The clip is almost a complete circle but has two little legs sticking up on the ends. You must grab one of those legs and carefully pull the clip out. Be careful because the clip (a) distorts and (b) might go flying who knows where. Putting this little bugger back in can be tricky too. I like to use a small flathead screwdriver and work the clip back into its groove.

This will all make sense once you are looking at the distributor.

Go slow, and you should be fine. Good luck!

You are doing fine, much better than I did the first time I got this deep into a motor.

Disassembling and cleaning a distributor is not technically difficult, but can be difficult the first time you do it.

I am posting scans from my 1983 factory service manual detailing how to disassemble a lean-burn ignition distributor. Disassembling a points distributor is virtually the same. The only special tool you need is a pair of fine point needle-nose pliers to pull a little clip out of the center of the shaft.

I don't think the diagrams I am posting show it, but immediately below the rotor there should be a little felt pad, followed by this little "O" shaped clip. The clip is almost a complete circle but has two little legs sticking up on the ends. You must grab one of those legs and carefully pull the clip out. Be careful because the clip (a) distorts and (b) might go flying who knows where.

Putting this little bugger back in can be tricky too. I like to use a small flathead screwdriver and work the clip back into its groove.

This will all make sense once you are looking at the distributor.

Here are the scans:

I would clean all the bits and pieces in your favorite solvent and check the shaft for excessive wear and play.

Your distributor will have a vacuum advance pod not shown in the above diagrams. It unscrews from the body of the distributor and has a little arm with a stud that fits into a hole on the plate supporting the points. It is fairly obvious how to remove it once you are in there.

Be sure to check that the vacuum advance pod still holds a vacuum. If it doesn't, you will need to replace it.

I would put the springs and weights and governor in a bag and save them for your new distributor.

When your new distributor arrives, you can disassemble it, clean it, and reassemble it with the springs and weights and vacuum advance can from your original distributor.

Go slow, and you should be fine. Good luck!

That 4.74 volts after the ballast sounds too low............

What's the resistance of the ballast and the coil?

JC the name for the item is a Jesus Clip, the reason being is when it makes a tiny little sound it has a better disappearing act than Hodini himself and you are there saying JEEESSUUSS where did it go. ( altho some are shaped a little differently than others they all end up being the same.... MISSING)

Reed you could have told him that the proper tool to use is snap ring pliers, but most of the time you can get by without them...

We don't want to keep him totally in the dark, as he is having so much fun learning..

Hey All,
Saturday Afternoon Update:

Have Lorrie's Distributor partially disassembled. Am cleaning it up, and will reassemble it.

Attach the dwell meter, crank the engine, adjust dwell while cranking. Now check the gap.

This may or may not happen, depending on how efficiently the parts for the NEW HEI Electronic Ignition System arrive. The ECU (Electronic Control Unit) has already gotten here.

From examining the ACTUAL Distributor, it appears that in order to get the proper Dwell which is a function of the Hex Cam to Rub Block interstice, and the present configuration of the Rub Block is what is preventing the Distributor to fulfill its capability of keeping the Points OPEN and CLOSED for the proper number of Degrees. ,

It is not though that one can accurately measure the opening time by eye.

While this is probably TRUE, the determining of the position of the Hex Cam's Ramps and Apexes, and their relation to the Rub Block part of the Points Set CAN'T have THAT much difference between what an electronic instrument indicates would be the relationship, and what a reasonably aware person looking directly AT the mechanism using optical magnification.

And there is a significant possibility that doing what has been suggest would result in Lorrie being up and running again again. That is, IF the OLD Distributor is properly reassembled, which there is no reason to believe that it wouldn't be, but one never knows.

There is so much to learn about these OLD Systems. Have found that present day mechanics, like the ones that are running the auto repair shops, have little knowledge, and even less affinity for wanting to know about the OLD Systems, leave alone be willing to actually work on one of them.

So MY being this deeply involved with Lorrie serves the purpose of keeping life interesting, but what is even more tangible is that the "fixing-up" of Ms. American 3.14159, and Lorrie Van Haul, is out of the necessity to have reliable transportation.

The "tipping" point at which it was decided that working on keeping Ms. American, and Lorrie Van Haul up and running reliably happened when it was decided that it wouldn't be just out of necessity, but that it would actually become a hobby.

And since then, the learning about, and the gaining of the expertise, and skills necessary to deal with the procedures and processes that make all of these OLD Systems work as they did originally, has gone on apace.

Am getting better at doing this kind of thing, but there is so much that is not known.

Anyway, the goal is to make Ms. American 3.14159 and Lorrie as reliable as they can be, while doing the work with as much precision and care as one can muster. Am not hurrying, am not settling for just good enough. This is a hobby and as such qualified to be scrutinized as closely and as deeply as one can possibly accomplish..

But you know what? One can read how to deal with these OLD Systems, but that doesn't mean that one UNDERSTANDS how they work.

Even though the person writing the explanation knows perfectly well what he is saying, HOW to deal with one of these Systems isn't always transmitted from the person writing the instructions to the one receiving the transmission.

I read pretty well, and some explanations make perfect sense, so it isn't that somehow it is the fault of the person not getting the knowledge. Sometimes there is a problem with the actual understanding of what is written.

The problem is that: What is written, while true, doesn't transmit the actual knowledge.

It takes handling the actual parts themselves to have what is written make any sense.

So that's what is happening here.

