Not another Mustang restoration thread.

Looks nice John but polished aluminum requires maintenance, the anodized is just a wipe down after use.   I would finish the job especially if that's how it was from the factory

Riley wrote: Try to get a sample of the anodized finish before you have it done. We bought one of our boats as an unfinished project which had the windshield frame stripped and anodized and it looks decent, but different. I would preferred the PO had not refinished it and left it alone.

The PO didn't do it, I did. The finish was in no condition to put it back on the boat. It would have been a sore thumb. I considered having it chrome plated but will probably go with the original anodized finish. Chrome would pop though and I have two frames so it could be changed back but I'm apprehensive about handling the glass once let alone twice.

Summit Racing John,just remember Break Out Another Thousand-----
Link

rotor link

Pretty sure the rotor is the one I linked John,I will check I might have a picture somewhere,won't be until tomorrow though. Everyone and thing is fine John,When we get back in the spring we'll get together,I have to check out your progress- looking good from what I see here.

Help, I don't know what i'm doing. I bought a repro dash for the Mustang from a member here. It is very nice and I believe it is made from the same material as the original. The problem is it is thicker than the original. The gauges wont mount without cutting the mounting brackets down, and since I had the gauges restored, I would prefer not to do that. Can someone tell me the best way of making this stuff thinner? Surface planing? Just sand it till it's the right thickness? I want to get busy on making a new wiring harness and this stands in the way, I don't want to ruin it. Thanx.

8122pbrainard wrote: John, What's the base material? Looks like MDF? If so, the stuff does not like to be planed. I'd just trim the mounting brackets. From the looks of the stud length on the back of the one gauge, all you would need is maybe 1/8" off the brackets/

Thanks Pete, I think that"s what it is and I don't know how to work it. If you wouldn't attempt it I certainly won't. I may try some CPES on it for water resistance and to darken it up a bit.

Thanks again Pete. I separated the face from the backing so it's safe. I will try the mineral spirits and then the CPES on the holes first.

Im questioning my judgement right now. I spent some time on the distributors tonight. The one that was from the running engine was pretty rough. Good bushings but it had rusty advance weights that were, for the purpose of advance, frozen and the advance plate was visually worn. The dist from the old frozen engine was in much better shape. I'm making the best one I can for the conversion and just cleaning and re-assembling the other one. Parts are NLA and I seriously question the ability of this thing to hold a good curve when new, 47 years ago, under the best of circumstances. All this to keep a crab cap distributor. That DUI becons. I don't want timing issues with a fresh engine and this thing needs to be reliable, I anticipate it will get a lot of use.

I wouldn't DUI a HM. There are shops that can rebuild an old Mallory, that's what I would do in your shoes. But I'd also skip the pertronix...

Bruce, if you're not using a timing light to set the timing, what are you using?

I suspect you mean that timing shouldn't be set by the base timing alone, and that I agree with. There is no scientific way to check the shape of the timing curve with a light, but a decent one will allow you to check initial and final... and both should be taken into account when deciding on your final setting.

The crab caps don't seem significantly different than modern Mallory distributors... I don't love the design (Prestolite seems a bit nicer) but plenty of folks run them without issue. DUI is nice from a performance perspective but would look sorely out of place on a vintage engine. I'm running a points Prestolite screw down (late 80's vintage?) on my '71 331 stroker... I don't think it will hold me back much.

[QUOTE=TRBenj] Bruce, if you're not using a timing light to set the timing, what are you using?

After taking advice from a mutual friend, who told me he doesn't use a timing light, we just turned the distributor till it ran the best. We put a timing light on it just to see where it came in and the initial was about 13 and the final advance was 32+-.

After 2 years of screwing around with a timing light, it worked for us!

TRBenj wrote: Bruce, if you're not using a timing light to set the timing, what are you using? I suspect you mean that timing shouldn't be set by the base timing alone, and that I agree with. There is no scientific way to check the shape of the timing curve with a light, but a decent one will allow you to check initial and final... and both should be taken into account when deciding on your final setting.

Don't know what you mean by "scientific way" but if you want to know what your curve looks like, why not use a timing light and check the timing every 500 rpm and plot it on a graph?

Or whatever RPM interval you want to use like every 250 or whatever..

This would be assuming you have the timing graduations on the damper either from the factory or are using a timing tape on the damper.

John

Maybe Pete can come up with a link to the YL advance spring kit, that has the words IN STOCK next to the description. The part number from Mallory was 29015 and those kits have gone the way of the dinosaur and Pete's old Suburban .Every once in a great while you might stumble into something on EBAY or a distributor shop might have a stash cleverly hidden away somewhere.

If you want a couple of Mallory weights, with decent nylon bushings for the pivot holes and an advance plate for that distributor, send me a PM with your address and they'll magically show up in your mailbox about a week later. It's all used and in good condition.

It sounds like your distributor shaft bushings are good, so you should be able to make a working distributor out of the second one.

Thanks everyone, I am able to make a pretty good distributor out of the two. Although they are the same model they are not identical, I chalk it up to the difference of a 69 vs a 70. As you can see below the distributor from the running engine looks great and it did run, until you take the breaker plate off. The advance weights were frozen and the weight studs have worn into the advance plate, This would really screw with the advance curve. One of the plastic bushings has a very small chip out of it but it is small enough that it would perform properly. Even so I   am using the best ones I have. They show no real wear. As to the advance weights, the 70 has different primary and secondary advance weights whereas the better distributor of the two (the one from the old frozen engine) has two identical weights. Both have different springs for the primary and secondary weights. The advance plate shows very slight wear where the weight studs ride. Problem is the springs are NLA. I have done a good deal of searching and have come up MT. Even if I were to find new weights how would one determine the correct weights to use without a distributor machine or trial and error plottoing the results? The springs are color coded for tension identification and you can see that color ship sailed. Also if I try to measure the resistance it will dictate I put springs with the same tension as the ones I have back in. What's the point of that? I see no down side to the Pertronix unit. It is going in. I will order new points and condensor and keep them set up on a breaker plate for emergencies. It takes very little time to change them out. I guess I will do what I can with what I have and see how it works out. These photos should convince anyone avoiding service on the distributor not to put it off. Keep it properly lubricated or it will end up like mine. The worn one has about1652 hours on it, im sure it would be in much better condition if it was properly maintained.