Hey guys. Kind of a quick question, I hope. I just picked up an accel DUAL point distributor for nothing, so the price was right. I was just wondering what the time frame would be on this thing. Late 60s to mid 70s? Oh, and it's for a small block chevy. I tried to do some googleing but couldn't seem to find what I was after . So I appreciate any help.
Think mid '60s is a little early. If I remember correctly, our fellow HAMBer E-Z-Eye bought one for his '56 210 327 4 speed car, and it lasted maybe a week before the bushings ate themselves. That was the middle of '74.
Bought one new in 1974 small block chev, would rev out to 6000 no trouble big improvement over the stock distributor.
Dual point distributors have been around a hell of a lot longer than the mid 70's. I do not know when Mallory or if Mallory was even the first after market dual point, but you could buy a Mallory dual point for a 265 chevy in as early as 1955. They were the standard ignition for Mopars for many, many years and almost all Hemi's came with them from the early 50's.
Mallory research co. started in 1925 to design and patend the inventions of Marion Mallory Sr. His designs made him focus on his ignition products and that led to him starting the Mallory Electric Co. Its all on Google search ... I have also included some shots of pages from a 66/67 Midway Auto and a 66/67 Honest Charley's catalogs Sent from my SM-T387V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I see what you mean about finding info on the history of accel distributors..not much info out there...I know they have been around for more than 40+ years, and they are from the Automotive Controls Corporation.. I had one in a 327 that was in a V-8 Chevy Luv pick up ,Accel Duel-Point with tach drive going to a Moroso tell-tale tach. This Is a old Pontiac accel duel point that I had given to me years ago. Sent from my SM-T387V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Yup, found out lots about the Mallory one, but not much about the accel. I would like to mess with the points but if I use it I'll probably put in a pertronics
Accel stuff was quite popular in the mid 70s, and into the 1980s. You aren't likely to find an ad for that distributor in a 1960s magazine...but if you do, please post it and prove me wrong. If you want to run it, don't ruin the experience by installing electronics crap in it. Just make sure the points are clean and not pitted, set the gap (and check the dwell), and run it. You'll be fine. And if you are really really worried about it, keep a stock distributor in the trunk, to get you home. But keep in mind that points are mechanical things, and are less likely than electronic things to just suddenly quit working.
In August of 92 I assembled Larry Climbie's 455 Pontiac For his 68 GTO, He had an Accel dual point completion distributor. It was different from the street model. I dropped the distributor cap and cracked it. After much looking we could not find another one. But it looked a lot like a stock MoPar cap. I took the cap off of a 325 Dodge I had and it fit. Put the motor in my Vega to test it and went 208.526 at SpeedWeek Put it back in the GTO and there it sits today in his driveway, Hasn't turned a wheel in 25 years.
I think some of you guys are missing the point, it’s not when dual points came into being, the question is if an Accel distributor is era correct for a HAMB build. I don’t remember when Accel distributors came out but it seems like it would have been the late sixties at least. If you did use one the dead give away is the tan cap Accel was noted for. As far as reliability goes, just like Jim said, if well maintained points will last a long time. The right value condenser will help avoid point pitting and a bit of distributor cam lube every few thousand miles will pay dividends too. Accel stuff was pretty good BITD but I guess early Mallory stuff would be considered the gold standard for quality at least until they got bought out (multiple times) and everything pretty much went in the toilet. I’d take an Accel any day over late Mallory stuff. I just read the post from @RichFox about using the Mopar cap- that’s an excellent solution for getting away from the tan color and being able to keep an Accel dist. in service.
As Squirrel said I would bet on early '70;s. I had one in '72 for my Corvette. I took it to a shop to have the points set up on a Sun machine. They laughed and called me out into the shop to show me it fired several degrees off on most cylinders. From what I remember they were known for that.
I bought one for my 55Chevy while vacationing at my grandfather’s house in Lake Worth Fl. in , as best I can tell, 1974. Got it at Nationwide on Dixie Highway, probably in West Palm Beach.
Interesting article I just read. Echlin was the company that started Accel "in the early 70's". I did not know that. That is about all the info I could find.
I had one in 1972 in my 55 Chevy. I bought it new from a local parts store for 69 302 Z motor. Never had problems with it, but I checked it regularly.
Well I might just give it a shot. Might not be mid 60s correct. But looks a hell of a lot cooler than a big ol HEI. Might be kinda fun to play with too!
If you need points for it. I have a few sets. I,m pretty sure they stopped making the accel racing points 15 ears ago. You can use chevy unisets instead.
I have two of the Accel dual point/ tach drive distributors, Randy Gribble out in Watertown, SD. set one of them up for me. He has a distributor machine and the knowledge to set you up!
I got an Accel unit with the super duty coil in the early to mid 70's. It functioned OK, although on the return trip from the Street Rod Nationals in Oklahoma the early 80's the points stopped working about 10 miles from home. A friend surmised what was wrong and scratched the points with his knife and we were on the road. I took the unit out after about 20K miles and the bushing was loose and other parts in the distributor were broke. I put a stock distributor in and used that unit until a year or two a go. I sold the Accel at the Greenfield Ia swap meet 10? years ago. I hope you didn't get it.
Put one in my 69 big block Camaro in 74 . Before that I ran Accel points the stock GM dist. I regularly turned it 7000 rpm's. It was a 375 hp big block with solid lifters.
They are excellent distributors and you can do a lot with them. They have a ball bearing set up with one set of bearings above the points! This keeps things nice and stable.. Split the points with the three way switch and you'll be able to change the timing a few degrees with the flip of a switch. Use the points to trigger a CD box and you have one of the best ignitions going.. When you take most of the current off the points with a CD box, you remove most of there limitations..
That's a really interesting idea with separating the points! I could see that coming in handy for a higher comp street motor. I know a lot of guys running over 10/10.5:1 will back the timing way out for fear of spark knock on the street (high load, low rpm). Would be kinda neat to flip a switch when your gonna run somebody and put the needed timing back into it. You could probably really dial that in with slotted holes in the points so you could dial in the advance difference. I have one of the Accel units I was thinking about doing a simpler mod to: drill two holes in the side of the cap so you could adjust dwell on the fly like a regular Delco distributor. Then just rubber plugs to keep dust out when you're done setting them.
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