The UNEXPECTED Reason Your Timing is Erratic and How to Prevent it!
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- Just because a part is new, does not make it high quality or effective at doing it’s intended job. In the process of opening and installing new parts on the 508 Stroker Mopar, I notice some issues with new bargain parts. Let me show you exactly what I found, and how you can fix some of your erratic Ignition timing issues!
This can apply to many different engines and systems. It’s a check that you can add when building your engine at home, and an check behind your engine builder. @UncleTonysGarage @UnityMotorSportsGarage @DavidVizard @MuscleCityMadness@talljohnsfunshop2722 @JonnyMopar @sorta_stock @MyKARSShop @DylanMcCoolVideo@SimpsonsSpeedShop @PetesGarage @TheTazzman1968 @moparconnection@318willrun
It's amazing how those tolerances stack up to make a lot of slop! Thanks for sharing!
Yes they do! Thanks Cley!
the finer points of engine assembly. love to see the attention to detail along with solution/ suggestions. Great work mopar Joe!
Thanks, Kim!
Another area to consider is the centrifugal advance mechanism and weights inside the OEM distributors. Over the years the grease they used breaks down and gets gummy. Springs can also break and cause problems. I always pull them apart, clean and grease to make sure they work properly.
Very true! Thanks for sharing
The oe or MP Distributors are supposed to be oiled regularly. Pull the rotor, there is a felt or oil wick under there. If you do that, these things last forever.
This makes sense. I think one of the springs broke or came loose in my stock 360 distributor, runs up to max mech advance way too quickly and often sticks there until the RPMs settle below about 1000. I'm swapping it for a Summit billet electronic distributor anyway because they're easier to adjust (and the stock one is points-type with a Pertronix module) but I'll fix up the old one and save it for another engine.
I've never seen one with that much slack! wow! Now, I have had those bronze gears flakes stick a oil pump spring. they are made to shear. Also, that .004 slack will move that rotor about 4x that much
Thanks, Tim. I figured you may have seen some variation of that. It’s always something! Lol
Great video Joe.
Nice close up of the shafts and the clearance difference.
I think it is a fair and honest comparison.
Thanks for sharing.
Take care, Ed.
Thanks, Ed!
Thank you Joe! Being a MOPAR guy (aka MOPOOR) .... I'm always looking for the more affordable parts but don't want to sacrifice quality and places that "specialize in 440 parts" is often a source I consider. I don't have any MOPAR buddies so my real world input is pretty much nonexistent. I'm in the process of building a stroker 400 for my "73 Dart - hopefully a 470, so all of the stuff you're doing is right up my alley. Excellent attention to detail and sharing all your knowledge and experience. I sold my '68 Fastback because it needed more bodywork than I could afford but that is my favorite (67, 68, 69 fb). The Dart is a close second and I was able to find a solid platform and have been working on it for a long time. Mopar is just so expensive...... I watch quite a bit of the street racing videos and everyone has the same stuff - ford/chevy LS, 5.0, or coyote....... and granted, they are fast - especially with NOS, turbos, or a pro charger.....but give me a MOPAR ! We are a different breed and I wouldn't have it any other way! Keep up the excellent work and thank you again for sharing.
Thank you! If the weather is good, the purple barracuda will see a track tomorrow!
Correct. Mopar has always been different, or the outsider. Love it that way and it fits me, eben though, when I fell in love with these cars, I didn't know that.
Years ago a mopar action magazine writer suggested to put a collar at the end of the distributer shaft to adjust/minimize distributor shaft to intermediate vertical end play....I haven't tried it....just adding my 2 cents and letting you know you have a great channel.
Thank you, Daniel! I’ve heard of the collar before. Maybe interesting to try.
Hughes engine performance actually sold/sells it
Yes. Rick Ehrenberg has them on E bay under "for Mopar Distributor Collar Timing Stabilizer 340 440 383 Hemi Dodge Plymouth".
I'd put a link here but E bay deletes my post every time I try to do the link thing.
Also, bronze gears aren't meant to run on the street. They will wear quickly. Well, way more quickly than the steel ones. The answer is running a roller cam that works with the steel intermediate gear. I'm running one from Comp in my stroked 440. There's a lot more newer tech out there now than before.
😊 thanks for bringing this to light Joe. Again very much appreciated, and never actually crossed my mind.
Thanks brother!
