I'm trying to determine the correct/best advance curve for a delco distributor in my 1977 'federal' Scout (345/automatic).
Keep in mind I'm in san jose, CA, and I need to pass emissions on a rolling dyno:-(
I was previously running a Holley points dizzy, with a pertronix II, and a jacobs fc1000 multi-spark ignition, which worked awesome, until it failed. The jacobs really did bring the emissions numbers down, and I was able to pass smog three time with it, unfortunately it decided to stop working (went through two of them in 6 years).
In any case, after reading the distributor thread, I picked up a 'delco' distributor (cardone 30-44810) so I could convert it to the pertronix ignitor iii, hoping it would work as well as the old jacobs ignition box did.
The 'cardone' distributor did not come with any kind of specifications, or IH part number, so I have no idea what the advance curve should be set to, or if it is even optimized for a 345 in a Scout. I had to do a bit of work on it 'out of the box', since the advance mechanism was binding (too tight), and the vacuum advance was bad (so much for a quality rebuild). In any case I took it apart, and cleaned up a few parts, and it works pretty smooth now, and I installed a new b22 vacuum advance.
In reading through my set of IH Scout service manuals, it shows the advance curve specifications for several distributors for the 345 (by IH part number), however it does not specify what the applications are for each (ie loadstar, school bus, Scout etc...), and the advance curves are all over the place, so I don't really have a way to cross reference for application:-(
it seems to me, that irregardless of the distributor make or model, there should be an 'optimum' advance curve for each engine, depending on what vehicle/application it is used for.
Here's the specs on my Scout:
1977 federal with hoses exactly as shown in the emission diagram, everything functional. (no air pump/ or charcoal canister), Holley 2210 (7309a), 345 v8 with isky split duration camshaft, automatic transmission, 3.07 gears (May want to change to 3.54's in the future)
engine was completely rebuilt and installed by anything Scout about 8 years ago and has seen only about 5-6k miles. (max manifold vacuum at idle is 16lbs, so cam timing May be a little off - still need to check and dial-in)
also keep in mind that this engine rarely sees north of 3000rpm (about 2200-2400 cruise on freeway) (
currently it starts and runs easily, but it doesn't seem to have the same performance it had with the Holley/jacobs combo. I'm having another problem passing smog, which I'll list in another posting. But I want to eliminate the distributor as part of the problem.
What kind of advance curve should I see on this distributor?
Keep in mind I'm in san jose, CA, and I need to pass emissions on a rolling dyno:-(
I was previously running a Holley points dizzy, with a pertronix II, and a jacobs fc1000 multi-spark ignition, which worked awesome, until it failed. The jacobs really did bring the emissions numbers down, and I was able to pass smog three time with it, unfortunately it decided to stop working (went through two of them in 6 years).
In any case, after reading the distributor thread, I picked up a 'delco' distributor (cardone 30-44810) so I could convert it to the pertronix ignitor iii, hoping it would work as well as the old jacobs ignition box did.
The 'cardone' distributor did not come with any kind of specifications, or IH part number, so I have no idea what the advance curve should be set to, or if it is even optimized for a 345 in a Scout. I had to do a bit of work on it 'out of the box', since the advance mechanism was binding (too tight), and the vacuum advance was bad (so much for a quality rebuild). In any case I took it apart, and cleaned up a few parts, and it works pretty smooth now, and I installed a new b22 vacuum advance.
In reading through my set of IH Scout service manuals, it shows the advance curve specifications for several distributors for the 345 (by IH part number), however it does not specify what the applications are for each (ie loadstar, school bus, Scout etc...), and the advance curves are all over the place, so I don't really have a way to cross reference for application:-(
it seems to me, that irregardless of the distributor make or model, there should be an 'optimum' advance curve for each engine, depending on what vehicle/application it is used for.
Here's the specs on my Scout:
1977 federal with hoses exactly as shown in the emission diagram, everything functional. (no air pump/ or charcoal canister), Holley 2210 (7309a), 345 v8 with isky split duration camshaft, automatic transmission, 3.07 gears (May want to change to 3.54's in the future)
engine was completely rebuilt and installed by anything Scout about 8 years ago and has seen only about 5-6k miles. (max manifold vacuum at idle is 16lbs, so cam timing May be a little off - still need to check and dial-in)
also keep in mind that this engine rarely sees north of 3000rpm (about 2200-2400 cruise on freeway) (
currently it starts and runs easily, but it doesn't seem to have the same performance it had with the Holley/jacobs combo. I'm having another problem passing smog, which I'll list in another posting. But I want to eliminate the distributor as part of the problem.
What kind of advance curve should I see on this distributor?
