Exhaust Putt Putt at Idle

[oilleaker1]

My '51 M38 has always had a more than normal Putt Putt while idling. This is with both the stock waterproof carb and a Civi WO carb. One of my Jeep pals told me to check the distributor advance weights and springs. Also the shaft bushings and advance cam for looseness. Yesterday I removed the distributor and took it to the work bench. I compared the looseness with other known good distributors of both mentioned areas and found them to be good. I removed the breaker plate to look at the flyweights and springs and sure enough, one spring was literally flopping around on it's posts. I installed a new spring and very lightly bent the outward post slightly outward to just take up any slack. Points looked fantastic and not burned so I didn't change them while there. The top bushing in the distributor is lubed by a felt wick that is under a slotted head plug in the side near the incoming battery/coil voltage lead. I removed the plug and used a decking screw to pull out the wick. I cleaned and copiously oiled it and put it back. You can't oil it when installed in the engine. I wish it had a better way like the civi autolites, but that won't work well in the surf while assaulting a island full of enemies . Anyway, it really helped with the Putt Putt. Check yours while you have it out. Oilly

[1948willyman]

Glad to see that as mine does the same thing. More than I like to hear.
Will check that out and reply back when I get a chance.

Thanks

[oilleaker1]

Pay attention to the orientation of the advance cam if you remove it. You can put it back 180 degrees off from where it was.

Also park you engine at 5 degree BTDC in case you lose where things were. Note which cylinder/plug wire the rotor was pointing to so you get it back where it was.

I red grease pencil marked things so they went back where they were.