Rebuilding the Chrysler Electronic Distributor for performance.

 Electronic ignition started showing up in some Chrysler vehicles in 1972. The following year it became standard on all models.Externally the new electronic distributors were identical to it's breaker point brethren. Internally It's a different story, The breaker cam that activated the breaker points was replaced with an iron-core reluctor with eight sharp projections around the periphery.(six cylinder models had six) The breaker points were replaced with a magnet/coil pickup. As the distributor shaft rotated the reluctor tips come in close proximity to the pickup and the magnetic field flow. The low level "pulse" of electricity created triggers the external control box (ECU),which in turn supplies current to the coil.Since there are virtually no rubbing parts the Chrysler electronic ignition distributor is a well-performing piece with almost no maintenance. But as good as it is, we can always make it better.

 Last June I did a quickie spray can rebuild of a Chrysler 400 with hopes of it someday being installed in my '73 Fury.

Since where I live we seem to be stuck in the winter that will never end. I decided to refurbish the distributor for the 400 instead of just stabbing it in and hoping for the best. Todays ingredient list pictured left to right are: Lightweight advance springs from TransDapt, Magnetic pickup coil and vacuum advance. New parts not pictured are distributor cap and rotor.

 After removing the old cap and rotor I carefully pried the reluctor wheel off the shaft with a pair of screwdrivers. Be careful not to lose the tiny roll pin. After that I removed the vacuum advance and the pickup coil plate.

The pickup coil is held on to the plate with this funky black "Y" shaped spring.

 This is the advance plate. I've welded up the slots on the plate to control mechanical advance. After welding the slots I file them to dial in the desired mechanical advance. This is sometimes a trial and error endeavor. I probably won't know the optimum mechanical advance until the engine is running,so additional welding/filing may be necessary. But we're in the ballpark. The advance plate is retained on the shaft by a "U" shaped clip accessed with a needle nosed pliers.

 After ditching the heavy factory springs,I lubed the mechanical advance weights with light grease and installed the new lightweight springs.With the modified advance plate installed you can see how the mechanical advance will be limited.This will insure full mechanical advance at around 2500 to 3000 rpm.

 With Pickup and plate assembly,Vacuum advance and reluctor wheel all reinstalled It was time to set the air gap adjustment on the pickup coil. Using a brass feeler gauge set the gap to between .008 and .010. Now install the cap and rotor.

Heres the finished product installed in the engine.

 This is the venerable Mopar Performance "orange box" ECU. These provide reliable spark up to 6000 rpm which is safely in our operation parameters. But buyer beware: Chrysler has outsourced production of these units to China years ago and since then quality control has been sketchy. Some have lasted while others have failed after only a few hundred miles. Make sure your ECU is grounded and as far away from engine heat as possible.

How a resurrection really feels

 The garages and shops across america are littered with unfinished project cars. Invariably these cars are owned by "Someday Guy". You know the guy, He always says stuff like "Someday she'll run" or "Someday she'll be good as new" He always talks big but never finishes anything. I hate "Someday guy" and my 1973 Pontiac Ventura has been making me sound dangerously close to "Someday Guy" recently. I bought the Ventura on October,17 1993 for $2,200 It was my first car. My dad fronted me the money which I paid him back in weekly $20 installments. Back then my Pontiac was poop brown with a 350 two barrel Pontiac engine. It was a low-option "stripper" model with no A/C,power steering or power brakes,Like a real musclecar,even if it didn't really have a musclecar engine. I drove it in that configuration throughout high school racking up speeding tickets and bald tires from excessive "power braking". After graduation I purchased a 1970 Dodge Challenger with a 4-speed 440 six-pack combo. As I turned my attention to my new mopar I began to neglect the Ventura.South Dakota winters are brutal on vintage sheetmetal and eventually the constant barrage of  road salt started to show on the lower quarter panels. Then after a close encounter with a bridge the Ventura became less of a head turner and more of an eyesore. I enrolled at Southeast tech in the Auto Body program,and in November of 1997 my much neglected pontiac entered the shop to go under the knife. I ended  up replacing both rear quarter panels,outer wheelhouses and trunk extensions. The Ventura returned home in primer and still needing tons of work,Everything was worn out and needed to be replaced, I rebuilt both front and rear suspensions and upgraded the front brakes to discs. The 350 two barrel was yanked in preparation of a more powerful 400 cubic inch Pontiac engine. Then life happened,A couple crazy girlfriends and a home purchase put a hurt on my finances,By the time I recovered,my interest had waned and I wasn't sure if it was ever going to be finished. honestly for several years I didn't care if it ever got finished. The only thing keeping me from selling it was the fact that I could never recoup my investment (restoring a Pontiac Ventura isn't very financially lucrative) I turned my attention to some of my other project cars,and as I started making progress I began to warm up to the idea of working on the Ventura again. I still had a basement full of new parts for the car so it only made sense to forge ahead. Recently I finally got it painted and installed the interior,The engine is currently at the machine shop and I'm giddy at the thought of having a running engine finally.So now It's 2011 and I've owned the car for almost 18 years,With renewed ambition and fear of being "someday guy" I'm optimistic for the first time in a long time of resurrecting my first car. The plan at this point is to have a retro theme with the car. I've collected lots of vintage speed equipment over the years and I would like to use them on the car. With six cars in my fleet it's easy for one of them to get lost in the shuffle.I hope to make sure the Ventura never gets ignored again.

