jpc647

I bought a timing kit from moroso to change out the springs per the advice on some on the board. Trying to bring the timing in a bit faster.

The old springs are super heavy and almost rusty, and when changing them, I came up with a question.

A lot of guys use 1 light spring and 1 medium spring from the kits, does it matter which spring goes on which side? How do I tell? The factory springs don't appear to be different, so I thought it'd ask.

Hopefully someone has a quick answer!

oldcutlass

No it does not matter where each spring goes. The factory springs are the same.

jpc647

Thanks!

Fun71

Agreed, the spring location doesn't matter.

I learned that the Mosros HEI Advance Curve kit center bar and weights give 24º mechanical advance. Originally I thought this would be great since my original distributor had 24º mechanical advance, so I set it up with the parts from the kit and mimicked the points setup, with 10-12º initial and 34-36º total.

Later, I read a lot about increasing the initial timing to give more vacuum , smoother idle, and more off-idle torque, which sounded good as my engine RPM would drop when I turned the AC on. So I finally found that the factory HEI center bar and weights had just what I needed, with 16º mechanical advance so the initial would be in the 18º-20º range.

My final configuration was the factory weights and center bar with one light and one medium spring from the kit.

jpc647

You're actually the guy I took the most information from on my other thread. That's exactly what I did. I cleaned my weights etc, but left the factory ones alone. I don't know what my distributor is out of, but it's a gm hei system.

The car seems a little bit happier. I did replace the not that old fuel filter too, because it had a weird black spot on the element, it looked like mold!?.

I'm right about 18* initial, I haven't measured the rpm where I'm all in at with the new setup, but the car doesn't ping, and there is a little more snap(response) when I hit the gas.

There's a timing issue something with my secondaries in the ebrock, but that's a story for my other thread. Stupid Edelbrock.

Fun71

There should be a number stamped in the housing as shown in the picture. If you can read it, post it and someone should be able to ID it for you.

jpc647

Sadyl, mine are long gone. The only numbers on mine are 13 and N down by the gear on the last part of the cast shaft. There's an R-16 on the inside housing near the weights too, but that's all i've got.


I have a photo looking down on that area too, and it's no longer legible. :/

Fun71

Wow, mine has very legible numbers stamped in the edge below the cap.
Is the outside of your distributor housing corroded?

I guess it doesn't really matter what it's originally from as the actual operational parameters can be determined from the numbers stamped on the weights, center bar, and vacuum canister. If you can read those, you should be able to look up the advance specs online.

Here are some great pics of those numbers compliments of Schurkey:

z11375ss

All I know is with an MSD Billet I put in the silver donut and the light weight springs. The car revs as fast as a scalded dog. Very happy. It didn't lay over or anything to begin with but it really sings now. I have around 17 initial and 37 total coming in at around 3300 rpm. The car is extremely snappy. A blast to drive. There is a LOT to say for dialing in your distributor. Do it. I had no idea how to get it done but watched a couple of youtube videos and tried it. Success!

jpc647

It's not overly corroded or anything, the inside does appear to have some surface rust looking corrosion, and I cleaned it quickly to get most of it off.

20160428_165022_zpsdvij0uer.jpg

That was before I cleaned it and put the smaller springs in the distributor. I thought I already posted that photo, but I guess I didn't.