Distributor

paxfd · Post by **paxfd** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 7:37 pm

Some help on my distributor please. My 1952 M38A1 has the original military 24 volt system, with the water proof distributor. Do these distributors have a vacuum advance, or does it have a centrifugal advance, or none at all? Any hints on how to check this part of the distributor? Thanks for any help.

Post by **wesk** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:25 pm

It has the flyweight style centrifugal advance only. The two metal tubes connected to the housing are for positive ventillation of the distributor and provides cool air flow to keep the coil from overheating. To check the late style distributor's centrifugal advance curve you will need a timing light and a tach. Set initial timing at 5 degrees BTDC. Now start the engine and with the timing light aimed at the 5 degree mark you should be pretty close. Now give her full throttle momentarily and you should reach a distance of advance on the pulley roughly twice the original distance from TDC to 5 deg BTDC. This would represent about a total of 5 degrees initial advance plus an additional 11 degrees of centrifugal advance which will equal about 16 degrees advance at full throttle.