Diagnosis and Part Selection Advice:
How did you know this part needed replacement? Why did you choose a certain brand/part number?
The vacuum advance mounting tabs on my old distributor had broken/corroded away. A previous owner had attached the vaccuum advance unit with coathanger wire, but that made ignition timing pretty random.
I wasn't sure if my distributor was "single vacuum" or "dual vacuum" since the pictures looked the same. I ordered "dual vacuum" because it was least expensive (and, if single is good, dual must be twice as good, right?).
Part Comments
What came in the box? Were additional nuts, bolts, sealant, etc. needed for the repair?
The only thing in the box was a distributor.
Turns out the "dual vacuum" distributor has a vacuum port on the top edge of the vacuum motor in addition to the usual one on the front center. My original distirbutor only had one vacuum hose, so I attached it to the front/center port and put a cap on the unused top port.
Repair / Installation tips:
Special tools needed? Have to remove other parts to reach this one? Any left-hand threads, sharp edges, messy fluids or other pitfalls to avoid?
The repair was easy. I:
- Removed the air cleaner (it overhangs the distributor a little)
- Unsnapped the top half of the distributor cap (leaving the wires connected to it)
- Unplugged the electrical connector and vacuum hose from the old distributor
- Noted where the rotor was pointing on the old distributor (made a drawing on a piece of paper)
- Unscrewed the 1/2" hold-down nut at the base of the distributor (after first wiping away as much old engine crud as I could) with a box-end wrench
- Lifted out the old distributor
- Transferred the rotor and bottom half of the distributor cap from the old distributor to the new one (a flat-blade screwdriver was helpful here -- the rotor is a press fit and pulls off; the cap is held on by spring clips)
- Made sure the rotor was pointed in the right direction (according to my drawing) and then lowered the new distributor into the block (it took a little jiggling to get the cam gear to engage)
- Reattached the vacuum line and electrical connector
- Installed the hold-down nut and tightened it finger-tight
- Started the engine and set the timing
- Tightened the hold-down nut
My Lincoln now runs like new!
