273 stock coil location hitting vacuum advance

-
Stumpy

Stumpy

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
185
Reaction score
193
Location
WA
I have a Hi-Po 273 in a 65 Dart GT. The previous owner put in an orange EI brain box and electronic distributor. When I got the car the coil was mounted funny because it was interfering with the distributor vacuum advance. When I went to time it, it was at 8 degrees but I couldn’t advance more because the VA is hitting the coil. Right now I’ve got the timing set at 10 degrees and it looks like this. (See pic). No way the coil is going to fit in that location. I would prefer to not relocate the coil to some other location. What is going on?

EA56A86E-AEE5-47EE-BFB5-2A6ACB107713.jpeg
 
Not 100% sure but I'd guess that the stock distributor had the vacuum advance can in a different location maybe. Not really that big of a deal though. You can move the intermediate shaft(oil pump drive gear) to a different location which will move the location of the vacuum advance can. I moved mine so the can is pointing straight ahead. You just need to move the plug wires around on the cap after you do that.

It might just be that the intermediate shaft is in a non stock location. Pull the distributor out, and put the engine at TDC. Then see where the slot in the gear is pointing.
 
Agreed- just move the intermediate shaft a couple of teeth clockwise, and the vacuum can will be back to parallel with the firewall.
 
So just to be clear. I can rotate the distributor clockwise one or two plug locations and move all plug wires counter-clockwise and re-time?
 
Stumpy said:
So just to be clear. I can rotate the distributor clockwise one or two plug locations and move all plug wires counter-clockwise a
Click to expand...
What everyone is saying is pull the dist and rotate the distributer drive shaft / gear a few teeth.( One might be enough)

Now that being said you might be able to do the same thing by doing as you said and make a different distributer post the #1 post and rotating the dist enough to clear and time correctly.

If it was me. I would get out my Factory Service Manual and follow the procedure to set it correctly that way down the road you or another owner won't be confused.
 
You can do it either way. Quicker and easier to move wires on the cap and turn distributor. 3 minute job.

More correct and the plug wire positions compared to the cap clamps will match the book if you follow the instructions in the service manual.
 
  1. Get timing to TDC
  2. Take cap off
  3. Mark outside distributor with tape and a marker line where rotor is pointing.
  4. Loosen distributor and rotate advance back to just behind oil sender.
  5. Put cap back on
  6. Adjust distributor so a post is at your mark.
  7. Move wires so that #1 starts at post at mark.
  8. Done
Big Block, same idea
2021-01-23_004.jpg



Alan
 
Last edited:
Thanks everyone!
 
Shouldn't have to move distributor, loosen band around coil and "slide" away and cinch it down...my 340 is same way, my vacuum line runs right under the coil to the vacuum diaphragm.
 
Last edited:
If you re-clock the intermediate shaft, you won't need to rearrange the spark plug wires. Better to keep them matching the marks on the cap to not confuse others. As I recall the manual, when at TDC compression #1, the slot in the shaft should point at the front left mounting bolt on the intake manifold. But, not required since all that is required is that the plugs fire with proper advance and order.
 
What you have is an adjustable VA unit. That is the hexagonal shaped extension on the VA unit; the stock VA unit does not have this. The hex extension is just enough to interfere with the coil position.
 
The correct position for the intermediate shaft is with the slot pointing towards the front most intake bolt on the driver's side when the engine is at TDC on #1. So, I would bring it to TDC on #1, pull the distributor and look at the intermediate shaft and see if it's in correctly. If it is, then Bewy is right with his point about that vacuum canister. They are bigger than the standard vacuum canister and I don't think the 273 came with that adjustable vacuum canister. So you can either move the intermediate shaft or shift the plug wires around. Whichever you want.
 
Hi Stumpy. On my 273 2 barrel carb, the coil is located just as you have it in your first pic, but somehow it doesn't interfere with the dizzy's vc. Maybe my coil is mounted a little higher? Do you have the correct coil bracket?
 
This is a stock 273 in a 67, I have had the orientation on it like this as long as I have had the car. Original factory caps were not marked for #1
IMG_6100.jpeg


I would say this is how it should be.

Possible problems.
  1. Drive gear is in wrong.
  2. Distributor is assembled wrong
Pretty simple.

The likely the distributor is wrong is slim. I have seen deviation in distributors, generally a post or two. I have always put the distributor in and lined the wires to it as needed based on this orientation and where the rotor is pointed. I never saw a distributor replacement as a pop the cap and replace the distributor and put cap back on simple. I have always assumed I'd need to adjust wires to suit. I never thought about why, I just made it work. The reality is this orientation is the only place that the advance doesn't interfere with something.

It was many years later that I learned there was a standard placement for the drive gear, whereas that may be true the engine will run with it in any position and the wires installed accordingly. The standard is there to have a fixed starting point when troubleshooting.

My early involvement with this was on cars that were setup from the factory where the drive gear was likely installed correctly.


Alan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top