chevy dizzy for flatheads

[big red 54]

Hey there, was wondering if anyone does these conversions like Bubba has done. Seems he is retired. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have been told by a couple friends about their experiences that pertronix is not worth the trouble and with my tach and s10 t5 trans with electronic speedo there will be much interference with a full electronic dizzy. I will accept any and all suggestions as great info for my new hobby. thanks.

[KiWinUS]

CharlieNY. No longer a member on here. Does amazing work. Someone will have his contact info.

[JayChicago]

Charlie Schwendler
Orchard Park, N.Y.
716 662-9159

[PeteVS]

Cores for the Chevy distributors are becoming rare. It might help if you have one in hand if / when you contact Charlie.

[tubman]

On the subject of distributor cores, you might also consider converting a Mallory "flattop" dual point from an SBC. Charlie did one for me and it works great. Plus, it has a cool factor that the GM distributors don't have.

While Mallory's for flatheads are getting expensive, the SBC units can be had a lot cheaper. The last one I got on eBay was $85.

[solidaxle]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

I did the same as Tubman. Not only does it work well the body sits up a little higher to help clear the belts for the water pumps. You can also get a tach drive which is a good substitute for the Stewart Warner crank drive units.

[Tim Ayers]

Originally Posted by solidaxle

I did the same as Tubman. Not only does it work well the body sits up a little higher to help clear the belts for the water pumps. You can also get a tach drive which is a good substitute for the Stewart Warner crank drive units.

On my wish list at Hershey this year was a flattop Mallory with a tach drive. On the last day, found a real nice one with a good cap, rotor, and unsplit trash can condenser for $60.

I also snagged a "crab cap" Mallory for $25. I believe these are marine units. I had some junk 8BA dizzies as well and took the gears off. Just need to box these up and send them to Charlie.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by JayChicago

Charlie Schwendler
Orchard Park, N.Y.
716 662-9159

More CHARLIE NY Contact Info:

[email protected] (716) 440-8952 OR (716) 662-9159

Coop

.

[Krylon32]

I used several of Bubba's converted distributors and have a converted by Charlie distributor in my latest Flathead. Have only test run it at the machine shop for breakin and it worked great.

[hotrodart]

Originally Posted by PeteVS

Cores for the Chevy distributors are becoming rare. It might help if you have one in hand if / when you contact Charlie.

How do you figure they becoming rare? Chevy made those distributors by the millions......I see them for sale at every flea market....can be had for about $10.......kind of like saying Model T Fords are rare......

[1948F-1Pickup]

I used to work for GM’s Delco parts division. Sold plenty of them. Had an account that bought tons of the tach-drive distributors. A cast iron housing would be a pretty rare item and an aluminum one not so much.

[Gene1949]

When I did mine I also cut it for the old Chrysler magnetic pickup and reluctor. All wreaking yard "repurposed" junk.
Then you get to use the electronics of your choice. I used an HEI brain and one of GM's newer "E" coils tucked under the distributor. The late '90s V6 application had a nice heat sink for both. I've ran it for 20+ years and many miles using Bubba's curve
(Thank you Bubba).

[Gene1949]

and manifold vacuum for the advance can. Drivability and low speed cooling

[Ol' Ron]

It's amazing how long the Chevy distributor has been used in the Flathead. I think the first one I saw was in the late 60's, made my first one soon after, and put many in my first buills because they were much cheaper, then one of my coustomers sent one to a fellow in Texas that converted it to electronic, had several of them made but the price was to high, I think around $50, so I kept using the points and cap. I have some of that in my book. Then Richard Kunc did an engineering value of the distributor and tuning evaluation, since then several other people have made them available to the general public and Charly NY is doing an excellent job of rebuilding them and converting them to the Flathead. I think the History of the Flathead and all the modifications made to is over the 90 years since it's introduction. I think the best part of the Flathead era is how it's brought so many people together. It's like a love a fare. Kinda coeney HUH???
Gramps

[Gene1949]

got you beat there Ron. I saw my first Chevy distributor in 1961. Neighbor kid bought a 53 Ford with three deuces. Ran like shit because he couldn't get the load o
matic figured out. One of the local guys cut down an old iron Chevrolet distributor and it all the sudden turned around and ran like a watch

[Ol' Ron]

The biggest problem we have with the flathead is the fact that very few people know how to tune them. Richard Kunc spent thousands of dollars countless hours designing all the things necessary to find the proper methods for tuning the engine , posting it here on the forum, and YET we still go different ways. we should at least try , maybe he was wrong, but I follow it, seems to work. But I don't build anymore engines, so don't have the opportunity to do it. Charley NY produced the distributor Richard designed, still will if you ask. but every day someone has a tuning question or problem??
Gramps

[Tim Ayers]

Originally Posted by Ol' Ron

The biggest problem we have with the flathead is the fact that very few people know how to tune them. Richard Kunc spent thousands of dollars countless hours designing all the things necessary to find the proper methods for tuning the engine , posting it here on the forum, and YET we still go different ways. we should at least try , maybe he was wrong, but I follow it, seems to work. But I don't build anymore engines, so don't have the opportunity to do it. Charley NY produced the distributor Richard designed, still will if you ask. but every day someone has a tuning question or problem??
Gramps

Is Richard’s dizzy based off the Chevy design? First I’ve heard of this.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by Tim Ayers

Is Richard’s dizzy based off the Chevy design? First I’ve heard of this.

Tim.... If I remember correctly, it IS a Chevy distributor, set-up to Richard's specs. Seems like there was a fancy mod concerning the means of dialing-in/maintaining the vac advance. Or, I could just be full of it as usual!

Coop

.

[tubman]

Chevrolet distributors usually have a total advance of around 36 degrees. A flathead likes a total advance in the low 20's. Unless the SBC distributor is modified to limit the total advance, you will have performance and overheating problems.

Charlie and Bubba take care of this when they convert these distributors.

[Ol' Ron]

Richards distributors are the same as Bubbas and charlie as far as advance and rebuilds are concerned, and od hi quality, Haowever he didn't make them commercially available. I had several and he also gave me the road rig when he left the business. I had an opertunity to drive his car a 53 Ht with 276/L-100 stock valves and ports. I was impressed with it's preformance, but the econmy was great the AF was in the low 15's in cruise.
Gramps