can someone fill me in on the DI recurved distributor?

Looking at the bottom, the flat index plate can be turned on base - to allow MORE adjustment at the slotted hole for advance/retard of the timing.

Where is the proper position?
What is the benefit of the recurve?

Looking for info as Blue67 (Stephanies old car)....tries to get going again.

Mike

The benefits of my distributors are:

1) they are completely taken apart, cleaned and retoleranced (i.e. proper bushing tolerences between the shaft and bushings)...whcih is a crap shoot with a reman unit.
2) I reuse the OEM body which allows the cap to fit right and is not a crappy pot metal body that is not cast so nicely.
3) I lube the moving parts properly, Cardone leaves the distributor parts dry which can prematurely wear the mainshaft bushing, and allow the advacne plate to "grab" on occasion not allowing for a smooth ignition advance when the vacuum pod is used for economy.
4) New Vacuum pod, with a known part number and a known advance so it can be adjusted if needed.
5) In this case I also used a short slot governor for points (11.5), so more initial advance can be dialed.
6) Springs were chosen to be a bit more aggressive than the stock heavy springs...so you get a little more power, better mpg in most cases...so better than factory.
7) You get paperwork that tells you what I did to the distributor, a chart that shows the mechanical and vacuum advance and part numbers if applicable so you know what is in the distributor...and on the back page you get an advance vs. rpm so you know what the advance looks like.
You get a recommendation on where to set the initial, and how far you might be able to work the advance up to to gain best numbers based on our culminated data on the board and from daily driving....
9) In this case I also put new points, condensor, gear, and contacts in as well, and checked the dwell dynamically in my sun distributor machine. I typically set the contacts and put a piece of paper from the contacts box in between the contacts so they don't wear or rub during shipping...they might come out of adjustment if the shipping company tossed it around like a football during shipping...

So it is a very "known" quantity compared to buying a reman over the counter...

The only downside to this is that we didn't have time to recurve it specifically for her car and power train. This one was one of my last two recurves when I was doing recurves for board members, and I set it up somewhat generically in case someone needed one (not many people want points distributors these days since EI is the way to go...and junkyards ran out of EI cores to modify, recurve and refurbish so it killed my small hobby business...but there are about 35 of my EI distributors, about 10 of my points, and 2 small block distributors out in the market.
Worked on stock, economy, race, and turbo curves.... Hopefully when I get my shop in order and power out there I can get back to offering this service again...

The adjustment plate is stock, I would start in the center of the slot so you have even chance of adjusting it.

I would set the balancer if it is accurate at TDC to start with (confirm TDC on the damper is really correct...by checking piston depth with a tool and confirming that both rockers on #1 are loose/ on the base circle of the cam) and I would use an old distributor cap with a hole drilled between the central tower and the #1 plug wire post...install rotor and cap, and install distributor so that the rotor lines up with the #1 tower as seen through the hole in the cap... The engine if in good shape should fire off if all is well, but may not run best as the distributor is set for the initial to be set at 5-8 BTDC...if you can get it running (and timing chain hasn't jumped a tooth, or lash is out of spec), I would loosen the set screw so the distributor can be advanced to the 5-8 BTDC range, if tuning with a vacuum gauge you should see improvements in the reading... sometimes more advance and or improvements in vacuum and timing can require changes to the base settings on the carburator, and or jetting since we are improving on the mediocre setting the factory required when the vehicle was originally manufactured.


-D.Idiot

" proper bushing tolerences between the shaft and bushings)"

Recommended source for new distributor bushings would be??

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1965 Dart 110k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exh., sbp manual scarebird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 14 x 4.5 OEM wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throwout bearing, HEI, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump. http://plymouthcarclub.com/

If I have to get a new set, I get them locally through McGuire Bearing. I don't
have a part number handy, as I haven't had to buy and install more than a couple
over the years...

Thanks for your prompt response.

Your supplier McGuire Bearing Company in Washington area might know the part number if given the application?

Chrysler Bushing kit part number for the 65 (regardless of distributor) was 2275 229 however my searches using that number haven't turned up anything....yet.

Do you use a reamer specific for the purpose or adopted a reamer to fit?
I need to do at least 4 distributors so I can justify a tool made to size.

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1965 Dart 110k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exh., sbp manual scarebird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 14 x 4.5 OEM wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throwout bearing, HEI, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump. http://plymouthcarclub.com/

No, last time I did this, I took a dizzy body in and the counter guy mic'd it. They had to order them in, and was not cheap
unless I bought in bulk (I was not willing at the time to shell out for 100 bushings)... I only did since OEM bodies are not easy
to find anymore, and the cost and labor involved was not justified in the end for the work and cost to the end user.



I have a buddy that is a machinist and took over to his place to ream to .500.... most mainshafts depending on abuse
mic from .499 new to .497 used (some reman shafts have mic'd .5 and the bushings are .501)... I turned a few "loose" cores
back to one reman place or another with some that were .495....001-.002 clearance is about where it lands (the most
recent OCPNW NOS dizzy I pulled apart mic'd at .500 bushings and .499 shaft and was a little stiff...) I have a dowel
that is about the right size to wrap a length of 500 grit around if I have to do a hone job on the bushings because they
are just a smidge too tight. Also taking a moment to shine the shaft with a 3M SOS pad helps slightly as well.

Great detailed (and needed) responses.

This is the type of technical responses that make this forum so good!

I'll be running tighter tolerances on the "bench" distributors used for only measuring (caps & rotors clearances) & machining (cap) .

