distributor issues

Hello, just joined today, been a long time lurker though.I have a problem that has me baffled right now.
I have a 302 with a Prestolite distributor that ran good with points in it. I decided to put a Pertronix conversion in it so leaving the distributor installed in the boat so as not to affect the timing, I took out the points plate, then removed the points cam and the attached plate that seems to be a limiter for how far the weights can travel. This was due to the weights and springs being really ugly and rusty looking. Soaked them cleaned them up and reinstalled everything.
Put in the Pertronix and it wouldn't start but had plenty of spark. Having read various peoples comments about Pertronix, I assumed it must be bad and reinstalled the points only to have the same issue of good spark but no start.
Tried a small shot of starter fluid and nothing but a backfire out the carb.
It seems as though the timing is off by a lot but it shouldn't have changed since the distributor was never moved.
I don't have much experience with a Prestolite distributor so my question is what could I have done to cause this? Or why would this happen?
Thanks for any help I can get.

Hi Cyclone

When you took the points cam and the slotted plate off to remove the weights and spring did you note the way it was installed and put it back oriented the same way?

If you put it back the same way the timing should not have changed.

On these Prestolite's it can be put back together 180 degrees out real easily if you don't pay attention.

If that's the case your timing will be 180 degrees off and the thing ain't gonna run if you empty a whole can of starting fluid into it.

You mention a backfire out the carburetor so I'll guess this is your problem.

You can put the engine at TDC with #1 cylinder on the compression stroke and see if the rotor is pointing at the #1 plug wire terminal or if it's pointing at #6 instead.

If it's ponting at #6, then you know your problem.

To fix it, just remove the cam and slotted plate assembly and rotate it 180 degrees and reinstall it making sure the pins fit in the slots again, then you'll be firing #1 when it's supposed to be firing on the compression stroke and the engine should make some familiar running noises.

Here's a fairly ugly picture of the cam and plate and since the rotor only fits one way due to the flat on the shaft, you can see that lifting that off of the weights and turning it 180 degrees will aim the rotor 180 degrees different also.

I'd start it up with the points setup since they were working before you had the problem and assuming it works, then swap to the Pertronix unit after that

Oh almost forgot, isn't it  fun with that little clip that holds the cam and plate on the shaft   

    

Keno Thanks for the information or maybe I should say Thanks very much for figuring this out. After reading your post I realized that I just stuck the cam and plate back on without thinking about any orientation so I had a 50 percent chance of getting it right..
I went out to the garage and sure enough after getting the engine to TDC with cylinder 1 on it's compression stroke the Rotor was pointing to clylinder 6's terminal.
Feeling kinda dumb and happy at the same time I swapped it around and tried a start with the points installed and it fired right up
Only ran it for a second or 2 since I had no water hooked up to it.
Tomorrow I'll pull it outside and hook a hose up to it and run it, then put the Pertronix kit back in and see how things are.
Once again Thanks for the explanation and yes that little clip is no fun at all.Hard way to learn something about these distributors
Darrell

Agreed...makes me remember last May when Ken came to our rescue regarding our distributor. It was, and is still, much appreciated! As is the help from all others on this site.

After a little work this morning the boat has the Pertronix installed per their instructions and everything is good and I'm a little smarter now
Thanks again Darrell

All right..............enough of the cheers or whatever.

It just comes with experience

And experience is directly proportional to the number of things you screw up

So................... I have quite a bit of experience

And I did the same thing Darrell did a number of years ago

You gotta admit Darrell gave a good description of his problem instead of whining that he put in a Pertronix unit and it totally screwed things up. Nothing at all to do with the Pertronix.

And by the way Darrell, good job on the description and the fix.

I know a little bit about that distributor.

I have one and you're right there's not much info out there.

It came along after the YL series and the biggest difference was the mechanical advance flyweights and springs. The weights and springs are a lot lighter and it's really hard to find any of those parts even used, because they weren't made for a whole bunch of years like the YL series was.. It was replaced pretty quickly it seems by the YH series with a better advance mechanism according to the Mallory people.

To me they're hard to work on as far as the weights and springs go but the rest is like a YL as far as tuneup parts and for electronic conversions like a Pertronix Ignitor.,

I don't think you'll find the YS 554 listed in anybody's catalog these days but I have a Pertronix unit in the one I have, it's an Ignitor ML-181 (or the 9ML-181 Ignitor 2 also fits)

Any other questions, ask away

Good luck with it

Keep the advance mechanism clean and it should treat you well.