1968 Chrysler LM318 Distributer |
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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Posted: January-02-2007 at 8:36am |
I want to order a pertronix igniter electronic ignition for the Barracuda. The distributer has - Chrysler 2444983, 1 BM-4109-A 4 8 - written on the ID tag. What is the make of this distributer? Any ideas? Thanks, Jim B.
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boat dr
Grand Poobah Joined: June-27-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4245 |
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barr, from the data tag, i would venture to GUESS that may be a MoPar,or OEM dist.A Mallory or Prestolite would have a different tag............boat dr
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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Dr., Thanks for the response . Having never messed with any of these distributers, I did not know if they were OEM or rebadged by chrysler. Thanks,JimB.
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backfoot100
Platinum Member Joined: January-03-2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1897 |
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If the ID tag says Chrysler, that's what it is. That's a pretty old distributor so there is a possibility that that particular distributor doesn't have a electronic conversion kit for it. I had a Mallory dist. in my boat and it just happened to be one of two models that did not have a kit available for. I checked with Pertronix, Accel, and Mallory. I even called Mallory and they offered to make up a conversion kit with parts that they could find laying around the shop. The only problem is that I had to take out the dist. and ship it to them. If I ended up having any problems with it, I would have to pull it out and ship it to them again. I decided to purchase a MSD dist. and ignition setup and I just put that in. It was more pricey, but I was doing other work on the engine at the time and it made more sense for me to be able to get parts and be able to fix it myself instead of making the boat unusable for a couple weeks at a time if I ever had an issue. Definitely worth every penny and no headaches of changing out points, condensers and anything else a$$ociated with a point distributor. Whatever you have to do to make the conversion, DO IT!!!!
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The Lake
Platinum Member Joined: May-13-2005 Location: Lk Winnebago MO Status: Offline Points: 1157 |
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Barr, I have the same make and year engine in my Nautique. I found the conversion kit at Maryville Marine (810-364-7653) Their item # IG-1581
I was told, and I really am ignorant about this stuff, but I was told my distributor was manufactured by IBM. But, the conversion kit works great for me! Chuck |
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65 'cuda
Platinum Member Joined: July-12-2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Status: Offline Points: 1091 |
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I have the same distributor on my chrysler, I called pertronix and they gave me the same model number 1581 for the ignitor and 91581 for the ignitor II.
I'm replacing the points with the ignitor II, the coil, the wires and the plugs. I'm hoping it helps, the existing plug wires are original equipment, manufactured 4th quarter of 1964! If you give me a week or two I'll be able to tell you if the module fits in the distributor, I ordered the parts yesterday. |
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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Thanks for the responses. 65 Cuda ,please keep me informed, I apprieciate the help. Jim B.
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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65'Cuda, have you installed the ignitor 2 kit yet? What do you think of it? Thanks,Jim B. `
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65 'cuda
Platinum Member Joined: July-12-2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Status: Offline Points: 1091 |
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No, sorry I have not, I did get to work on the boat a little yesterday. I installed the Bilge blower. There is just NO room in these old boats. I spent way to much time trying to route the 3" dryer hose, but its in. Tip for the day: use dash switches that go into round holes (you can't get them in crooked that way!) I'll be doing more next weekend, Plugs, wires and ignitor are next.
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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I ordered and received my pertronix unit.When I took apart the old distributer I found excessive shaft bushing wear(max shaft movement according to the manual is.006", mine had .010"). I think I'm going to return the pertronix module and trade for a new complete pertronix Flame Thrower billet marine distributer unit.I'll post the results when the job is complete. Jim B.
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79nautique
Grand Poobah Joined: January-27-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 7872 |
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If you didn't want to buy a new one you could replace the bushing that is in it and that well remove the play in the shaft it's not very hard to do at all if you want I can waly you threw the procedure.
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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79, Sounds like a plan, let me check on parts availablity/prices and get back to you. I'd much rather save the money and spend it on other areas of the boat. Jim B.
