That's all fine Paul but that still doesn't address the issues of just throwing in a distributor without regard to the advance curves.
You're right Mark. But in fact it was never my intention to address proper timing curves or take anything away from their benefits when I responded to jhill's happy running story and americanhorses' soon-to-be happy running without points story.
That can come later after they've had time to play a little.
And I could not have helped them anyway, since I don't have much in the way of helpful hints to offer on the subject. Or where in their area to take it to find a guy that still has, and is willing to dust off, his distributor machine.
Wasn't my intention of taking away anything from what they were already doing at the moment. Just wanted to add a high-five or two for one, and a few minor and simple alternate helpful hints for the other.
Nor of course, did I intend to gainsay what you said about the benefits of a good recurve. It's an acknowledged fact that it's a good thing to do. I never denied it in most cases. Either by opinion or omission.
It just didn't seem necessary to add to what you and jckkys had already said.
I know all this sounds like a lot of extra work to most owners, but you won't believe the difference in driveability and smooth power. It's a matter of putting your time and $$$ into the right places.
It
is a lot of extra work for most. May even be beyond many Bronco owner's abilities and willingness these days. Many of whom are not so inclined, or who do not have the time, space and tools to get it done.
It's not that bad for someone who's used to messing with their stuff (or knows how to re-wind stators the size of a small house!), and who's had a distributor apart before. Can be done (and re-done) in a fairly short time once you've got the hang of it all and have a place to work on it.
But it's still a hit-and-miss proposition when you don't have someone giving you exact part numbers of parts to buy and which parts to use if there are multiple choices. And of having the rig down each time you decide to try again when it just doesn't feel right from the last time.
And it's only throwing your money at the right place if it's a good place to start with. If the existing distributor is a worn out piece of junk, buying a new distributor (rather than rebuilding your own for all the same reasons) isn't a bad option.
You can still recurve a new one in most cases of course. But I'd bet that most owners just want to put it in to see if it helped their issue.
Are you guys saying that you've never installed a new distributor without personally recurving it first? Even in a new-to-you vehicle? If not, then what's the problem with the others doing it too? Especially first-timers trying to get their EB up and running?
Or, perhaps if for no other reason than to get a baseline so they can have a good starting point of reference.
Or maybe it's to give them some good Summer Bronco-time with the family while they do a full rebuild and recurve of their old distributor? Nothing wrong with that in my book. That gives them time to find the right parts and or right person to do the work and time to work for the cash to pay someone to do it.
And a lot of people (the majority most likely) don't want to have anything to do with all that stuff. They just want to stab-n-go so to speak. No fancy fiddling, no guessing and experimenting several times hoping to get it right while their spouses threaten divorce if they don't stop messing with the Bronco and just get in the darn thing and drive the kids around in it.
Some owners want none of that. They may not get the best out of their equipment. But they're often perfectly happy with the results.
But that's why I like the two Mallory units I spoke of. For people that like to fiddle and take the time to personalize, you can pick from one of five different pre-programmed timing curves right out of the box. Or custom tune it yourself without installing a single new part. Just change the programming with your home computer and the included disk.
If you've never had more than the cap off of a distributor before though, and have no knowledge of the fact that you can buy spring kits and different weights, and source different cam plates for the mechanical advance from different junkyard donor cars and trucks, or how to disassemble a distributor and install all of that, or which combination of parts to start with based off of their limited knowledge of what would be best for their use, or how to adjust the vacuum advance limiters, but know your way around a computer running Windows, then all of the above are reasonable options.
Sorry Mark. Just never even occurred to me to mention it. ;D
Paul
