MSD Distributor questions

[Turbo Zach]

I bought this MSD distributor used from a guy. He never used it. He bought it for a stage two turbo six build, but went a different route. I was looking at it and noticed the reluctor wheel has had all the fins ground off but one. Why would someone do that? I did find a new one on line for 15 bucks. How hard is it to change and line up properly? I did notice that it has no mechanical advance. The rotor is bolted to the shaft. Any insight would be helpful.

 

[fleming442]

The no advance is easy, its locked out.
The teeth knocked off the reluctor on the other hand ....

 

[TURNA]

He may have never used it.....but the person he bought it from sure looks like they did!!!

 

[Griffin84ss]

It looks to have had some miles put onit.have to watch people nowadays there are just a handful of honest one's out there everyone trying to make a dollar off someone.!!

 

[pontiacgp]

I would not use that distributor unless your using it for a circle track racing. It has no vacuum advance so it won't help with performance and fuel mileage in city driving. You can take the bolt out locking the rotor and use the springs and weights for the mechanical advance. The reluctor wheel is easy to change, it has a snap ring under the wheel and there is a keyway to line it up. You need to remove the shaft from the housing and slide the reluctor down.

 

[lilbowtie]

I'm with Fleming, the reluctor fins weren't ground off they were broke off. Seems to be debris still in there and the rotor showing witness marks of such.

 

[Clarmo]

They might have used it as some type of cam sensor signal ( for one cylinder only ) and used a separate crank trigger (on the balancer) to pulse the ignition system.

 

[pontiacgp]

what is the part number of the distributor. The reluctor is not from an 8 cylinder distributor

 

[Turbo Zach]

Ok guy's this is not a debate on wether the distributor is good or bad. It is a buick six cylinder distributor. The reluctor fins were ground off for a reason. I did some research. When they use a Fast ECM they do that. The ECM needs one pulse per cam revolution. Why I don't know. Why you would want a ECM and a distributor I don't know. What I have figured out is I need to replace the reluctor wheel to make it work for me. How to time the wheel for my application, I am not sure? Straight, advanced, or retarded? This for a turbo six application. I will have a controller of some sort adjusting the timing under boost.

 

[pontiacgp]

Ok guy's this is not a debate on wether the distributor is good or bad. It is a buick six cylinder distributor. The reluctor fins were ground off for a reason. I did some research. When they use a Fast ECM they do that. The ECM needs one pulse per cam revolution. Why I don't know. Why you would want a ECM and a distributor I don't know. What I have figured out is I need to replace the reluctor wheel to make it work for me. How to time the wheel for my application, I am not sure? Straight, advanced, or retarded? This for a turbo six application. I will have a controller of some sort adjusting the timing under boost.

That distributor you have isn't old, if you look at the wheel on the one I am rebuilding you'll see the rust on it that is a common issue with MSD distributors. It's easy to change that wheel, just remove the gear at the bottom and the shaft will slide out, then remove the snap ring and the wheel will slide off, make sure you place the steel washers and brass spacer in their proper place when putting back together.