The Ford Barn

highcking · 09-17-2019, 04:31 PM

I recently determined that the dual vacuum retard/advance unit on my ‘56 Fairlane was no longer working. I have an NOS spare that I tested and installed today. Tricky to do on the car but it came out ok. Went to start — no dice. Car behaves like the timing is way off. I did not move the distributor, and reused the same cap and rotor. I did remove the plug wires but reinstalled them using the “1” stamped on the cap and the clockwise firing order stamped on the block. If I crank the motor to TDC, it looks like the rotor is pointing to the #1 plug wire.

What gives? The shop manual is not helpful. I thought of rotating the distributor a bit - but how do you do that with two steel vacuum lines attached? I also tried rotating the plus wires one position at a time and that did not help. Car started instantly before. What am I missing? Should I surrender and go with an updated distributor?

Bill in Virginia

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

09-17-2019, 04:31 PM	#1
highcking Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 15	292 y-block distributor puzzler I recently determined that the dual vacuum retard/advance unit on my ‘56 Fairlane was no longer working. I have an NOS spare that I tested and installed today. Tricky to do on the car but it came out ok. Went to start — no dice. Car behaves like the timing is way off. I did not move the distributor, and reused the same cap and rotor. I did remove the plug wires but reinstalled them using the “1” stamped on the cap and the clockwise firing order stamped on the block. If I crank the motor to TDC, it looks like the rotor is pointing to the #1 plug wire. What gives? The shop manual is not helpful. I thought of rotating the distributor a bit - but how do you do that with two steel vacuum lines attached? I also tried rotating the plus wires one position at a time and that did not help. Car started instantly before. What am I missing? Should I surrender and go with an updated distributor? Bill in Virginia