Delco Distributor

harrywt

harrywt

Member
Hi guys,

rebuilding the delco distributor on my new '72 sii. The vacuum advance looks shot, I dont see a replacement at our favorite parts store so I have surfed around a bit. Autozone, which is quite I nice parts store I have discovered, shows a vacuum advance can that they say is for my Scout. It is listed as for an msd distributor.

autozone vacuum can

Looks like the old one. They also have spring kits and weight kits for the mechanical advance. Never altered a mechanical advance, should I buy some springs?

I also noticed a lockout for the vacuum advance. In the identify distributor sticky, michael mayben shows a pic of a delco he rebuilt with what he says is a lockout. Is this the thing to do?

Thanks,
harry
 
It does look similar. You're very fortunate to have an IH delco in your Scout. I think somebody swapped that in there from an earlier IH engine, as I believe the Holley units were well ensconsed by 1972. The delco distributor is a fantastic unit. Its too bad IH went away from those in favor of the inferior Holley units. I have one in my hooty Scout with a crane xr-I points eliminating module (similar to pertronix). It rocks! Anyway, just fyi, the delco distributors are primarily found in GM vehicles...and I mean millions of 'em from the 60's and 70's! They are still quite popular. The only thing really IH about the IH version of the delco is the drive gear and how the advance weights are set for the flat IH sv8 torque curve. That means replacement caps, rotors, point sets, vac advance canisters, advance weights etc etc are plentiful. All you gotta do is trick the counter clowns into thinking your rig is a 1970 chitvy c20 peekemup with a tree-fitty motuh. Blamo! Cheap delco distributor parts up the wazoo.

Not sure about the lockout mod of Maybens. I'll have to read up on that.
 
Cool. This Scout I just got is extremely interesting. 1972 with Dana 44's for example, guy still had the line ticket, "heavy duty axles", I assume that means Dana 44. It has a 4 speed which I assume is a t18 since 1st is not synchro'd. The line ticket says auto trans.

The body is in incredible shape, it seems to have the original weatherstripping, the doors close like factory, even the windows roll up and down like new! I plan to post some pics.

Bought my first Scout in 1986, a '72, haunted junk yards for parts, then came binder bulletin, I bought a steering box from bill thebert, still have it. The '72 lost the rust battle and didnt have a Scout for a while. My son wanted one for his 16th, he has a '77, now that he drives it full time my wife let me buy my own.

Much easier to maintain and improve now with the web and all of the vendors now

thanks
 
The hd designation does not necessarily imply d44 up front. All sii's came with a d44 in the rear. You can identify what you have in the front in a combination of ways. If it has disk brakes instead of drums, that's one good indicator of a 44, but not 100% conclusive. The conclusive id is made by looking at the shape of the differential housing inspection cover. You can google images of Dana 30's and Dana 44's and compare those shapes to what you have. Obviously, someone ahead of you wasn't afraid to swap parts. The trans and the distributor being two obvious examples. So it could easily have a d44 up front now, but it didn't roll off the line that way.
 
Back to the distributor, is it advisable to drive out the roll pin holding on the drive gear? I'd like to clean the whole thing. If I leave the shaft in, think a dip in ky water based parts washer is ok?
 
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