Dont worry about the play in the gears. The resistance of the oil pump will literally lock them together. Not to mention the bronze gear will expand a lot more and tighten up, which can be a problem with shearing and slivers if there isnt sufficient play/slop. Your 'fix' for the slot is where all that jitter happens. From there up to the rotor. Some dizzy's have a two-piece shaft as well. There is a small bushing and pin that wears out and causes the same problem, dont know until you pull it apart to check either. Only one little thing you overlooked here and thats the vertical thrust when the gear engages, the cam will actually walk the intermediate shaft up and in turn the dizzy up and throw timing off. Ive had an issue with a 440 doing that before. It had about 300,000 miles on it and if you didnt have the dizzy collar locked down you could pop the throttle and watch the whole distributor pop out of the socket!!!
Great vid pointing out these very often overlooked aspects of building!
Thanks for sharing! I wish we could slow motion film these pieces spinning in the engine at 6,000 rpm. Lots of fun science at work!
Whe it is running with the oil pump pushing oil, just like you said it will not budge as it locks face to face on the two gears.
The drive gear is pushed DOWN into the bushing not up. The helix on the cam gear also sucks the cam back into the block. I have run LOTS of 440s with very high mileage for years daily driving as a primary car and then drag racing on the weekend with over 2500 time slips. We had to put a diaper in the bellhousing to catch the oil from the rear main seal and put in a new one every weekend! We wired the dipstick down and oil caps on because the blowby would blow them off. I have actually seen a 440 in a low 10 second dart that was still running 15 years later and had never had the stock 906 heads off. I don't know how many miles it had before it was installed, but it actually blew the valley pan up into a balloon under the intake and was running 11's by then. the guy didn't change it because we were bracket racing and it was consistent! Ours was deadly consistent being the winningest car in the history of that track and made a perfect run, perfect reaction time, perfect dial in, footbraking a six pack C body! I suspect it was blowby that lifted the distributor. That reliability is a far cry from using 2 or 3 brand x engines a year campaigning a 10 second car!
There is quite a bit of slop in all of those parts, but the oil pump requires a lot of power to turn I've Been Told so the resistance of turning that would never allow any backlash while the engine was running. But the clearance between the end of the distributor and the top of the oil pump drive shaft is something that would cause some of the timing to Jump Around
Thanks Thomas. I know every engine has a level of harmonics that goes on when it’s running. I have no idea on how that runs through the intermediate shaft there, if at all.
👍🏻💯🇦🇺⛽️
Great video Joe...that other one from a famous 440 place is just not up to the standard of the other one. I've played with this too with stock parts shiming the distributor shaft correctly too to keep the reluctor/points cam from having to much up and down play seen some that had a lot of play out the box.... And the intermediate bushing is also supposed to be burnished to size when installed would be a good idea to have the new shaft at that time to get the correct clearance just in case of shaft diameter differences between brands.
Thanks John! That’s an awesome idea
Glad I came across this. I just discovered a similar issue in my Buick 350, and like you it came at a time when I wasn't looking for it but just happened to notice something: that the oil pump shaft may be slightly bent. This is not at all an obvious thing to look at when trying to track down the cause of shakes and rough idling! I'm still trying to make time to take it apart and confirm, but it definitely fits the behavior of the engine, including that erratic timing light marker.
Excellent Info Joe! Is something I personally have not thought about or considered. Also, the camera work and closeups were outstanding. Thanks for sharing. Cheers from Motown, home of the Ramchargers. and yes, My avatar is a pro street 67 Mustang Gt but looking for a 67 ot 68 Dart Gt to put in a built and stroked 360.
Awesome, thank you! Good luck with your search 🫡
Great info Joe. Thank you for the detailed info and closeups.
Thanks, John! This one was plenty loose!
Good analysis Professor Joe! That's something new to me and probably to most other guys that are gearheads.
Thanks Mike!
It's so difficult to find good quality parts these days. Great video Joe, pointing out the flaws of modern inferior parts.
Thanks brother!
I love vids about these small, overlooked details. Thanks.
I have a never rebuild 1959/60 383 with 370k miles on the clock. I replaced the intermediate shaft 200k ago with a hardened M.P. shaft, along with a bigger oil pump and I have no noticeable play whatsoever (with oil).
Thanks for sharing! That engine will outlast most new cars on the road today!
