So I'm getting all my ducks lined up for next weekend's Electronic Ignition Swap, and Log onto my online Kragen account to get a distributor. I tell it I need one for a '73 Dart with a 225.

It tells me the price, core charge and which stores have 'em. It also has a pic.

In that pic, the dist. gear looks like Nylon.

What gives? I can only imagine this working about as well as the nylon teeth on a Timing Chain.

Do I have an aftermarket option here for my distributor? Please don't say "Pertronix" as I already have the orange box, resistor and harness from MP.

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"When applied at precisely the right time, Ignorance is a powerful tool, usually even surpassing knowledge" E.J. "Michigan Madman" Potter.

There is nothing wrong with a nylon dist gear. I have been running the same one on my race car since the mid 70's. If you are worried about it, NAPA does have a metal gear DG-404, but it is not necessary.

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

I have tons of distributors in my garage, and some are OEM from the 60's and early 70's...the nylon gears are perfectly fine, like charrlie said you can get the bronze one, but it's not necessary, there's no real load on the gear with the cam... you only shave teeth off if something breaks off and richochets into the teeth, or your cam wasn't machined correctly (in either case something else would have to be replaced anyway...)


-D.Idiot

The distributor drive pinion for the slant-6 has been nylon since the very first 1960 engine. They're fine. The NAPA Echlin DG404 is an iron gear and it's fine too, but unnecessary.

What's bothering me more is this business of getting a distributor (or any working part, for that matter) from Kragen. Their "remanufactured" garbage causes more problems, overall, than it solves. If you're bound and determined to use their thrown-together "remanufactured" distributor, pay the core charge and hang onto your old one!

FWIW, I bought a brand-new Chrysler electronic slant-6 distributor, 3755042, on Ebay for a little over $40, and the guy seems to sell them consistently, so he's probably got deep stocks.

Yeah...Parts counter "Thrown Together Junk" is another reason why I was hoping there was some sort of brand-new aftermarket solution.

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"When applied at precisely the right time, Ignorance is a powerful tool, usually even surpassing knowledge" E.J. "Michigan Madman" Potter.

I've run two Cardone remanfs. and both worked fine. I even pulled one apart and opend up the governor and made my own performance distributor and have had no problems since. Supposedly Mallory makes a /6 distributor, but at $150 I'd just as soon get one from a junkyard and rebuild my own....

-D.Idiot

Every time you give your original distributor back in "core" form, that's one more properly-assembled, original component gone forever. "Remanufactured" starters, alternators, carburetors, distributors, etc. are, by and large, garbage. In addition to the rough physical treatment (harsh abrasive cleaning that destroys machined surfaces and protective coatings, etc.), the level of consolidation is a big joke...there are thirty different Slant-6 electronic distributors for a reason: They're DIFFERENT! Yet, all thirty of them get thrown in the same bin and the "remanufactured" crap gets made out of this part from this distributor, that part from that distributor, whatever springs happen to be handy, etc. It's even worse with carburetors. Hey, hands up who thinks the gear reduction starters are "all the same" from '62-'87 despite there being at least 15 different part numbers?

Thats why I use a mini starter Dan. I totaly agree about the rebuild junk. I've went through 3 alternators before I found a good one a few years ago: same with the master cylinder. Pick up a reman. electronic distributer and keep your current distributer. Use the springs in your current in the new unit, they are easy to take apart. A Motor manual or a shop manual for the year of your car will give you the specs. of your vacuum advance unit also, so you can get the correct one.

I'm a picky, ornery sumcuss, so I don't use the mini starter. Yes, they work great, but I just cannot handle a Slant-6 car sounding like a Subaru when it's being cranked.

I've had excellent success going to independent specialists when I need this kind of service work. I have a good rotating-electrics guy, an auto electrical shop where they build starters and alternators to my specs. I'm fairly good with carbs but got a guy who's better than I am when I'm not up to the task.

There is no reason or need to waste money on the junk sold by the big-box chains.

I can certainly identify with that sentiment. My mother's sister's family owned a 77 Aspen wagon when I was very young, from new to '84 and being a small child one of the things I remember most sharply about that car was the sound of its starter. It was worn and continued to spool for a couple of seconds after the engine caught. That sound always meant come out and say goodbye to your smiling, waving cousins. Probably has a lot to do with why I liked these cars my whole life.

I take great lengths to preserve the feel and experience of any old car I set my hand to, for that very reason. Changing any look, sound or smell interrupts the easy familiarity that connects someone to a memory of a car.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Exactly. Look and feel.

One of my very earliest memories is of my parents' Dodge Dart. The garage had a concrete floor so when dad would start up the car (with me buckled into my baby seat in back!) the "Uyeh-deh-deh-deh-deh!" starter sound would echo off the floor.

They sold that car when I was two years old and bought a Ch*vy, so that goes to show how strong an impression it made on me.

Here y'go, here's the guy with the new \6 electronic dizzy on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 14668&rd=1

Year One has pricey starters that they claim have been remanufactured by Chrysler. Don't know if they are any good are not.

The old Chrysler starters are unkillable. My D-150 has over 200,000 miles on it and still has the original starter. They sound an awful lot alike with the starter on my Dad's Mack B-35.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

Chrysler does not remanufacture anything. They, like all the rest of the automakers and quite a good many OE producers (e.g. Bosch and Hitachi) simply license-out their name on a bid basis to a factory remanufacturing company. The remanufactured starters in the Year One catalogue are pretty much the same as the ones at the parts store.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

that ebay link is dead.

I too, have had nothing but bad luck with re-man starters. I used to get them from "big wheel rossi" then they became "checker".

average life span was six months.