mallory distributor (dizzy) issue

so yesterday I did a little 250 mile shakedown run to visit "bad donkee" and "vintageauto" in maryland.

almost to my first stop I noticed that the car started running abit rough.. when I stopped to check it out I realized that the mallory cap strap (one of the hold downs) had come loose, and the dizzy was sitting at a 10 degree angle or so..

luckily "the big donkee" had another used cap in stock (but no rotor) so I got home OK..

what has be concerned however are 2 things:

1.. what can I do to ensure that the dizzy hold down straps stay.. well.. strapped down





and

2. what damage did I do to the dizzy internally (i have read alot about the optical led's getting clouded and such..)



this is the mallory I run.. notice the "crap straps"

I do plan to bend them, to provide abit more tension, but, are there other options?




Tonight i did pull the dizzy out and dug some red plastic bits out of its depths. car still running abit rough.. (but am hoping the new cap and rotor I ordered today will fix that..

ideas, thoughts?
thanks

sawzall

 

I have never liked those either...I've often considered fabricating some sort of TRUE clamp or screw tensioned strap instead. Maybe one already exists... I'll be watching this thread too.

 

It is possible to convert some Mallory distributors to a screw-down cap; I can't see for certain which distributor part number you have by the picture (it doesn't look like a Unilite, but rather the all-electronic unit). Assuming you do have a Unilite, try kit # 29509 which includes the cap, rotor, and brackets to replace the straps. You will probably have to get new spark plug wires, or at least the distributor terminals, since this cap has "male" terminals, like a HEI distributor, and a plug wire retainer atop the cap.

 

Hi; I'm using the 29509 kit, and it's a big improvement over the spring clip type cap. (had the same problem as you did). Mallory makes several different screw down, cap/rotor kits for different models of distributors. Just tell your parts supplier what series distributor it is, and he'll fix your problem!!

 

That's good info...the HAMB does it again. Thanks guys....

 

32ratsass

thanks.. i didnt know about the 29509 kit.. but that solves another problem as I have an excessive inventory of new plug wires for the male type cap! so I can ditch the wires on the car now for better / easier to find wires!

homespun.. this is for an efi system (SHHH!) , but when it sits next to a unilite it looks identical..

thanks for all the assistance..

 

as far as the opto-electronic breaker module is concerned, it will run for as long as it choses to. Nothing much could be done to increase it's lifespan; it will fail sooner or later, but inevitably it will fail. My first unilite module lasted 22 years however, then burned up for no apparent reason.

Considering the low mileage of my cars today, I am thinking about tossing the electronics alltogether and go back to a dual-points dizzy.

The average mallory distributor itself is built remarkably well and reminds me of older German BOSCH dizzies. spring-loaded center carbon contact, shaft supported by ball bearings, hinged clamps screwed onto the distributor housing. In comparison, the average autolite -12127, for example, is a simpler and less sophisticated design (but does its job as good and reliable on a daily driver and even mild performance appl.)

 

The clips on my Mallory Unilite - 15 years and counting - are so darned strong that I can't hardly get them on.

Be careful you don't have them partially clipped in and not centered and seated in the notch where they're supposed to be.

I put my distributor back in yesterday and found that one clip wasn't in all the way.

Mallory should have made the clip notch a little wider and a little deeper wouldn't have hurt.

The way the notch is now it's about the same width as the clip.


You can buy new clips as replacement parts.

 

Boy, I thought I was the only one that needed 6 men and a boy to set the clips!! I had to replace my module, after about 12 years, and those clips could hold the hood down!!-MIKE

 

Cap adapt from MSD will allow you to run a wide screw down cap from a Ford. They do make them for mallory distributers.

But here's the catch your billet dizzy will now be wider and not look as much like an old dizzy, or fit as well if you designed your install around the smaller distributer.

 

Good info P&B.

Pretty sure I have the room on the 32.


Should be the same in the 31. but right now it has a 15 year old Delco rebuilt on it with about 2 months on the rebuild.

Not to get too far afield here, but the GM Delco is - in my imo - the best all around points distributor ever built.

Reasonably large cap for better spacing between plug wires.
Spring loaded L-clips to hold the cap on.
And externally adjustable for dwell setting without meter.
(It has a sliding metal window. That and an allen wrench will do it.)

A few guys got home with worn out points just by giving the allen screw in the distributor a couple of cranks.

Right now, I don't see any problems with running points.
The engine will be limited to 5500 rpm so no probs there.
Maybe dual points later on and for sure an MSD box a little later on.


I see a lot of people going to a lot of effort to swap points for electronic - and that's ok - but I think one of the reasons is perhaps they had a four cylinder car with points.
Points don't seem to last long on a 4 cylinder distributor cam.
12,000 - 15,000 miles was about it for my 72 Pinto.

The 63 Chevy pickup went quite a bit further before a tune-up was warranted.

Really nice thing about points is that they're easy to trouble shoot in the field....

 

For what it's worth, I wanted to eliminate as many problems as I could before trying to start my '53 Merc flattie (and I have yet to do that). I also switched to the Mallory electronic, but took the extra step of sending it to a guy with a distributer test machine to check the curves for my particular engine. I've got his card somewhere, but his shop is in Gasoline Alley at Indy. Wasn't very expensive and he said the distributer did need adjusting. Nice guy too,,,,included a bottle of hot sauce. If anyone wants me to dig up the card, let me know. Seems like the perfect thing to do before initial start-up.

Patrick