@@JustMoparJoe I guess so. I still drive it every day, when it's not raining or snowing. Still runs perfect, with no unusual noises and perfect oil pressure. It uses some oil, but it's still OK. Bought it in 1988, abused, with almost an inch of sludge in the pan! It never caused any problems until May of Last year (almost 63 years!) When I had to replace an exhaust valve, due to unleaded fuel I guess. $50 fix, some porting and back in business. I LOVE these engines.
Wow, that’s a big difference between the two! Great video Joe!
Thanks brother! I figured it was with a show and tell. Lol
I've never thought about tolerance stacking when it comes to the timing, but I will now. 😊
Thanks Shane!
Thanks Joe, also keep in mind that metal expands as it get hot, so with the oil and metal expansion should take up a lot of slack.
Thanks Brother
Great video Joe! Definitely an area that does get overlooked at times! Great job on the close up shots too!
Thanks, Oly!
Excellent video Joe... Yes, both ends of the dist./ Oil pump drive shaft need to be supported....
Thanks brother
Now you got me thinking about all these intricacies for when I put this 440 back together. I've never built a motor before so now you got me thinking more and more. First time for everything, I guess. I know it'll be fine. lol
You got buddy!
Great advice Joe love your videos
Thanks brother!
Nice analysis! Makes one think hard about a crank trigger and coil packs!!
True that! More money 💰
Good stuff. Little things that make a big difference. Thanks for Sharin brother.
Thanks Mike!
Thanks for that you solved a 25 year old mystery for I sold the car with the same problem you were talking about just goes to show you can teach an old dog new tricks lol have a nice day.
Glad I could help!
great advice , never thought about checking that .
Thanks for the support!
Great info Joe! Thanks for showing us the a-b comparison.
Thanks Brother! Hope your projects are going well
There is the ever popular 1/2" lock collar for on the distributor shaft with .010 gap to the intermediate shaft. Great video!ty
Thanks for the info!
Through my own testing ive found that the gear slope is not what causes that. Lets say you have .02 to loosen things up a bit. That .020 is not going to swing the timing 5 or more degrees especially when the oil pump is is dragging the drive to the cam. Cam walk is another story, but then again there are forces that push the cam in one direction it really doesn't walk.
The swing in timing is more related to electrical. Just my .02$
Thanks for sharing. My previous experience may have been influenced more by having very light springs in the distributor, and a distributor shaft end that was too short to engage that intermediate shaft. She revved clean but really broke up right after the rev. I was thinking carb, so I switched it and it still did it. Had to fix that connection 🏆
We will see,I am a clown from the time of no electronics, cell phone, computers and we used pen, paper, and a set of index cards and books
I will be building a 440 HP to put into my 70 R/T Challenger and these tips are most welcome..thank you Joe for sharing!
You bet! Good luck 👍🏼
My 440 was jumping like that and it wasn’t the chain. Now I’ll have to check that, thanks!
Awesome! Good luck, Joe!
Another great video Joe! there is a difference in parts!
Thanks brother!
Thanks for the tip, easy to check out of the car, it would suck to have to try to fix it after the engine was all put together and in the car, great tip
Thanks Dina!
Never thought about the depth. Helping on a 471 now. Will definitely check
Excellent! Every little bit adds up!
My 505ci RB ate up the bronze gear on the intermediate shaft in less than 5000 miles. Comp roller cam, Milodon intermediate shaft. The purpose of the bronze gear is to wear before the cam gear, which it did. Just keep that in mind, the intermediate shaft is easily replaceable and sacrificial. Also, the parts we get today have virtually no quality control, nothing like the OE's had 50 years ago. Everything must be checked before put in service. Great video BTW.
Yes sir. The 440 I’m building now is getting an Erson hydraulic roller cam that is approved for bronze or melonized.
Thanks for bringing this subject up! With all of the Chinese parts out there, we have to check everything!!! Yes, Milodon still makes good parts. The cam button thing with 440's has always had me stumped though. When the engine is running, the oil pump puts alot of resistance on the intermediate shaft and keeps the cam thrusted towards the face on the cam sprocket with the 45 degree gear teeth. Even on deceleration that cam can't move off of that face. I think the cam button idea came from the Chevy guys and their design. It doesn't hurt any, but I doubt that it does any good. I'm a Machinist, so I see how things can "stack up" and cause alot of spark scatter.
Thanks for sharing!
Good video. I went to a crank trigger to fix that very problem. You fix save some bucks over mine. Well done.
Thanks, Mike!