I'll run the looser tolerances on the distributors for use on the slants.

This response will be bookmarked....Thanks

Don

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1965 Dart 110k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exh., sbp manual scarebird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 14 x 4.5 OEM wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throwout bearing, HEI, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump. http://plymouthcarclub.com/

Great News!!

Source for Slant Distributor Shaft Bushings is your friendly Dodge Flathead Engine which are readily available.

Just ordered out and received a set which I tried on a NOS slant six distributor shaft.

The new .500" ID bushings were tight to the shaft, the .628" OD and 1.0" Length looks good to go for pressing into the slant distributor housing.

Maybe this is a result of insuring lower costs when utilizing available engineering, tooling, parts, and/or etc when possible thru the years???

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1965 Dart 110k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exh., sbp manual scarebird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 14 x 4.5 OEM wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throwout bearing, HEI, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump. http://plymouthcarclub.com/

Correct.

Thanks for locating an alternate source for bushings, that will help...

I dropped a 1959 Plymouth flathead 6 230 c.i.d. distributor shaft/govenor assembly into a slant 6 distributor and it fit nice and tight.

1965 Dart Shop Manual indicates that if the side to side motion at the rubbing block level exceeds .006 then bushing replacement is recommended. It calls for bushing ID to be .4995 to .5000 ID and shaft to be .4990.

The manual indicates in bold print not to press the bushings out but rather pull them out. It appears safe to press them out as far as the geometry is concerned. What method did you use?

Thanks for your help

Don

ps. Flathead six govenor is 8 (instead of 11.5) with slots measuring 3/8 long.
I've ordered some easy to get oilite bronze bushings listed as the same size as the flathead 6 bushings to measure and verify if the $6 off the shelf bushings are relatively close to the requirements of the slant 6. Easy to find and inexpensive would be nice.

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1965 Dart 110k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exh., sbp manual scarebird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 14 x 4.5 OEM wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throwout bearing, HEI, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump. http://plymouthcarclub.com/

My buddy had a tool like a pilot bushing puller but smaller and we pulled the upper bushing out, then used a machined
rod to push the lower bushing out with a press. I'm not sure if it would work if the reverse were done, or if a machined rod could just push the lower bushing out
with the upper bushing at the same time using a press.

Standard low cost bushing like the following are sized near perfectly:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bronze-Bushing ... 2749.l2649

Pulling is the way to go. A 9/16 x 4" long full threaded bolt with full size nut and a 3/4 socket does the trick after cutting 9/16-18 threads in the bushings with a tap. The tap can be started on the top bushing and just keep going until it's done both bushings. The bushings pull out (in opposite directions) with minor effort.

The od of the pulled factory bushings is .628" which matched the above standard low cost bushings.

I used a worn distributor shaft to press in the bushings. The top bushing is suppose to press in far enough so it extends about 5/32 above the floor of the distributor casting but it seems to resist going that far down by 1/32. So the above bushing might have 1/32 cut off it's length. I assembled the distributor with the bushing top 3/16 off the floor of the distributor and all worked out fine....in fact maybe better because the end play at the distributor gear to distributor casing dropped right to the .007" spec'd out in the shop manual. Side to side play at the reluctor/points level for the shaft dropped to below the .006" max allowed. No fancy honing ......just a few spins with a 1/2" drill on high speed matched up the shaft and bushings in no time. Do that before installing the distributor gear.

So a homemade puller and off the shelf bushings can make a loose bushing/distributor shaft problem go away.

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1965 Dart 110k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exh., sbp manual scarebird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 14 x 4.5 OEM wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throwout bearing, HEI, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump. http://plymouthcarclub.com/

"Cardone leaves the distributor parts dry which can prematurely wear the main shaft bushing, and allow the advance plate to "grab" on occasion"

Took a Cardone re-manufactured distributor apart after finding a significant "rattle" in the main shaft which was so bad it would open & close points .020" without rotating the shaft!!

Problems found in this one newly purchased re-manufactured Cardone distributor:
1) .020" side to side play of main shaft due to bushing wear (should not exceed .006")
2) .040" top to bottom play (should not exceed .007")
3) standard grease smeared on condenser, points, breaker plate (cam lube sparingly in critical locations is specified by manual)
4) rotor could not be installed on main shaft
5) distributor cap clips would not clip onto distributor cap (too short)
6) rust between govenor and weights prohibited weight movement
7) completely wrong springs on weights
different part numbers on each weight

Contributing to the above findings it was determined:
1) bushings were never changed (but were advertised as changed)
2) cleaning was done with govenor assembled to mainshaft (causing dirt/rust to remain under the govenor)
3) new gear was retained by original shaft holes (causing .040 top to bottom play)
4) distributor cap clips were replaced with aftermarket clips not conforming to original clip configuration (contributing to #5 above)
5) govenor had been dropped "squeezing in the slot which aligns the rotor (contributing to #4 above)

The effort to correct these deviations was time consuming and irritating especially since the vendor was not willing to replace or compensate.

Dan has noted several times not to pick up a Cardone re-manufactured distributor; I'm thinking he may be on target after my experience.

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1965 Dart 110k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exh., sbp manual scarebird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 14 x 4.5 OEM wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throwout bearing, HEI, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump. http://plymouthcarclub.com/

At one time, many years ago, Cardone was a good company. Now I would not use any thing they supply, new or rebuilt, unless I had no choice whatsoever. They have become a totally worthless company. Their customer service is just as bad as their parts.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170