Is there supposed to be movement in the electronic distributor pickup plate?

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Darty_67

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Hey guys, my 360 lost spark in my Dart. It has a mopar performance conversion kit, I bought some years ago. I never paid any attention before but noticed there is movement with the pickup plate, both side to side and up and down. The screw is still tight but not sure if the movement should be there or something is wrong? The reluctor looks brand new too so I don't think the movement is enough to hit anything. Just wondering if it's my ECU or the pickup plate. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks for your time.
 
You have to use your head. The vacuum advance moves the plate on a pivot connected to the plate below. The top plate does "come up and down" some sort of, under pressure from the retainer spring.

In a stock distributor, the points gap IS CHANGED as the vacuum advance moves the advance plate, and in a factory breakerless dist, the reluctor gap changes by the same means. This is not desirable, but it does happen.

This for example, is different than the old traditional cast iron dual points dist's where the advance plate rotates in a ball bearing.

So the point is, wise to use a vacuum pump to activate the vacuum and test clearance at both ends of the vacuum advance range, to make sure you actually have clearance, rather than damage
 
You definitely have a problem there. Too much up and down, too much wigglying.
I looked at my Mopar perf dist and there is a big difference in amount of movement.
 
You definitely have a problem there. Too much up and down, too much wigglying.
I looked at my Mopar perf dist and there is a big difference in amount of movement.
Thanks man!! Yeah, it didn't seem right. I know there has to be a little movement but not that much. Do you know where the loose or missing screw might go or what all needs to come out to get to it?? I've never torn into one of these before.
 
Pull the rotor off and you can see there is one screw holding reluctor.
looking at mine, I see there is a screw in plate from bottom.
I would bet that is what is wrong, the screw is loose or missing.
good luck.
 
You have to use your head. The vacuum advance moves the plate on a pivot connected to the plate below. The top plate does "come up and down" some sort of, under pressure from the retainer spring.

In a stock distributor, the points gap IS CHANGED as the vacuum advance moves the advance plate, and in a factory breakerless dist, the reluctor gap changes by the same means. This is not desirable, but it does happen.

This for example, is different than the old traditional cast iron dual points dist's where the advance plate rotates in a ball bearing.

So the point is, wise to use a vacuum pump to activate the vacuum and test clearance at both ends of the vacuum advance range, to make sure you actually have clearance, rather than damage
That's not the movement the OP is talking about.

the reluctor is loose on the braker plate.
 

  1. remove the rotor
  2. remove the 2 blue screws and with a little gentile wiggling you can get the vac advance out of the dist.
  3. lift the primary lead out of the housing
  4. remove the 2 red screws
  5. lift the breaker plate out of the dist

from there you can find out what is wrong


1679157519998.png



Red arrow is the adjusting screw
Blue arrow is the pickup pivot
green is most likely the pivot post
There is another plate under this part that will come out as a unit when you remove the previous photos red screws

1679158495621.png





This is the underside of the breaker plate assy

The red arrows point to where the red arrows were removed from in the first photo

the green arrow points to where the two parts of the breaker plate pivot about


1679158101938.png


all of the above photos are representative, not necessarily the exact parts you will find in your dist
 
Last edited:

  1. remove the rotor
  2. remove the 2 blue screws and with a little gentile wiggling you can get the vac advance out of the dist.
  3. lift the primary lead out of the housing
  4. remove the 2 red screws
  5. lift the breaker plate out of the dist

from there you can find out what is wrong


View attachment 1716065497


Red arrow is the adjusting screw
Blue arrow is the pickup pivot
green is most likely the pivot post
There is another plate under this part that will come out as a unit when you remove the previous photos red screws

View attachment 1716065521




This is the underside of the breaker plate assy

The red arrows point to where the red arrows were removed from in the first photo

the green arrow points to where the two parts of the breaker plate pivot about


View attachment 1716065502

all of the above photos are representative, not necessarily the exact parts you will find in your dist

This is exactly what I did. The pickup pivot "rivet" was really sloppy. Took it apart, used a punch and a hammer and it tightened up just fine. Everything is tight and put back together. Still wasn't my problem, it was the ECU. Oh well, I definitely learned something today. Thanks all for your help, she's back up and running.
 
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