Because the intermediate shaft drives the pump it can be baggy and really has little effect on timing but the dizzy engagement would be important. I always liked sb ford cause the gear was right on the shaft, timing is like a rock.
Thanks JC. I’ve only built that one ford engine, but the gear on the old distributor was missing several teeth! I’ve never seen such a thing. Is that common?
@@JustMoparJoe I think anything is possible, I've never seen that.
Good stuff Sir! Keep up the great work..
Thanks, Andy!
All the reasons for a crank trigger ignition system. The two reasons that engines last so much longer is because of the far more accurate spark and fuel delivery of port fuel injection and crank triggered ignition.
Thanks Billy
Thank you Joe. Valuable information.
Thanks, Jon!
Love your shirt.Ive got a set of heads,intake and radiator from a Lil'Red Express that was on my 65 Dart GT.Swapped them for J heads due to burnt exhaust valves.
Very cool!
Wow. I didnt even think of that or considered it. Thanks Joe!
Thanks for checking it out!
Joe, Great Video! Thank you for sharing! The best!
Thanks again!
Joe just an FYI on the base gasket that comes with the kit , it's because prior to 1968 factory Chrysler distributors didn't have the O ring like the one you show in your video.
Thanks John!
Excellent tip right there folks! Thank you Joe! 😊
You bet! The little things all add up!
Great video. I never would have thought about that, but it makes sense.
Glad it was helpful! It was one of those I learned the hard way before
I've got a used crank trigger here. Maybe you should put it on an engine for a video. I think you would like it.
I’ll put it on with Allen heads and lock tight 🫣
Be interesting to see what a Melanized metal gear has for back lash, I guess I'll be hitting the shop this morning to find out...also Hughes engines has a collar for the distributor shaft that helps with vertical end play.
Yes sir. Rodney Byrd was describing that one to me recently. Let me know if you find out anything worth mentioning 👍🏼
nice attention to detail Joe!
Thanks brother!
Informative video Joe!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks brother
Thanks for all the knowledge
Thanks for the support!
Right on Joe . Really liked this one..
Thanks brother!
Good video . I’ve learned something new .
I really like the shirt !
Thanks, Terry! Check out that channel! He’s a good guy, and has some gorgeous trucks!
When these gears get hot and expand, they will tighten up.
They absolutely will. I had to show the difference between makes of shafts. If they’re both made of the same material, the should expand at the rate.
Great video and I have seen it before but not as bad from that stage of wear on something like that to you.
Thanks, John
Great video Joe! Another common problem I run into is rotor quality. I have had several rotors that fit loose on the shaft and several that have had poorly fastened rotor tips. I have been having pretty good luck with the Duralast gold cap and rotors here lately believe it or not! The old tan NAPA Echlin caps have become complete garbage unfortunately!
Thank you Blake. I always heard the tan caps with the copper inside were good. It’s always something.
Thanks Joe😊
Thanks Chris!
Glad I saw this video just now, I'm about to swap a Summit billet distributor into the mostly-stock 360 in my '72 D200 pickup and I'll be sure to check for slop at the rotor. It doesn't have as bad of spark scatter now as some other Mopar engines I've had but it's still worth checking.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
We all know who makes the other intermediate shaft, well done sir.
good info Joe thanks and im sure it the same for small blocks too
Thanks Travis! I’ve had it on small blocks too!
Hello Joe,
I rebuilt a 3.9 V6, you can have the same problems with a small block as a big block. I didnt know about the paper gasket for the distributor, when I rebuilt the 3.9, I didnt have any problems with the timing jumping around. The engine had 172,000 when I pulled the engine. I used what I think was the original distributor. Anyway, I got it running, set the timing and it was good . I got 18-19 MPG highway, and around 15-16 city. That was pretty good for a 4 wheel drive Dakota. Of course Ed, did the machine work. He did a great job on everything he worked on for me. 😊
Awesome, Burt! I’m a believer!
some years ago the timing on my 2001 dodge ram 318 v8 was jumping around, so I replaced the timing chain set, distributor, and the intermediate shaft, and it solved the problem;.....when I checked it with the autel scanner, it stsyed within the degrees recommended.
Excellent!
It’s these small details that make a difference. You should have mentioned the price difference between the two brands. I’m hoping it’s a you get what you pay scenarios - and a premium price gets you more finely machined tolerance/clearance.
Thanks, Chris!
