Chevy distributor in flathead v8

[V00DY]

I met an old 1/4 mile dirt track racer who told me that installing a Chevy distributor in his flattie made a more impressive change than his racing cam did. Where can I get a Chevy distributor modified to fit a 255ci flattie?

V00DY

[texas webb]

Bubbas ignition or Charley NY.

[rotorwrench]

Some GM & some Mopar ones can be made to work and the vacuum spark control can be set up to work as well utilizing an adjustable vacuum can. This is good for street cars since they can improve fuel mileage that way.

[40cpe]

Charlie NY puts an adjustable mechanical advance stop on his distributor. Very handy when tuning the flathead.

[Phil Gillespie]

Originally Posted by 40cpe

Charlie NY puts an adjustable mechanical advance stop on his distributor. Very handy when tuning the flathead.

Can recommend this set up with the adjustable mech stop. Have fitted one from Charlie NY to Chev distributor which is also fitted with adjustable vacuum advance. Makes it eeasy to set up and runs well.
Phil NZ

[Krylon32]

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I used several of Bubbas converted Chevy distributors with mechanical advance in my flat heads with great success.

[chap52]

Love Bubba's distributor on mine. Chap

[RalphM]

If you need a core, look for a 1960’s to mid 70’s Chevy as a donor.
I guess you could go electronic, but to me they look out of place on a flat motor.

[Ol' Ron]

The advantage of the modified GM distributor is the ability to tune for both power and economy. Just dropping it in the engine, doesn't accomplish this, you have to work for it.

[cmbrucew]

Just dropping it in the engine, doesn't accomplish this, you have to work for it.



Ron I believe that will be the game killer right there.


Bruce

[V00DY]

Anybody got one for sale? Email me at [email protected]
V00DY

[flatjack9]

You definetly want one with vacuum advance also.

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by flatjack9

You definetly want one with vacuum advance also.

Believe that depends on your objective. I tend to like pure mechanical advance distributors. If you are interested in maximizing economy, then go for the vacuum advance in addition to the mechanical, but for performance I would go with the mechanical only. Easier to set up.

[flatjack9]

How will the vacuum advance hurt performance?

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

Originally Posted by flatjack9

How will the vacuum advance hurt performance?

The addition of a vacuum unit will help overall driveability and performance , however its a little problem to tune .

Especially with multiple carbs . Let s see , solid lifters, multiple carbs and a mechanical advance distributor then add the vacuum advance. Thats way more than i wish to do!!

Way back when i taught Gas Engines at Lincoln Tech i used to tell my students..
If ya dont have any friends put a solid lifter cam in the engine, they can then be your friend for at least one weekend per month. Still no friend then put multiple carbs on the engine and thats another weekend shot. Still not enough install a dual point distributor. Now all your weekends are shot and you dont need friends...

[Ol' Ron]

Just about every 6 months I post the universal ignition set up. This is a ball park setup that will work on any engine. However YOU have to tune it to your application. Just like buying a cam, or picking the rear gear ratio. There also some miss conceptions about the vacuum advance.

I set the mechanical advance at 16 degs all in at 2000. This will not make max power of the engine. The reason I do this is to improve amelioration at WOT.
Depending on the CR of your engine this might be too much or to little.

The combination of the two advance curves (Mech & Vac) equals 24 degrees

Now we come to the initial Advance. This can be anything, but usually for best start. Between 2 &4 degrees.

Now let's take the car for a drive. The engine starts, Great. Engine is idling with 10 t0 12 degrees of advance. Nice idle.
WE drive off DDR, crfuise along, engine has 26 to 28 degs of advance and if the Maine jets have been set for cruise the Gas mileage id 20 plus In your 276 L-100 engine i it;s 3800 lb car.

Now it's time to pass the truck in from to you, Pedal to the metal, ihn adv drops to 18/20 degs and you light the tires.

You can thank Richard from Fl for this, Cost him many dollars and a few years to come up with this. I drove the car, I was impressed.

Now youre application might be different, but this is a start.
Copy this and put it someplace so you can look at every oce in awhile/

[flatjack9]

Originally Posted by BUBBAS IGNITION

The addition of a vacuum unit will help overall driveability and performance , however its a little problem to tune .

Especially with multiple carbs . Let s see , solid lifters, multiple carbs and a mechanical advance distributor then add the vacuum advance. Thats way more than i wish to do!!

Way back when i taught Gas Engines at Lincoln Tech i used to tell my students..
If ya dont have any friends put a solid lifter cam in the engine, they can then be your friend for at least one weekend per month. Still no friend then put multiple carbs on the engine and thats another weekend shot. Still not enough install a dual point distributor. Now all your weekends are shot and you dont need friends...

