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Technical rebuilding a Mallory YC-310HP??

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by revkev6, Jan 21, 2014.

  1. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    Hey guys, I think I have all the hard to find parts for my dizzy. Its a YC-310HP to go in my 283.

    I have
    two distributors
    3-4 decent looking (not cracked in half) large brass condensors
    4 caps, 2 nos, 2 usable used.
    a set of mallory points that look rough, (cool little covers that go over them too)
    a set of points that look new in the other distributor, but I don't know if they are correct.
    a couple nice used rotors

    Has anyone done a step by step strip and rebuild on one of these??

    I have some questions on how it should be setup. this is a 4 lobe unit, does it need two condensers or 1??

    can I run the 7mm carbon core oem look wire with the cap rotor and raja terminals if I decide to run an msd box??

    I don't want to run the voltmaster coil as I don't think I would trust it. coil suggestions?

    I've read there is a napa part number for points?? anyone have it handy??

    anyone know the specs on these distributors?? advance curve??

    FYI, I just picked up another YC for an early pontiac just for the parts. I'm not really looking to get rid of it, but if anyone needs one I know they aren't easy to find.

    or option b is to just box all the parts up and send it to Bubba.. I'd rather figure it all out on my own so I can troubleshoot later.
     
  2. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    SO it appears we don't have any Mallory experts that have done a tear down and rebuild on one of these units?? considering it's zero degrees outside at the moment and I need a project that can be done in the relative warmth of my basement, I guess I will try to gather some more dispersed knowledge and tackle it myself. I will take pictures and write up a tech... hopefully it works afterwards lol.
     
  3. pitman
    Joined: May 14, 2006
    Posts: 5,148

    pitman

    Hey Kev,
    The four lobe, as I recall, gave more dwell time to fatten the charge build.
    The Mallory I ran for years, had one large condenser on the outside adjacent to the cap. The points would last for ~ 10K MILES and need cleaning up. .014-16 gap.
    And if you don't clamp the base tight, then you can 'adjust' to suit the premium, that you paid for! :eek:
    6-10 degrees initial?
    The advance, I can't help you with. Mine worked just fine.
     
  4. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    I believe the dwell time would be increased over a single point distributor. A standard 8 lobe dual point with leading and trailing points should still have more dwell than this one.

    I've read that if you use an MSD box on these distributors that the points are used as a low voltage switch and last pretty much forever?? dwell is set by the box too.


    I need to make some phone calls and find out if anyone I know has a distributor machine I can run this up on. only one I know off the top of my head is an hour away from me.
     

  5. pitman
    Joined: May 14, 2006
    Posts: 5,148

    pitman

    Christy Massios would likely know someone around Middleton, MA who would have one.
     
  6. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    only place I know of that would let me play with it on my own is in Marlboro. Might be worth the drive just to visit and BS with some old racing friends :D

    I'm out of the springfield area btw....
     
  7. F-6Garagerat
    Joined: Apr 12, 2008
    Posts: 2,652

    F-6Garagerat
    Member

    GMC BUBBA here on the HAMB is a vintage ignition guy. Does it for a living. I'm sure he can answer any question you have. I'm surprised he hasn't seen this and chimed in already. Here's a link to his profile. You can PM him from there.

    http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/member.php?u=15923
     
  8. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    Yes, I am familiar with GMCBubba. i mentioned possibly sending my dizzy to him in the first post. I have picked his brain about the pros and cons of the MSD box.... he liked them for point longevity and the fact that the condenser is just for show with it.

    I have decided that I will put all my parts together and document the teardown and reassembly since I have not found one. since I have two complete distributors and enough parts maybe I will do one setup with a msd and the other without??

    I have searched a bit on here and found that it seems the echlin CS2301 is the preferred point replacement for these units??

    new mallory rotors don't seem to have an issue??

    I've been looking at the 7mm suppression wire I would need for an msd box it seems like I can get it without too much trouble on a spool.

    has anyone run the pertronix 7mm suppression wire with rajah terminals?? any issues??
     
  9. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    1390437343889.jpg

    Well here is my collection of mallory parts so far.. As well as my supervisor in crime lol... hopefully start disassembly later tonight

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  10. Angry Frenchman
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 1,775

    Angry Frenchman
    Member

    I think your going to need a mag spark box. I've also been using ford condenser. I have only bump into one old Mallory condenser that still work in the last 15 years.
     
  11. Angry Frenchman
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 1,775

    Angry Frenchman
    Member

    nice collection of parts. I think the points part number for Mallory is 24875 A left side and B right side. I can check tomorrow. one of the sides is the same as a stock ford from the 60's
     
  12. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    The points in the dizzy I have are both 24875b

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  13. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    I missed your post about condensers last night Angry F. I am leaning towards running the distributor with a hidden MSD box so I won't even need a condenser. I will pick the best looking one I have and that will be that.


    I did get the two YC-310-HP's torn down last night. they come apart so easy. 6 screws, one E clip and a Roll Pin. The two distributors had different advance plates in them. One had an adjustable max advance and the other was locked. I have a wild guess that the locked unit was earlier based on the casting. the locked unit also had some wear and damage from the weight pins sliding in the slots of the plate. I will post up pictures of that later tonight, as well as start to tear down the YC-312-E early pontiac unit to see what that looks like inside. Both of the castings and bushings of the YC-310-HP's were in great shape. I have them with me at work to clean up for reassembly.


    Anyone have confirmation on the best set of echlin points for the YC distributors??
     
  14. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    Nice clean bases ready for reassembly


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  15. Angry Frenchman
    Joined: Feb 12, 2006
    Posts: 1,775

    Angry Frenchman
    Member

    nice Kev! moving right a long with this.
     
