Lean-burn distributor/ignition conversion

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Drake

Drake

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Guys,
Does anyone have a link to an easy-to-read chart or instructions for converting the lean-burn dual-pickup ignition to a single pickup version? This '74 Plymouth used to be a 225, but the previous owner swapped it out for an '86 318....he took the dual pickup dizzy out, and dropped in a single pickup, but we're not sure if he changed the rest of the items needed to make this work (ECM, harness, etc)...we've got a mass of spliced spagetti wires here, and I'd like to work/trace this out to see if we can use what we have.

The problem we are having now is getting the car to start; it pops and fires once, like it want's to start, but that's all it will do...and we have replaced everything...I mean everything...except the ECM, harness and 4-pin ballast resisitor. We get a lot of gas on the cylinders from the new carb, but it acts like it's not firing at the right time, or something like that (we have the timing set correctly according to the '86 318 info....(TDC, compression stroke on #1, rotor to #1 tower, etc))....I'm an old-time points guy, and this @$# is confusing the hell out of me....:angry7:

Thanks,
Drake's Dad, Rob
 
OK fellas...thanks to Keith's diagrams, we finally got the car to run today! It runs pretty strong and quite well (except for a slight miss); we had to add a fuel regulator for the Edelbrock, because it was getting about 7 lbs of pressure--we cut it down to 5 and stopped drowning the plugs--and needless to say, I am a happy camper (and so is Drake, as this is his car and I'm just his "free mechanic dad")....

...BUT....when I went to set the initial timing with my light and to fine tune it, I can't find the damper mark! :shock: I've shot it with the timing light, and the darn thing is no where near the cast tab...in fact, it's somewhere under the water pump, and when you turn the distributor to adjust it, it will kill the engine before the mark shows up....otherwise, the car runs fine, but I don't want to risk overheating, bent valves, performance issues, etc., so I want to do this right the first time.

What would cause the mark to vanish? We had it lined up correctly at TDC, with the rotor pointing at the #1 plug, and it started great...but now it's just not there for me to do the initial and total timing. The mark I was using is a groove cut all the way across the damper (there are some other, shorter marks evenly spaced around the circumference also), and the tab is cast with increments and has the big "0" on it.... I know just enough about this stuff to make me dangerous, but this has me confused! #-o

BTW, this is an '86 model 318 with no Lean-Burn, automatic, and a 600 cfm Edelbrock carb, if it matters.

Rob
 
You could just tune it by ear. Adjust the dizzy slowly until you can get the engine sounding like you have it in the ballpark of where it should be. That is how I dialed in my Duster and when I did put a light on it, it was only off a 1/2 degree
 
Thanks, dustermaniac...we figured it out: I had the dizzy drive gear one notch too far inboard, keeping the timing mark from showing because our adjustment range was too short (vacuum advance was hitting the firewall)...I pulled it up with a screwdriver and dropped it back one tooth; we put the light on the tab/damper, turned the dizzy where the engine sounded normal, and sure 'nuff, there it was! :cheers:

We set the initial timing to factory specs, and now it starts before you can get your hand off the key...that's more like it! 8)
Rob
 
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