Not only are we becoming familiar intellectually with the system, but actually dealing with the parts and pieces that go to make up the System,

It comes under the heading of someone not understanding the instructions because the transmitter/receiver system somehow fails in its attempt to make the information jump from the page (or monitor), to the reader's knowledge bank.

But once the subject is learned intellectually, then contemplation and concentration can take place.

Was contemplating the functioning of the OLD Ignition System last night.

A number of the functions of this OLD System came into question. One question was WHY do the various functions happen?

Most of the Distributor Mechanism is very straight forward, and easily understandable.

Other functions seem either mystical, Incidental, or actually useless. But that is just from LOOKING at the Mechanism itself.

And the question arose:

Are there parts of the System that do a certain thing because they were designed to do that certain thing? Was it REALLY supposed to do THAT (whatever something) as part of the functioning of the System?

OR: Does it just happen like that when the System functions?

For example:

When the Points come open, there is a SPARK that occurs between the Points. Is there a REASON that the System is designed have a SPARK between the Points when the Points are open?

OR: Is THAT just what happens when the Points come open?

If there IS a reason for the Spark, WHAT is it?

Thus began a contemplating of the WHOLE System, noting along the way the functions that are not understood.

For Example:

To start with, the Electricity comes FROM the Battery , but while running, the Electricity comes from both the Battery AND the Alternator.

The Electricity goes into the Ignition Coil at the "+" Terminal of the Ignition Coil.

What happens inside the Ignition Coil is predicated on the functioning of the elements INSIDE the Ignition Coil.

When just maybe eight or nine years old, took an OLD Ignition Coil apart to get the really LONG Copper Wire out of it, which was strung between and around a number of trees, and was used as an aerial for a "Crystal Set", which was an early form of Radio, and at the time the "scientific" world was being explored at school, and one of the projects was a "Crystal Set".

At the time, it wasn't on my mind to see how the Ignition Coil was constructed. So to this day, I haven't the slightest clue of WHAT is actually IN an Ignition Coil, and HOW it works.

But to continue on, apparently the Electricity goes into the Ignition Coil's "+" Terminal, and comes out of the "-" Terminal to the Points Set, which is connected to a Capacitor, commonly referred to as a Condenser.

There is Electricity going to the Condenser, and this continues to do so, till the Distributor Shaft's Hex Cam acting on the Points to which the Condenser is attached, opens the Points, and somehow, the opening of the Points causes the Condenser to discharge.

And the Condenser being connected to the "-" Terminal of the Ignition Coil, SOMEHOW creates a shot of HIGH Energy to the Ignition Coil, which responds by putting out a relatively LARGE amount of Electricity out of the Tower of the Ignition Coil, through a Wire to the Distributor, which routes it to a Spark Plug, the tip of which is designed to be able to create a SPARK at the PROPER time and at a PROPER rate to make the Engine run.

Though not FULLY understanding HOW the OLD Ignition System that existed in the contemplation works, got to watching it function in my mind.

This build-up of Electricity in the Ignition Coil, and the Condenser, and then the release of all that Electrical Energy at the PROPER time, and PROPER rate goes on, in a Six Cylinder, Four-Cycle Engine, turning 1,000 RPM at a rate of 250 times a minute for each of Six Cylinders, which is at the Points, a rate of opening and closing 25 times a second. At 2,000 RPM it would be 50 times a second. At 4,000 RPM it would be 100 times a second.

But it's one thing to KNOW how a system works, and it is quite another thing to UNDERSTAND the nature of this OLD System.

The OLD Ignition System is a throbbing, humming, surprised-that-it-works, set of parts that do what they do acceptably well, being reasonably reliable and trustworthy.

The level of UNDERSTANDING of this OLD System depends on a bunch of elements:

But, at the deepest levels of understanding, one ceases to be involved in just the "Old Car Hobby", but one has become involved with the Electric/Electronics like Nicola Tesla.

Nonetheless, there are questions that need answering. Not only intellectually through verbal or written information, but in REALITY with the ACTUAL pieces of the System in hand, assembled properly, and adjusted correctly.

For example:

HOW does the Coil take IN the Electricity that it does, store it for a precise time, and then what makes it RELEASE its energy?

I know what CAUSES it to do what it does. I just don't know WHY it does THAT!

Another Example:

The Spark in the Points Gap. Why does it SPARK, and wouldn't the transmission of the Electricity be more efficient if it DIDN'T spark?

So the question becomes:

Is the functioning of the System dependent on there being an actual SPARK between the Points while they are open? And if so, WHY? OR is it that when the Points come open, the Electricity just naturally arcs across that Gap?

Anyway, just noticed that there was a package from Amazon delivered, and it turned out to be the Electronic Control Unit that was ordered for Lorrie's NEW HEI Electronic Ignition System.

Here we go again!

Am going to have to come to grips with not only the concept of the NEW HEI Electronic Ignition System, but also with the REALITY of having one's hands on the ACTUAL System components.

Isn't this FUN?

JC

Ummm a question JC, WHAT ECU are you referring to? When doing the HEI CONVERSION there is NO ECU, But a module instead... IE Parts needed for a HEI Conversion:

A GOOD GM Module.

(Chrysler uses a ECU "box")

AN E-Coil

A Plain Vanilla Electronic Distributor w/ Vacuum Advance.

Plus various lenghts of wire and a few connectors, a wiring diagram of sorts.

OPTIONAL: Some form of Heat sink/mounting bracket for the Module and coil.
And the relay that SSD Recommends, but isnt a deal breaker if you dont have or want to use one.