Aftermarket distributor fitting to oil pump slot

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swinger1969

swinger1969

Repeat Mopar guy
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I'm putting an MSD "ready to run" distributor in my 340 replacing the stock points dist. I marked the firewall where the rotor pointed to and pulled the dist with the idea of dropping the new one into the slot and lining up with the mark, as I've done before with small block Chevs. I left the motor as it was when I shut it off last time. The rotor won't line up with the mark , off by about 1". Again with the SBC I'd put a screwdriver down and move the little bar that the shaft fits on and it would line up. Not so on the Dodge - it's a slot in the gear and obviously the gear has to come out and be turned a bit then dropped back into place. Anyone done this and know how to do it easily and how do I get the gear out and back in? "tricks"? Thanks ahead of time!
 

Use a big screw driver and stick in in the drive gear slot. Then turn the gear (you can only turn it one way) and th gear will lift itself away from the cam. Just keep turning it until you get the slot where you want it.
 
P.S. The intermediate gear may require a few good hammer strikes to loosen. Use the biggest flat tip screw driver available for this.
 
Thanks for the help, Folks! I used the long screwdriver and moved the gear around to where it lined up pretty much. Now we're trying to figure out why there's power to the coil, outa the coil, but no spark! %$#$% Thanks again for the help!
 
swinger1969 said:
Thanks for the help, Folks! I used the long screwdriver and moved the gear around to where it lined up pretty much. Now we're trying to figure out why there's power to the coil, outa the coil, but no spark! %$#$% Thanks again for the help!
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How exactly did you change the wiring?

You likely fell into the "ign1" "Ign2" dilemma. The (most cars) dark blue ignition run (ign1) comes out of the bulkhead connector, feeds ignition and branches off to feed the VR, smog stuff, and electric choke

BUT IGN1 IS COLD DURING CRANKING

There is a BROWN coming out of the bulkhead (IGN2) which IS HOT during cranking. If you eliminated the ballast resistor, you likely are not getting power during cranking
 
The car is rewired with a ronfrancis kit so the colors you mention are irrelevant now, and I have now removed the ballast resistor for the MSD distributor. We have power to the coil on cranking, power coming out of the coil, but no spark.
 
New msd distributor?
Sounds like a bad pick up.
Or something not grounded.
 
Yup brand new. The dist blk wire is grounded to the bolt on the coil braket to the aluminum intake( wrong?) A bad pickup on a new dist??? ( yeah I know - made in china!)
 
That’s a good ground. Normally I do the block as a ground. The intake is fine and it is neither here or there about aluminum being better or worse for a ground. So long as it is tight.

Yup, brand new doesn’t mean working. Ignition boxes, voltage limited/relays, light switch, etc...

Do you have a known good ignition set up somewhere. The old box and distributor perhaps? Just to try?
 
swinger1969 said:
Yup brand new. The dist blk wire is grounded to the bolt on the coil braket to the aluminum intake( wrong?) A bad pickup on a new dist??? ( yeah I know - made in china!)
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Black is ground. Red is positive coil. Orange is negitive coil. Grey is tac.
 
How are you measuring power to and from the coil? With a voltmeter?

You can make sure the coil is working by:
- Dissconnect the distributor connector
- Put a jumper wire from coil - to a plastic handled screwdriver blade
- Turn on the ignition to RUN and touch the screwdriver blade for just a moment to bare metal; when you 'untouch' the blade, you'll get a spark out of the coil
This is not a foolproof test for a coil but is about the best you can do.

If you have a volt-ohmmeter, then measure the coil resistance of the coil primary to make sure it is right. First measure the resistance of just the meter leads by touching them together a few times and note that average value. Then disconnect the distributor, and measure the resistance between coil + and -; subtract the value of the lead resistance. You should have between 0.5 and 1.0 ohms in a coil for use with that distributor.

If you have a Blaster 2 type of coil, then it ought to be the 8202 model. There are other Blaster 2 models with higher coil resistance and the higher resistance ones will not work right. MSD's documentation on this is poor; I found this info on the Stan White site!

BTW, how are you testing for spark? If observing it in open air, it needs to be able to just at least a 1/4" open air gap. The spark jumping a spark plug gap in open air is NOT an adequate test by any means.
 
swinger1969 said:
Thanks for the help, Folks! I used the long screwdriver and moved the gear around to where it lined up pretty much. Now we're trying to figure out why there's power to the coil, outa the coil, but no spark! %$#$% Thanks again for the help!
Click to expand...

Check your grounds... Both for the ignition box if it has one and the main grounds from the battery to the body and engine to body...
 
Got into it again today and pretty sure it's the module is bad. 12.5 volts at the coil, 1.8 coming out when cranking. Grounds are all fine , no changes since the changover. It is the 8202 Blaster ii coil. Did the coil test mentioned above with the new coil and the proven older one an neither of them sparked . Checked the coil resistance and it was good. Checked the air gap in the dist and it was wide, about 16 thou for sure so took it down to 8 thou. Still nothing. The only thing stopping spark now has to be the module. I'll call Jegs where I got the dist and see what they say, but right now I'd as soon send it back and go another route......or put the RELIABLE points dist back in! This aftermarket crap just gets worse and worse.
 
We got a bad ECU connector and pigtail from Jeggs when we converted Eddie's Dart to electronic ignition...

Replaced that with a MP one and it fired right up...


Just because it's new, doesn't mean it's good now days... Very unfortunate...
 
Well at least with the points you can see and measure everything! I raced for something like 4-5k rally stage miles on a single point distributor and good e-coil. Never let me down and easy to inspect.

I'd probably go with an HEI now for a better burn but the points worked. There is some reporting that the points and condensors you get now are not too hot either.

Was that 1.8 v out of the coil steady or were there any fluctuations on it when cranking?
 
Yeah, that's what pisses me off - it was running great with the points and coil I had in it !....just thought I'd update it because I have the same MSD distributor in 2 streetrods and it works great. As far as I know the voltage was a steady 1.8. We're going to try again today, and I'm calling Jegs and telling them I want 2 modules - one to replace the bad on that I got with it and one foir the glovebox! Thanks!
 
Check the ground from the dist to the engine, when I do dist sometimes the clamps do not give it a good (2 ohm or less) ground and either it does not indicate or I get spark splatter.
 
Well in the end I called Jegs and explained it all and suggested they send me a couple of modules - one to cover the bad one in the dist and one as a spare to cover all my time, hassles and mechanic costs , and was told to just ship the dist back to them for credit so I did. MAJOR pain in the *** when you're in Canada, eh! Back to the points dist , or maybe Pertronix or ???? Ahhhhh, gotta love aftermarket!
 
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