I am thinking my overheating problems are comming from my current stock dizzy with electronic ignition. I am wondering if it is not advancing and if that is the reason as to why it is overheating on the freewqay. What is a good reasonable priced dizzy cosst. any recomendations? I have a 600 series holley with vacume secondaries, and a vacume adavance dizzy. Can i run a mechancical advance dizzy? any advice will be appreciated. How easy is it to pull a distribuotr on a small block ford?
Distributor Questions
- Thread starter phinkel26
- Start date
SadbutTrue
Founding Member
if you want to abbreviate distributor, dist. seems more normal than "dizzy." And what else have you checked as per your overheating problems? Lots of things could cause overheating before a distributor.
sorry bout the Dizzy, i am on alot of porsche forums and that is what we refer too as the distributor. Anyways I have replaced water pump, has new four core radiator, 195 thermostat, new upper and lower radiator hoses, running flex fan with out a fan clutch, also with big fanshroud. The fan is about an inch away from the radiator and facing the correct way. Timming is like 10 degrees at idle, and I checked my cooling system for exhaust, and the exhaust for antifreeze so i know my head gaskets are ok. The car runs around 195,200 on the street just cruising around daily. However when on the freeway for more than about ten or fifteen minutes it heats up to like 230. I am trying to find out if my vacume adavance distributor is not advancing and making my motor run hot, or what. Also can i run a mechanical advance distributor? Any downfall to running one, how much should i expect to pay for one etc. any help greatly appreciated thanks.
Your distributor also has a mechanical advance mechanism in it, in addition to the vacuum advance. Get a timing light, and check to see if it's advancing, when you rev it up. Do this before assuming that it's the problem, it'll save you money in the long run. Even though you aren't losing coolant, doesn't mean the head gaskets are OK, they could still be installed backwards and cause the motor to overheat.
SandSprite
Member
I say check the timing first, like D.Hearne said, since it's free. I don't think i'd run a 195 degree t-stat on the street though. 180 would be more appropriate. Is this a duraspark distributor, or a points dizzy with a pertronix kit? I think "dizzy" is just fine. As for the centrifugal advance only, I don't think you'd want one (i knew you had to be a VW/porsche guy with that question). Vacuum advance is a good thing on these motors. putting in a new thermostat is easy and putting in a "dizzy" is easy too-- but you need to figure out which one you have first.
ok, how should I go about checking the advance curve on the distributor? just time it at idle and while looking at the light and the timing marks see what........ What exactly should I be looking for? Also, I have free time comming my way and am thinking of pulling the heads just to check them out for cracks, and clean them. How can I tell if the head gasket is on backwards? When i replace the gasket do i need any type of sealent or apply dry? Also anything specific i need to worry or pay special attention too while pulling the head.
I personally doubt that your problem is with your distributor, or your timing, but it never hurts to check... Are you sure the vacuum advance is connected to the correct port on your carb?
Next check your lower radiator hose to be sure it has an internal support spring. If not, it may well be collapsing and causing the overheating (very common problem).
Finally, I would change to a 180 degree and try to find some "water-wetter" to add to the antifreeze. It will lower temps by up to 20% and olny costs $8.95.
Next check your lower radiator hose to be sure it has an internal support spring. If not, it may well be collapsing and causing the overheating (very common problem).
Finally, I would change to a 180 degree and try to find some "water-wetter" to add to the antifreeze. It will lower temps by up to 20% and olny costs $8.95.
You don't really need to check the advance curve, just check to see if the advance is working, don't dig yourself into more problems than you've got now. All it takes to check the advance is hokking up a timing light, starting the motor, then using the light, rev it to see if the timing advances on the balancer. If it doesn't move then, the mechanism in the dist may be stuck or the vacuum isn't hooked up or it's blocked. Either way it should still move even without the advance hooked up, due to the mech. advance in the dist. I'd also say that if your heads were cracked, you'd be loosing coolant. As for the head gaskets being backwards, that will be obvious once you pull the heads, the first two coolant ports in the deck face should be covered by the gasket, the rearmost ones should be open. The coolant is supposed to flow all the way to the rear of the block before going up into the heads and then back through the heads to the intake. I would also check the thermostat to see if it's worknig correctly.phinkel26 said:
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