Bubba's Ignition services does it again!

Well, the little Valiant has been rock solid since our Columbus roadside tech post found here. So it was time for yet another 3K oil change. After a few years in our house, I've finally gotten our garage somewhat functional where I can do some of the basics, etc... BUT, found out I didn't even have a oil filter removal tool, plyers that big or anything. So a quick trip to O'Reilly auto since they are close to get one. $5 dollars later and out to the Valiant we go. Won't start. Odd. I probably flooded the shit out of it before I decided that it's really not going to start this time. Popped the hood in the parking lot and everyone is an expert and your friend all of a sudden. So I determine that fuel is good. Next on the list is spark. Well shit, no spark. Got 12V to the coil and I trust that the HEI is good since they are nearly bulletproof. So, I pop the cap off to inspect and it looks less than pretty bad. So a quickie clean and a shot of WD40 and BAM, we're up and running. Get back home and let the car sit for a few minutes and it will not restart. Yeah I know, why didn't I just check on a cap and rotor while I was there. So I jack the car up and let the oil drain while I go get a new cap (they didn't have a rotor so I just wired brushed and cleaned up the old one really good). So now that I'm this far in I figure the last thing that has been looked at in the ignition system is the distributor so I decide to make it my Wednesday night hot rod gathering project at none other than Bubba's Hot Rod Shop. So I dig in and begin on my way to rebuilding under the expert eyes of the ignition guru himself. He gives me some pointers and things to watch out for and I'm on my way. I did a full tear down, clean, degrease, bead blast, wash, , paint, lube and rebuild with a new drive gear (the old one was cracked on both sides ). Then I hand over my work to Bubba's to spin on the machine to check my work out. I had to regap the pickup cause it started to rub when the timing advanced. One quick readjustment and he spun er up to 4500 RPM and verified the mechanical advance was working as well as the vacuum advance was spot on. So tonight I put my new beauty in the car exactly how it came out as I took pictures and marked everything trying to make things easy on myself and it paid off. I put it in and the car fired immediately. I let the car warm up and let the electric choke kick down the idle and it was a bit rough, so I did the ol trained Bubba ear test and find the sweet spot and quite frankly the car hasn't sounded this good or ever started this well. Tierod was there to photograph the rebuild so pics are on the way, but here is the end result.

Gotta love a six thru headers and that slant six sewing machine hum.

Before picture marking the rotor location and note of where the distributor hold down bold was to get her right back in.



Cleaned, rebuilt and in place.


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Pics...

 

Nice! I can't wait to get my "bubba equipped" dizzy for my flathead!

 

Almost forgot...

 

Any details on that distributor machine? I've been looking for one and didn't even know there were any others made besides the Sun ones.

 

The Sun machines were way more common as the "Allen Syncograph" The Allen units sold for about 7k but had tons of features built in , 12,000 rpm, vertex mag settings, electronic module tester, coil tester, electronic ignition , complete ignition system with wires etc and aluminum control cards for every function.
Great machines ya might find one in a vo tech where they wernt used very much etc.......
The absolute caddy of the distributors.......

 

what's the Wednesday night crew building now?

 

Not much , with the move to the new shop still happening, We have a Model A roadster pickup in the making coming over to the new shop this weekend.

 

Mopar HEI? That's a new one...

 

I've got a distributor machine for sale, had it on the classified for about 2 hours with make offer, it got deleated for no price. PM me if your interested. I'll probably put it back on today or tomorrow. It's an old one that works and has the original owners manual and some spec sheets. Dave

 

A couple of pictures of said distributor machine

 

Doesn't look like theres much room on the floor for a couple of gals in sleeping bags.

 

There's always room for that!

 

Why would you mention a Valiant on a traditional hotrod forum?
Do you remember the type of person who bought Valiants when they were new?

 

I was wondering why someone would chime into a thread that has nothing meaningful to contribute.

Traditional to me is pretty much any pre-65ish era car. Why don't ya go chime in on all the other threads that deal in late 50's early 60's customs and let them know your input as well.

 

Well, I wasn't even thought of for another 20+ years, but I gotta know what kind of person bought a Valiant since I own one as well.

Cool story and Pics. Lindross, did you ever run pertronix? if so, how does it compare to the HEI?

 

where's the new shop? and that's one cool Valiant!

 

Do you remember the type of person who bought Model T's when they were new? Or heaven forbid an Edsel or Studebaker...and don't even think about 4 doors or your head might explode...jackass...

 

Thanks, the new shop is located on Main St. in Speedway.

 

Nice thread Scott,..may have to celebrate your success with a shot of that Woodford,..( it appears as though the gear on the end of the distributor is either nylon on plastic?)...( can that be substitituted with a metal gear for durability?)...
will the camshaft teeth allow it? ( i had heard that the metal is soft on the cam-gear-teeth)...I'll have to check my Mopar Engines 8th edition manual for cross referencing those details.