If you look at a raster scope pattern it will look like worn distributor bushings. A very typical issue on mopars. I have replaced distributor and they get better, but still have some dwell variation.
Brother, at 3.56 one can see some casting flash, near top of the bush!
Well done!!!
Thanks brother
too much clearance shaft end clearance allows the driven gear to climb the cam gear and causes the erratic timing.
I have seen it often setting up GM distributors, the vertical clearance is .050 and when you let off the distributor shaft will raise up back the gear out of the cam, kick it and the shaft drops and the timing changes. .
Good info, Joe!
Thanks, Ray!
Keep them videos coming Joe !
Thanks brother!
that gear drives the oil pump so it always have a load on it, I doupt that the backlash of the mesh have the influence you mention. however, the engagement of the distributor tang is crictical because , in fact, there is no load on it to maintain the contact.
Thanks for sharing. It’s an easy variable to remove with a simple change to a better sized part, that equally eliminates two possible problems.
Great info. I have been Mopar since 1976. I know I have spent more money than if I had went Chevy or Ford. But being Mopar is a life style. And my brother reminds me that he has been AMC since 1979. And has spent more money and the parts are even fewer. So remember it can always be worse. 😛
True that!
If it’s not popping when you let off you won’t turn as many heads😂
That’s a 3/4 cam! 😂
@@JustMoparJoe Oh yeah. I get that from time to time. "Is that a 3/4 cam your running?"
Nope. It's a full cam. It wouldn't run with a 1/4 missing.
Thanks for the tip.
You bet!
I actually had the opposite problem with the distributor shaft.
The distributor wouldn't seat all the way home with a bronze milodon gear.
The tounge on the Pertronix distributors are cut with with a radius not a square edge like yours.
So it had to be modified 🤷🏻♂️ but thats hot roddin
P.s I do check intermediate shaft gears and I never seen that much play!
I can understand you making a video out of it 😮
Thank you for sharing! I enjoy learning from others experiences.
Bronze gears were ment for billet roller cams only.
I run one with a Direct Connection Mushroom cam .690 lift.
That China Distributor have been most trouble! Tossed those distributor
This is a billet roller cam according to comp cams. Thanks for sharing
I have a bunch of old factory steel shim distributor gaskets from Mopar engines. I don't know if the paper gasket is aftermarket only, or if the steel gasket was changed to paper with the change to electronic ignition. With points, the timing gets adjusted a lot and a paper gasket would wear fairly quickly, but with electronic ignition, paper might hold up for quite a while.
Thank you, Steve. I have seen the shim style like you have. They seem to be a better idea for sure! I’ve only seen the papers in the felpro kits.
The gears are made to suck the cam into the block and push the gear down. We had a distributor testing machine and every new or rebuilt aftermarket stock style distributor was JUNK! loose bushings, loose weights and springs loose bearings etc. Some wouldn't even run after we adjusted the air gap because everything moved around so much. We started machining our own parts and building our own. Also, everything except stock I build now gets a Milodon single idler gear drive! Even the best chains get loose FAST! We had 200,000 miles and 2500+ passes on that Milodon gear drive and had NO measurable change in backlash! Its pricey, but costs less to run and makes more power. You will use it on this engine, the next, and the next, and when you retire you can sell it to the next guy for $400, or will it to your grandkids! Also, you can change cams and timing with the damper, pulleys, and oil pan on! No heavy duty industrial engine gas or Diesel uses chains and especially not belts. Early hemis and big blocks were upgraded to factory gear drive in severe applications.
Very nice post! 👍🏼
Is it because I’m a sucky mechanic?😂😂
Haha! Never!
@@JustMoparJoe But I am a sucky mechanic. When I look under a hood, all I can see is darkness and despair 😎😎
@@OldBondoBilly then paint it white!
@@JustMoparJoe Hey! Now yer onto somethin😁😁
Don’t forget temperature. As those gears heat they expand. Bronze and steel expand at different rates. 😁😁
Yes sir. I wish I had set my dial indicator up to see the difference between the milodon and the other one
Great investigative work! Always remember...you get what you pay for. Now, do you want to see zero movement of your timing mark? Put a Milodon 3-gear gear drive in that BBM. Not the junk 4-gear PJ and the similar made in China junk. Timing mark will be dead on accurate.
Thank you! I will check them out for my race engine.
