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alright forum, you and me are ganna get this valiant back to running s

12K views 41 replies 8 participants last post by  Ellobo 
Is the distributor an electronic ignition conversion, or breaker point? You can't destroy a breaker point ignition distributor, or any distributor, for that matter, with excessive voltage. You can burn the points or the condenser, or the magnetic pickup.

You need to put a voltmeter on the battery at idle and rev it a little and give us the readings. Sounds like the regulator is not properly wired.
 
That's an electronic voltage regulator for 1970 and up. If you have had yours converted, fine; if it's original, you need the older mechanical points-type voltage regulator.

Do you have breaker point ignition (the original setup) or an electronic ignition conversion?

Not sure what you mean by the distributor 'hanging out of the hole'. Is it seated fully, so that the clamp plate is against the block? If not, don't crank it, or you will strip the gears off the distributor and ruin it.

These distributors have a plate bolted to the distributor, slotted for adjustment, and a bolt goes through the other slot into the block to hold the distributor down. Do you have that plate on your distributor?
 
well, alright, i guess a previous owner had the regulator converted, because that's the one i have in the car right now.

so next question would be: how would i tell if its been converted to an electronic ignition?

and the distributor is fully seated in the hole, but the plate used for the previous one or at least the one the guy left in there doesn't fit onto the distributor at all.

that's what all the clamp links were about
If you have the original type breaker point ignition, the distributor looks like this under the distributor cap, and has only one wire out, to the coil:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/ignition-system-points.gif&imgrefurl=http://auto.howstuffworks.com/ignition-system4.htm&h=223&w=244&sz=10&tbnid=4k6D1gDr5DmESM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=97&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522breaker%2Bpoint%2Bignition%2522%2Bimage%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=%22breaker+point+ignition%22+image&docid=YAxbxc5_dk-C-M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZLWOT7PCCaXI0QGm-5CHBA&ved=0CEcQ9QEwCw&dur=234

If it's electronic ignition, it looks like this inside:
http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/engine/mopp_0301_mopar_electronic_ignition_system/photo_02.html

There are no clamps on either distributor, there is a slotted plate that bolts to the underside of the distributor, that also has a slot at the other end to bolt to the engine. Notice the plate at the "7 o'clock" position in the photo. Your distributor should have this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/225-SLANT-SIX-ELECTRONIC-DISTRIBUTOR-ORIGINAL-MOPAR-/140739912887?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item20c4c0a4b7
 
Yes, you have a breaker-point ignition distributor. But that last photo is an electronic ignition module, which someone must have attached in an attempt to convert the car. The fact that it's not hooked up says that they didn't finish or were not successful.

I can't see from that photo if the hold-down plate is on that distributor. This is a view from the bottom looking up, showing the hold-down plate that you should have:



So, the points should be gapped so that when they are fully open (right on one of the lobes), the gap is .017 to .023 inches, ideally .020. Then you set the ignition timing, which for your car should probably be 2 1/2 degrees before top dead center. Then you set the idle mixture (back off the screw 2 turns from fully in, and very gradually turn in until it just starts to stumble slightly, and back out just barely enough to smooth it out - should be about 1 1/2 turns from fully seated). Then set idle in drive to 550 RPM.
 
Far easier to find one in the junkyard, guaranteed to work, probably faster. Any slant-6 of any vintage would do. They made millions of them for 27 years.
 
Many of them are not at all intimidating. There are quite a few that will not let you past the front desk. You tell them what you want and they fetch it then and there, or have you come back in a few hours to pick it up. Many are computerized to some extent, so they can tell you if they have the part.
 
I can understand his frustration. When Cash For Clunkers came about, and the scrap metal prices went up, every yard near me crushed everything older than 2000 and cleaned out their lots. Some even closed afterward. I can't find any Chrysler products here older than about 2000.
 
You could always buy a new slant six distributor. More money, but it works.
 
I don't think that will fit or work on the slant-6 distributor.
 
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