QuestionI appologize for what I am about to say and I don't wish to seem ungrateful because I am very glad there are people willing to take the time to help us out, but the answer does not pertain to the question. This is a brand new distributor as mentioned in the first message, so there can not be dry rot plus I stated that the rpm went way up when connecting the vacuum hose which would indicate that the diaphram is working and the tubing is good and drawing a vacuum on the distibutor.
I also asked about another source of vacuum, (maybe on the carburator side of the plate instead of the manifold side) and this was not even addressed.
Wednesday night I did some research on the internet and found that the car came with a vacuum retard instead of vacuum advance so connecting the advance is moving the timing in the opposite way that it was intended to go. Since the vacuum port is coming off of the intake manifold side of the caburator, it is suppling full vac to the diaphram and full advance of the timing.
Apparently, I need to either find an original distributor with vacuum retard or find a way to make a vacuum port on the other side of the throttle plate so I do not have full vacuum at idle.
Please accept my appoligy for pointing out how the question was not really read, it is just frustrating sometimes when you try to ask for help and you get answers to everything except the questions that you asked.
Thank you for your efforts though, I do appreciate them.
Glen
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Followup To
Question -
I have tried that and the car does not have enough power to drive. I have the idle screw backed all the way out and set the timing at 6 BTDC, it runs reasonably well, but that puts my idle at 1200.
One guy suggested that there might be another source of vacuum on the other side of the butterfly instead of the connection at the mounting base that would be better for the vacuum advance, but I can not locate one.
Thanks.
Glen
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Followup To
Question -
I just bought a 72 Spitfire Mark 4. The guy I bought it from had put in a new distibutor but now the idle is extreamly high. I set the timing at 2 ATDC, the RPM seems slightly high, but when I connect the vacuum line to the vacuum advance, it revs to about 2500 RPM.
Answer -
glen i get lots of questions about timing. it might seem hard to believe but i don't even use a timing light. i would hook the vacuum line up and retard the timing with the engine running if it idles down to acceptable tighten the nut and drive it and see how it does. i have done this on all of my older cars. Dave. ps. i assume the throttle screw is set correctly.
Answer -
make sure the plate that the pionts or if electronic there is still a plate there, sit on, sometimes it gets stuck and they can't move to advance. check the vacuum diaphram is still good and not dry rotted. if you get a new piece of tubing and put it on the distributor advance and suck on the other end you should feel resistance.dave
Answerwithout seeing the car i'm at a big disadvantage with what someone else has done to the car. i started to ask if the distributor was correct but you wouldn't have known yourself.as for vacuum line the AUTOBOOK i have that covers 69-73 doesn't show a port on the carb itself so i guess it was on the manifold near the back of the carb and wasn't an issue.