I just don't see the problem.

[JSeery]

Guess that's why they come both ways. I have never noticed that much difference running the vac and just like the simplicity of mech only. I'm sure they are superior, the factory units were mostly that way. They are available both ways if you like the vac setup.

[Phil Gillespie]

Originally Posted by Ol' Ron

Just about every 6 months I post the universal ignition set up. This is a ball park setup that will work on any engine. However YOU have to tune it to your application. Just like buying a cam, or picking the rear gear ratio. There also some miss conceptions about the vacuum advance.

I set the mechanical advance at 16 degs all in at 2000. This will not make max power of the engine. The reason I do this is to improve amelioration at WOT.
Depending on the CR of your engine this might be too much or to little.

The combination of the two advance curves (Mech & Vac) equals 24 degrees

Now we come to the initial Advance. This can be anything, but usually for best start. Between 2 &4 degrees.

Now let's take the car for a drive. The engine starts, Great. Engine is idling with 10 t0 12 degrees of advance. Nice idle.
WE drive off DDR, crfuise along, engine has 26 to 28 degs of advance and if the Maine jets have been set for cruise the Gas mileage id 20 plus In your 276 L-100 engine i it;s 3800 lb car.

Now it's time to pass the truck in from to you, Pedal to the metal, ihn adv drops to 18/20 degs and you light the tires.

You can thank Richard from Fl for this, Cost him many dollars and a few years to come up with this. I drove the car, I was impressed.

Now youre application might be different, but this is a start.
Copy this and put it someplace so you can look at every oce in awhile/

Goood advice with data to back up.
I have followed this route and find with Charlie NY adjustable mechanical stop and the adjsutable vacuum advance unit it is easy to adjust to personal engine set up. They can be done in place without need to remove.I put a kit in the Chev distributor and with the adjustable stop was able to get it spot on. I personally prefer this over the mecanical only advance. Only running a single 97 carb.
Appreciate all this helpful info. Now to print out and put in a safe place.
Phil NZ

[Ol' Ron]

The adjustable Mechanical advance was developed by Richard from Fl.

[Ol' Ron]

The adjustable Mechanical advance was developed by Richard from Fl. The reason was to make it easier to change. The nost important thing to remember is the AF ratio is very important here. WE run 15.5 in cruise and 13 at WOT. So the engine does preform when tuned. Why spend all that money on the Mechanical "Stuff" and not take advantage of all of it.

[Charlie ny]

Ron is of course 100% correct regarding Richard's initial use of the adjustable stop. It
was on a lovely visit Alice and I made to see Ron that he passed the idea on to me. So
thank you Richard and Ron. I understand Richard is longer deep into fine tuning.
Charlie ny

[tubman]

"Charlie ny" - A class act in all ways. His only fault is that he's a little too modest for his own good.

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

Originally Posted by Charlie ny

Ron is of course 100% correct regarding Richard's initial use of the adjustable stop. It
was on a lovely visit Alice and I made to see Ron that he passed the idea on to me. So
thank you Richard and Ron. I understand Richard is longer deep into fine tuning.
Charlie ny

Charlie , After doing a ton of work for Richard we also made up tooling to drill and tap a 4/40 screw in the advances . After selling quite a few i found that the customers didnt really use the adjustment and just ran them the way they were.
In the interest of time we went back to using a flathead curve on every unit we build and leave it at that ..

[scooder]

Bubba,
Out of interest, what is your "flathead curve"
Martin.

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

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Originally Posted by scooder

Bubba,
Out of interest, what is your "flathead curve"
Martin.

We have played with different settings and settled on 22 degrees at 2500 , with a progressive increase.
Which happens to be the factory flathead set up for many years.......The crab distributor is a perfect 22 degrees at 2500, the earlier helmets is a little lower with the early units being 16 degrees at 2500. However the early strap point distributors dont like to rev up anyway....

In most cases you would never exceed the advance max used by the oem, its the progression of the advance thats sometimes needs tailoring. We played with that a little on our Bonneville engine and the dyno. Anything above that 22-24 degrees lost torque big time !!

[lobo]

i need a chevy distributor for a flathead

[richard crow]

if you want a stock flathead to run good leave it stock.i have five cars they run good don,t overheat start when hot still 6v good millage. there all bone stock & you can stand a nickle on the eng when idleing

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by richard crow

They're all bone stock & you can stand a nickel on the engine when idling

I knew there just had to be something that a nickel was still good for! DD

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by lobo

i need a chevy distributor for a flathead

Charley NY was the go to guy for the Chevy distributor conversions, but I believe he is going them in batches and just sold out.