Wish I could get the high performance intermediate shaft for a small block mopar. Can’t seem to find one anywhere nowadays
That’d wild! I would check Mancini, competition products, summit, Jegs, and Hughes engines, Facebook Mopar groups. Someone has one and needs the money.
If it is erractic its your timing chain, distributor could also be an issue ..but 9 time out of 10 its timing chain
Thanks for sharing
That is an outstanding find !
You must be Polish .
Haha! More Polish!
@@JustMoparJoe good man !
on a real race engine this is where crank trigger comes in at
Thanks for sharing, John. This one will have be be like the Racers of yesteryear!
Love the shirt!
Excellent! Check out that channel on UA-cam if you get time. Tell him JMJ sent you!
@@JustMoparJoe Yep, already do. Haven't seen a video from him in a while. My dad bought our Little Red Express off the lot in 1978 and we've had it ever since. Your videos are giving me help on rebuilding it. Appreciate it.
@@williammurray1620 I have a LRE coming in this year! You’ll love it! It should get a JMJ 360 👍🏼💪🏻
Instead of welding, could you smack the brass with a small hammer to fit?
The one that I had to weld was the distributor end that went in to a a stock type gear. This gear had the major slack from cam gear to distributor gear. I’m not sure how to properly repair that
All those small things add up
Absolutely! Thanks brother
Hold on! You're telling me you cant just slap these things together and expect perfect performance?(sarcasm). Thank you for taking the time buddy.
Haha! You called it correctly! Thanks for watching!
@@JustMoparJoe Good sir; these videos continue to prove you are a "builder", not an "assembler"
@@koboskolors I appreciate that. I’d like t be one when I grow up!
where do you buy your shirt? the lil red garage?
It was a gift from another channel! Check him out. He may have more to sell. ua-cam.com/video/TFlR7CXfGaY/v-deo.html
Does the gear need to be bronze I had a new old stock shaft and it seems to do what you say mild engine hydraulic cam.
Bronze is an option for roller cams. Most flat tappets use the old stock style.
Sorry, end of the cam in the casting!!!
I will NEVER use a bronze gear again, if the cam requires a bronze gear I won't use that cam either!!!
Thanks for sharing
Hi Joe on my 440 i replaced the lifters and pushrods and distributor gear this spring and i got a knocking noise after. Its not a lifter noise . Its seems to quiet down after driving but you can still hear it a bit. Could it be that new gear not seated properly, like the video above making the noise ?
It’s very possible. Especially depending on the make of the gear and shaft. So many possibilities
All these stacked tolerances are the reason the industry is going away from using a distributor.
Definitely possible. But with higher needs for specific inputs to please the epa, I think cam and crank sensors rule the world.
@@JustMoparJoe I can believe that as well. The auto industry does nothing without seeing the loss of business as a driving force. Making their products more efficient is just a stop-gap measure before mandating the outlawing all forms of personal transportation (for the children). I'm sure you can see that the internationalist goons giving the orders to the EPA really want us out of cars all together in in controlled high rises you see in the dystopian future movies. They act slowly like the boiling frog analogy making it harder to maintain and upkeep of our passion in the hopes we will just give up and be silent sheeple. Making parts in another country with less quality control and then purposefully slowing delivery of said parts represent just another tic of their clock. I see the next overly open control technique will be the complete and total ban on the production and selling of gasoline in California; since that state seems to ram change down the throat of America.
how many degrees is that wiggle worth?
Very good question! I just had someone send me their conundrum of the timing being erratic. They hadn’t seen this video, until I sent it. They swapped gears and it was cured!
Joe, I have a question maybe you can help me I just redid my 1973 400 Mopar, I’m having an issue with the distributor advance in the vacuum lines. The timing is right on without the vacuum line to the distributor connected seems to advance by the harmonic balancer when I give it gas without the vacuum line connected to the distributor. When I connect the vacuum line to the distributor, the engine runs rougher and seems to run too far advanced. I have also unscrewed the vacuum screw on the distributor almost as far as I could get it, I’m totally baffled at this moment. Any ideas it is a new stock Cardone distributor with electronic ignition.
There’s lot to think about on that one. I would check the mechanical advance amount. You may need to add an FBO limiting plate to bring up the initial. It sounds like the vacuum advance pod is over advancing when connected. I’m not sure what source they use for their pods. I know the firecore distributor has both adjustments built in. You may can try to swap the pod from an old distributor on to the Cardone and see if it eliminates the issue.