Car - 61 T-bird. Engine - 390 ci "FE", Comp 262XE cam, cranking pressure - 170 psi. This is my daily driver. The old distributor wore out. I bought a NAPA rebuilt distributor to get back on the road quickly. I have a lot of pinging now under mild throttle pressure in high gear. The old distributor was a 62 casting date with oil lube provision. The slots limiting centrifugal advance are not adjustable or "flippable". The old vacuum cannister started in at 6in and was fully advanced at 15in. The cannister is marked with a "5" on the back. It makes about half or less of the advance as the new one. It is the old style cannister that is adjustable with washers. The old autolite carb has one vacuum source to choose from, I think it is manifold vacuum(?) The new distributor has a 68 casting date with no oil lube provision. I did not take apart so I do not know if there are two different slots to limit centrifugal advance. The new vacuum cannister starts in at 4in and is all in at 8in. It makes at least double the travel of the old one! It is not adjustable that I can tell. I think this cannister might be designed to work with ported vacuum. Questions: 1. I have read that some ford cannisters are adjustable with an allen wrench. Will they fit this distributor? Where can I find them? 2. Will the crane adjustable vacuum cannister fit this distributor? 3. Where can I find a selection or catalog of ford cannisters (that will fit my distributor) of different specs to choose from? 4. In general, how do I solve my pinging problem? I have already dialed the initial advance BACK about 5 or 7 degrees from where it was with the old distributor. 5. Does anyone know; will this later 68 vintage distributor have the two centrifugal advance limiting slots like the 70's era fords do?
I have the 65 compact car Ford factory shop manual here, it has 3 pages of tabless with advance specs for the various distributors used that year....
Questions: 1. I have read that some ford cannisters are adjustable with an allen wrench. Will they fit this distributor? Where can I find them? 2. Will the crane adjustable vacuum cannister fit this distributor? 3. Where can I find a selection or catalog of ford cannisters (that will fit my distributor) of different specs to choose from? 4. In general, how do I solve my pinging problem? I have already dialed the initial advance BACK about 5 or 7 degrees from where it was with the old distributor. 5. Does anyone know; will this later 68 vintage distributor have the two centrifugal advance limiting slots like the 70's era fords do? [/quote] Most of the ford vacuum units are adjustable. Try a few different allen wrenches to see if yours is adjustable. Unhook the vacuum advance to see if thats your pinging problem. Many of the fords use a tang ( spring attachment) instead. Look down the inside of the ignition plate and turn engine over by hand. If you can see the springs ( one heavy and one light) then you can add tension to the tang ( increasing ) to limit or adjust advance rate. Ex: Tang bent outward with screwdriver would increase sring tension to the point of a higher advance point rpm wise. Most rebuilders just blast and ship them.
maybe this will help your confusion? a scan from the 1962 tbird manual (sorry, I don't have the 61) showing the advance specs, and a couple scans from Standard Ignition catalogs showing advance unit applications and specs.
The Jalopy Journal