  16. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    Did some more work last night but it was fixing a stupid mistake during dissassembly! I managed to screw up the phase of the rotor to the cam lobes by trying to remove a screw that I didn't need to. I will take some pictures to show what I did and how I fixed it without a distributor machine or an engine.. it was too cold to take pictures last night

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  17. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    I took out the screw that looks like a distributor clamp with an adjustable wrench on the rotor lobe to hold it steady. The lobes are only a press fit so it spun. I aligned it by eye compared to the other one I had then put it together to check it with spark. Luckily it was spot on. Msdignition on YouTube has a good video on rotor phasing.
    View attachment 2122399


    This plate is off the dist. That had wear on the advance plate. A couple minutes with the tig and file fixed it nice.
    1390679634239.jpg

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  18. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    Hmm picture didn't post.


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  19. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    This is the video when I checked the phase. I was spinning the distributor with a drill so I didn't get to take the video with the timing light to really show the position of the rotor but the spark is lighting off on the middle of the rotor.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBZsQzdF3bo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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  20. Tony at Ross Racing works with the Mallory a lot and has a machine to set up one correctly for your use with a MSD box FWIW.
     
  21. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    As far as I know there is no machine required to set this particular mallory up with the msd box. I'm still waiting for my Napa points to come in so my next step is to try to see if one of my 5 condensers is good. I used an analog ohm meter to do a rough check on them and 4 out of 5 still work at least a bit. With an analog ohm meter swapping the leads from pos. To neg. Will make the needle swing towards zero then jump towards infinity. This shows the capacitor (condenser) is taking a charge. This is the best I can do for a test without an actual capacitor tester. Time to start polishing them up!

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  22. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    I posted most of this info from my phone over the weekend as I was only getting an hour here or there to get anything done! I never made the youtube video public so I don't know if anyone was able to view it or not. Not that it shows a whole lot, but enough to see that the rotor is firing where it should.



    I tried to clean up the condensers but my polish and buffing wheel were both out in the 15 degree garage... frozen of course. lol.... on to another part of the project I guess.

    I spent a bit of time cleaning up the caps with WD-40. they all came out pretty good. hoping this week I get a bit of time to organize some pictures to make this a proper tech.
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2014
  23. brokenspoke
    Joined: Jul 26, 2005
    Posts: 2,968

    brokenspoke
    Member

    Good advice^^^^^^
     
  24. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    it is, I've read as many of Bubba's posts about these distributors as I could.
     
  25. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    Still plugging away slowly when I get a few minutes. Polished the cap with WD40 installed the new points gapped to .018 per mallory spec. Polished the condenser after a light sanding.

    Still going to finish up two more. The other chevy unit and the Pontiac which looks almost new inside...

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  26. el Scotto
    Joined: Mar 3, 2004
    Posts: 4,698

    el Scotto
    Member
    from Tracy, CA

    I scored a pretty nice YC–310 at a swap, put a Pertronix Ignitor II into it and called it done. You have to clearance the original Mallory rotor to clear the unit but it works great. I thought about running a CD system but honestly to me, the less electronics to fail the better! :D
     
  27. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    what are you running for wires?? I've Read from GMC Bubba that the carbon wires don't like the flat cap connection setup and burn out quickly.... I think pertronix retro wire is carbon?? I'm pretty sure the 7mm packard/delco resistance wire that looks old is carbon as well but I have yet to hold it in my hand.,

    I'm almost to the point of just saying forget the MSD box and stick with the standard points, packard 440 wire and rajah terminals... works fine for my flathead
     
  28. tommy
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 14,757

    tommy
    Member Emeritus

    Pertronics makes a drop in unit for these distributors I use Chrysler electronic parts to convert mine to electronic but since then Pertonix makes it so easy...no points to file or set. Been running them for years using Standard brand Chrysler replacement parts. Much nicer than running points. I run Packard 440 wires and Rajah clips on my Chrysler units with no problem at all. If you want to run a fancy new aftermarket system you may not get the same results???. I can't speak to that. I bought a spool of 440 wire and made my own plug wires strategically locating the branding on the wires for anyone to see if they pay attention. Believe it or not I have had people mention my wires and Rajah clips

    Back in the early AM radio days it was fun to watch the cars at the stop lights adjusting their radios when it was just my 440 wires making the noise.:D Packard 440 wires were the first hop up thing that I ever did to my car and they are kinda special to me.:D
     
  29. revkev6
    Joined: Jun 13, 2006
    Posts: 3,352

    revkev6
    Member
    from ma

    yes, I've heard that you run the chrysler unit with packard solid core wires.... how did you do that install?? you still have to time it all to the rotor correct?? the pertronics unit is a easy drop in. it's actually not a bad deal either when you stop into napa to buy the set of points you need and walk out $44 later..... it's what like a $130 for the conversion?? then you don't need the condenser either...

    I'm all over the map on this...

    i've run the MSD boxes in my race cars and loved them.

    this ain't a race motor... it's a 8.5-9:1 283 with a mild cam, edelbrock c4b intake and a 500cfm edelbrock carb.

    firing the spark isn't going to be hard.... if I ran the msd box on this bad boy I would be up in the .045 spark plug gap range with this compression lol.

    the msd helps smooth up the bottom of the RPM range a bit.. which is always nice


    the msd box will make my points last almost forever, and condenser not required.

    using carbon wires (resistor wire required for pertronix or MSD) will probably require me changing the wires more often. realistically I think changing the points and condenser is easier lol.

    my flatmotor has had the points changed once in the last 21 years... and that was because I left the key on....whoops.
     

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