Done! Done! Done!

I can't believe it's done! It took twice as long (60 days) and cost twice as much (don't ask) as I thought and the results aren't that bad. Everything went wrong with this project,It had way more rust than I thought,I got a chunk of metal in my eye,My air compressor had a massive meltdown which necessitated a hasty trip to sears to procure a replacement. The biggest problem was most autobody supply stores are closed on weekends which was when I did most of the work,So if I ran out of anything I was screwed.Auto parts stores carry a limited selection body supplies.The final night of painting culminated in a 17 hour thrash.
It took me a day to put everything back together,The drivers side door received a new handle and inside latch since the originals were wasted.The front side marker light lenses are NOS chrysler (I was to lazy to clean up the originals). Installation of the windshield was the one task I hired out.The wheels are 15x8 Cragar soft 8 with Nexan 31x10.5x15 tires,these were the one splurge I made on the project. In my lifetime I've owned five Dodge trucks with this body style and they were all huge piles of crap,I'm glad I finally have one thats nice.Theres still a laundry list of small things to take care of,But I think I'm just gonna drive it and be happy.

1976 Dodge Powerwagon

The Box is painted

  I spent much of Friday morning wet sanding the box with 400 grit. It probably needed to be block sanded one more time,It was as straight as it was going to get. I spent much of the afternoon cleaning the garage. Having a clean shop is always an added bonus to painting a vehicle.I now have the entire weekend to work on the doors which are kinda rotten.The goal is to paint the cab next weekend and be done. I can't wait.

How to apply factory decals

I wanted to add a custom touch to the powerwagon rebuild. I always liked the mopar musclecars with the blacked out hoods like the A12 roadrunners and superbees. I had some leftover Dupont Chroma base black from a previous project,So I used it to paint a spare truck hood I had laying around and bought some 440 decals from Phoenix Graphics. These were originally used on a 1970 Charger.

The first step of course is clean the hood.Even though the hood was painted two days ago it was already covered in sanding dust. I used PPG DX330 wax and grease remover to clean the area of application.

Application gel is used to temporarily deaden the adhesive so the decal can be moved.

The low-tech alternative is soapy water,It'll do the same thing

After glopping on some application gel I pulled the wax backing from the decal exposing the adhesive.After some careful measuring I laid down the decal.....no turning back now.

Using the supplied squeegee I started to work  the gel toward the edges and trying to get out all the air bubbles.

After working out the bubbles I waited an hour to remove the premask decal.It's best to pull gently at an angle.There was still some air bubbles that I worked out with the squeegee.

There ya go! '70 charger decals on a '76 dodge powerwagon.



Progress?

With the fender jambs painted I tore off the front clip in record time.I have a new bumper so the one in this photo is on its way to the scrap yard

I fought the aftermarket (made in china) fender getting it to fit right,I ended up taking out all the shims and giving it a few "love taps" with the rubber mallet.I also installed the hood with some help from Tucker.

The Box is close to being ready for paint. After spraying several coats of primer/surfacer and block sanding with 220 grit sandpaper on a longboard It's actually straight (sorta).