73 Ski Nautique - Distributor Problems

Summit has several spring kits available

Mr Gasket

Advance springs for a Mallory YL type distributor are next to impossible to find.

Mallory used to make a kit with a bunch of springs but it isn't made by anyone anymore.

Mallory changed ownership a few times and right now I don't think they are in business.

The kit Hollywood linked is for a GM Delco Remy distributor and may or may not work for you.

"May not" is the most probable answer because those springs are a lot different than the Mallory YL springs.

You can also find an advance spring kit advertised by Summit, etc. for Mallory YH and YT distributors but they are a lot lighter springs than the YL due to different flyweights (lighter flyweights}

You best bet is probably a good hardware store with a selection of small springs like that to pick and choose from. My local true value has a good selection, I don't know if they all do though

KenO

Looks like a Palmer (by thermo-electron) that someone painted blue. Shares some marinization parts with conquerer-crusader of that era (71-74), also by thermo-electron.

I contacted MSD a few days ago no help. Thank you to everyone who has replied so quick! I'll try out some local hardware stores. Does anybody know what engine this is?

Great insight Ken,

Is it just me, or does that engine look narrow at the intake more like a 302 to anyone else as well?

Just from a lousy experience trying to find these springs a while back.

It's not just you, I thought it looked skinny too but the distributor number YL-554FV says it's a 351.

I think I agree with TRB based on the picture.

KenO

Is there any other numbers or maybe different pictures I can take to determine exactly what engine this is? I really appreciate everyone's help.

These places to look come to mind..

Snap a picture on the block/intake near the base of the distributer near its hold down clamp.. The added deck height of the 351 causes a lip of iron about an inch high to mate with the intake across the block valley.

or, the distance from the head/block interface to the water pump inlet on both sides of the front of the engine will demonstrate the taller deck nicely.

Hey everyone. I gotta update.
I measured across the intake bolts centerline to center line and it was 9 1/4. So 351.
Next there's a small tag that has a serial number and model number.
First off on the tag it says Thermo Electron Engine Corp
Serial Number is either, 7915173 or 79/51/73
Model Number is PA255 R
On the valve cover is say mfg by Thermo Electron Group, Detroit Michigan. Model 255 Horse Power.

In my original post I said my springs were broken. I peak in the cap and thought they were. I pulled out the distributor today and took it apart. The springs are not broken, however one was very weak, and the other had no tension, to the point when not advance the spring can almost fall off.

My problem I have right now, is when I go to take off from dead stop to pull a rider up I have little power. Not like it used to. When the boat finally gets going it's like a power band. So no low end power. Plenty on the top end. When this first I took the boat out after sitting all year and this problem occurred, in addition I started to bog out. From time to time. So I advanced the timing on the water and it ran a bit better. From there i did points, condenser, plug wires and plugs. Then reset timing back to 10 degrees. Took boat back out same issue. No power bogged down time to time. Advanced timing on water again and boat ran better but no low end power. Brought boat home, checked timing to see how much I advanced it it was at about 20 degrees or so. I checked for slop in timing chains. There was none, so at this point I thought it was something to do with the timing advancing. I looked into the distributor and thought they were broken but as I said before one spring was weak and the other had no tension to the point of being about to almost fall off but then when you tried to advance is manually the spring picks up and works right at the very end of the throw.
I apologize for the long post. I really appreciate everyone's help. And I'm hoping this is going to fix it. Tell me what you guys think, and if there's any place I get springs with the info I gave everyone or a place I can get an electronic distributor.
Thanks again, Dustin

As far as your timing goes it does sound like it is the cause of your lack of low end power.
You can check this by hooking up the timing light and watching your timing as you idle then check and record what you have at 1,000 RPM, 1,500, 2,000, 2,500, 3,000 and 3,500, You should also check at 4,000 just to make sure it is not still advancing. You should see the timing mark move smoothly from idle to whatever RPM it stops advancing at.
If your idle Timing is 10 degrees you should see it advance smoothly as you accelerate and it should stop advancing somewhere between 2,800 and 3,500 RPM. They all vary.
At Max advance it should be close to 35 degrees advanced. Plus or minus 2.
If your advance gives you this you can fine tune to make it run great.
If not you really need springs to fix this.
My brother had a 1988 Supra with the same 351W, he was having hard start issues and the distributor needed a rebuild so we purchased a aftermarket distributor, I think it was only $100. or so but used the Ford Base with a GM HEI top. It was a tight fit but worked great and fixed his issues.   The HEI gives a very good spark for a strong start and great idle.   His was reverse rotation but I don't remember if I needed to switch the drive gears from the old distributor to the new one. These are not high end distributors but for a boat where the RPM never goes over 5,000 it was a good fit and upgrade. Parts for the GM HEI are available everywhere.
I switched my Malibu to an HEI and ran it for 18 years, my buddy did his first and it is still running in his boat and then we did my brothers and it worked well.
These are much larger in diameter than the Ford/Mallory distributor so look at all your accessories and thermostat housing to see if one could work before buying it.
You would probably need 3/4 inch clearance around your current distributor to consider this one. These would not be a sealed spark arresting Marine approved unit at this price.

I'll get a picture up tonight. The advance doesn't return. The light spring doesn't return and the second spring is so loose that it doesn't come into play until the last 1/16 of the curve. The pivots for advance move but get stuck they feel a bit rough I lubed them up now they are moving well. I'm going to hardware after store and I'll take some pictures and show you all if I can get this thing fixed. Thanks again!

Never thought I would have a need for one of these again. (distributor machine)

KENO wrote: dustinb wrote: And keno that's exactly what the inside of mine looks like. Aside the heavy spring isn't really connected It's hard to see in the picture, but the spring ends on both are not round, more of an oval. The big spring has no tension on it till engine RPM's are high enough that you're near the end of the advance curve. Looks like it just loosely flops around when you're looking at it right now. Just to throw out a number as an example, it might be 2400 RPM before that big spring has any tension on it and does anything at all, at which point it's slowing down the rate of advance with full advance at around 3000 or so. KenO

Here's a picture of some Mallory YL springs for reference.

You can easily see the shape of the ends