<VV> A new (to me) distributor failure

[Frank DuVal]

I have seen this failure, but not to the point of not running. Symptom 
was no mechanical advance. Took distributor apart to see what was wrong. 
Found bent metal retainer.

Another failure of the weights had the weight flung out by centrifugal 
(?) force and it acted as a fly cutter on a lathe. When the car stopped, 
the upper part of the distributor, with the cap, was dangling by the wires.

Nice pictures. Check any parts you want to reuse for bends and cracks. 
Lots of force there going in the wrong direction.

Frank DuVal

Doug Mackintosh wrote:

>I'm sure someone else has seen one of these, but in my years of experience, this is the first time I've had a mechanical advance fail like this. This was on my daughter's 1964 Spyder. My guess is that one of the screws holding the advance weight cover backed out. Either the screw then wedged in a bad spot, or the cover deflected at high RPM. At some point the weight cover hung on something stationary (either the housing or the underside of the points plate). One end of the weight cover was still attached, so it proceeded to wrap the weight cover around the distributor cam shaft, until it ripped the other end of the weight cover free. As it wrapped around, it managed to clip the tips off 3 weight spring pins. Eventually the screw wedged itself between the weight base (part of the distributor shaft) and the housing, twisting the (firmly locked down) distributor housing around until the advance/retard pot hit the idler pully guard. The distributor cap
> also broke at one holddown screw location (presumed collateral damage). When it was all over, the point opening was about 1/8" (such that they would not close) even though it had been driven to that resting point - not sure what moved the point adjustment - the points plate does not appear to be seriously damaged.
>
>Not sure of the exact sequence of events, but the car had symptoms of wimpy performance for some time (probably when the mechanical advance stopped functioning properly). It then stalled and would not restart. Resetting the ignition timing got it to restart and run a few miles, then it stalled again. 
>
>I've attached a couple of photos for your edification.
> -- Doug Mackintosh
>
>  
>