Technical Ford Six loses power up hills

Yes, that should work....basically a GM HEI made for a Ford. The only unknown is the mechanical advance curve?

 

Personally I would go with a points vacuum/mechanical advance Ford 300 distributor. The box stores can get them....
Napa, Advance, ect, ect, ect
Ask for a 1970 Ford 300 distributor with single vacuum advance. I would probably go NAPA. The early 240 LOM unit (like you have) has a flat bottom. The 300 vacuum mechanical has has a stepped bottom for mechanical advance.
This way you can use the petronix you have or points (my preference). It's a simple replacement with no re- wiring.
If you order from a Box Store, you can inspect it to make sure you get the vacuum mechanical unit.

 

In my opinion nothing looks worse than a GM style HEI distributor on a Ford or in any vintage vehicle for that matter. I agree with F-one on regular black cap mechanical advance distributor.

 

Not finding anything on Napa or Autozones websites. Got a link? Thanks!

 

Dont know if this was mentioned ,but does it downshift as your hitting the hills?

 

Autoline D407 at Rock Auto. Single advance w/o retard. In stock.

 

Rock Auto Shows it.https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=8136420&cc=1119822&pt=7108&jsn=1382
Napa part number Part #: NRD 482610
It shows the item but out of stock...
Summitt cardone....out of stock until 10-11-21
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaz-30-2610/make/ford/model/f-100/year/1970
Advance shows the right part.....out of stock when try to order.

5 years ago there were half a dozen remanufacturers with these ready to go on Rock Auto....Now it's just Cardone

 

I don't claim to be any sort of LoadOmatic expert, but I've followed along on enough discussions, it isn't simply matter of removing the old LOM and dropping a dual advance distributor in. Or, we wish it were.

Something something about 13 and 14 tooth distributor gears maybe? If it was easy, somebody would have done it already. Can't recall what the show stopper is, but there just isn't a "drop in" distributor made iirc.

 

Yes it is that easy on a Ford 240/300. For whatever reason the 240 kept the LOM for a while.
You must be thinking of a 223.
Now a 1963/1964 223 and 262 will take the Ford 300 vacuum mechanical unit but you have to change the gear.. To put the 300 distributor in a 1951-1962..ish ford six you change the gear and modify the shaft for the older oil pump.

 

OK - that sounds promising then! Are the distributors for this application ready and available or are they unobtanium?

 

I guess plan B would be to return his new carb ( if it's returnable ) and exchange for one with a SCV. I had the loadomatic system in my early Bronco and it worked fine for what I needed.

 

I had a hell of a time with a 300, it had an nasty bog/flat spot if I tried to accelerate too quickly. The two things I found were my carter had a accelerator pump bypass that bled of some of the shot back into the bowl, so I plugged it. Also because I didn't have the choke heat tube plumbed (like you) I was getting a pretty big vacuum leak from it, so I plugged it off.

Your carb probably won't have the accelerator pump bypass but I would check the heat tube connection to see if its leaking.

Both of these helped but by far the biggest drivability improvement I did was installing a Clifford 6=8 intake and a Edelbrock 1406 - again that was on a 300 though.

 

Thanks guys, I’m gonna go ahead and order that one that F-ONE posted from rock auto. Hopefully it really is as simple as pulling the old one and dropping the new one in. I’ll report back once I get it in.

 

The Ford 240 and 300 sixes debut in 1965. They replaced the 223. It is my understanding that 240s came equipped with vacuum advance only LOM distributors.
The 300 on the other hand came with a vacuum mechanical advance unit like the v8s.
BTW...
The car 6 cylinders 170s 200s and 250s kept the LOM distributors until I believe....Duraspark.

To answer your question there were millions of these 300 big six distributors made. Up until just a few years ago it was a really common part......Then one day...all that was offered was Cardone or a rebuild service.

It seems our replacement parts are dropping off one by one yearly.

The main thing to look out for, is to make sure you get the 300 six mechanical vacuum unit. Since these will interchange be sure you are ordering the right unit.
Just to be safe....I would order for a 1970 300 six.

 

Jalopy, that is the 240 Loadomatic unit like he has.

 

My elders have assured me that the Load-O-Matic was a craptacular distributor, even when new.

Take it out, run it through a band saw, and then put in a real distributor.

When I did this in my Falcon, with no other changes but plug wires, it felt like I gained 40-hp.

 

1970 F100, 300-6.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/cardone-distributor-30-2610/5630207-P?navigationPath=L1*14923|L2*15034|L3*16062

 

That's it but sadly it's currently sold out through Advance.
Here's a interesting review about retrofitting a '53 215....( these mods are not necessary on a 240)...

 

There's some good past discussions here at the HAMB on the Loadomatic distributor if you dig around.

Apparently they were really tricky to get adjusted correctly, even a bit sensitive to point tension, and weren't very responsive even when working correctly as advertised. Maybe if you can find someone who knows how to use a distributor machine. They were first coupled with '54 Y-Blocks (I think) and some sort of auto transmission that would also start out in 2nd gear. Between the two, they were known as real dogs without mods.

 

How about a Duraspark?

 

Duraspark 1978 F150:
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...9-P?navigationPath=L1*14923|L2*15034|L3*16062

Module:
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...070/10704018-P?searchTerm=ignition components

 

Na

NAPA part number NRD 482610 $53.99

 

So I finally got around to getting the new distributor in, went with the big gaudy HEI. Set the timing and honestly don’t notice too much of a difference, maybe a little. It’s running fine, but not really noticing any improvement going up hills.

But now, and maybe this is unrelated, when it shifts from 2nd to 3rd, it jumps back and forth between 2nd and 3rd quickly like four times, and then stays in 3rd just fine. Never did that before. It all within a second or two- just back and forth back and forth between 2nd and 3rd. It does it pretty much every time. Really weird. Any ideas on what that could be?

 

Don't rule out the possibility of the torque converter going south. A bad one can make you think you have carb problems.

 

Only a guess but it could have something to do with one of the governors. Either the primary or secondary are attached at the rear of the trans and can be accessed by removing the tail shaft housing.

 

So one last thing- should I consider using a different plug or maybe a different gap with the HEI distributor? I’ve still got the Autolite 45s in there gapped at .035
Should I switch to a different plug or maybe consider opening the gap slightly?