointing there, although NOT exactly...but close), then placed the firing order accordingly (1-5-3-6-2-4).

Drum roll please...




CRANKS BUT DOESN'T START!

What now?!!?

Gun Jam

so the rotor pointed to #4 post when the timing mark read TDC? and the plug wire from #4 post ran to plug number 4 (not to be confused with firing order)

Tilley

The rotor pointed to what used to be the #4 post on the distributor. That then became my new #1 position, and I changed the rest of the positions accordingly.

I tried starting it now and it backfired with a lot of black smoke and black soot from the tailpipe.