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79nautique
Grand Poobah Joined: January-27-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 7872 |
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well you need to check on a couple of things first before you get all hog wild. First your going to have to pull the dist and then the shaft out of it to make sure it's not eat up and still can be re-used. then you'll need to mic the shaft and the bushing in the upper and lower section of the Dist base to figure out which one is worn out or just replace both. next you'll have to pull the bushing/bearing in the housings use a lifter puller to get them out or a long bunch and drive them out. Once you have then out then you need to measure the OD and length and the OD of the shaft. Once you get this far let me know and I'll guide you the rest of the way, your still going to want that conversion kit tho
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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I checked with what i consider a good parts source and they tell me the bushing kit has been discontinued (does'nt mean none exist ,just harder to find). I have a few other sources and will check to see if they can help. I also was going to replace the springs on the mechanical advance, believe it or not, they cost $24.00. I'll disassemble the distributer as you suggested, mic the parts, and check my other sources for the bushing kit. Might just be easier to replace the thing and get it over with, we'll see. Thanks,Jim B.
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79nautique
Grand Poobah Joined: January-27-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 7872 |
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replacing might be the end route, But if you have reamers or a small hone you can get any bushing that matches up on the OD then ream and/or hone the ID to size to fit the shaft. The home improvement sotres usually will have some or a decent auto parts store will too.
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Gary S
Grand Poobah Joined: November-30-2006 Location: Illinois Status: Offline Points: 14096 |
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Also check your phone book for some speed shops or engine rebuilders, they are used to doing this work and if your lucky, they'll have a distributor machine to check out the advance.
79- It sure is getting hard to find those decent auto parts stores,here in the suburbs of Chicago,those auto parts "box stores" are running the mom and pop stores out,just like walmart does in their field.You know what happens next,"it's not in the book sir, so it can't be done" |
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79nautique
Grand Poobah Joined: January-27-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 7872 |
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hear ya gary That's why I try to have the part info before I go into these places. Some still try and look it, "well I have to use are part numbers to locate it"
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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Looks like the best way to go is total replacement of the distributer, thanks all for the suggestions and offers of assistance . Jim B.
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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The latest info on my disributer replacement is the Pertronix mopar marine replacement distributer ,according to the pertronix tech rep, will not work on right hand rotation engines( although the replacement pertronix module alone will). Also, to follow up on my original question reguarding the original manufacturer of my distribter (which was marked Chrysler and IBM) turns out to be Prestolite. I found this out when I attempted to obtain a bushing replacement kit,which has been discontinued. However , in my search for an answer to my delema, I ran across a Chrysler engine shop that rebuilds the original prestolite distributer and installs a prestolite electronic ignition module. Cost is about the same as the Mallory replacement distributer(about 300 bucks) and is reputed to be more reliable. I think I will go with this system. The shop is Murley Marine in Fairhaven,Michigan. Anyone have any experience with this shop? Any info on the shop or ignition sysem would be greatly apprieciated. Thanks ,Jim B.
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79nautique
Grand Poobah Joined: January-27-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 7872 |
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All you have to do is swap gears on a stand roation dist with the gear from your rev rotaion dist to make it work
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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79, The prestolite(mopar)distributer does not have a gear on the distributer shaft. The gear that drives the distributer is separate and the distributer shaft is keyed into the top of it. Considering the additional cost to change the gear (if possible), I just as soon go with the modernized original prestolite. Thanks for the suggestion.Jim B.
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79nautique
Grand Poobah Joined: January-27-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 7872 |
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So your saying it's a worm gear instead of a helical gear then? and the wrom gear id machined into the shaft?
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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79, not a worm gear but a drive gear which remains in the engine when the distributer is removed from the engine .The distributer drive shaft has a flat key machined into the end which slides in to the top of the shaft drive gear when the distributer is installed.The distributer drive shaft gear runs off of a gear on the camshaft. Hope that makes sense, I think this setup is detailed in the chrysler manual in the reference section. Thanks ,Jim B.
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79nautique
Grand Poobah Joined: January-27-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 7872 |
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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79, Thanks ,I'll keep a eye on it.JimB.
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THutchins
Newbie Joined: January-06-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Barr68,
Not sure if you've got this resolved but I have dealt with Murley Marine, he helped me track down a new Chrys 318 block for my 65 'Cuda. He actually found a new unused block somewhere in Canada, still in the crate!!! Helped me build up the new engine and did a great job for a reasonable price. Very knowledgeable and would recommend him anytime!! (BTW for those who may doubt that the block was unused or original, I did check it with 3 other good mechanics and they were shocked when they were unable to prove it wrong:-)) Tom |
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barr68
Senior Member Joined: December-09-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 100 |
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Thanks for the feedback. I ended up purchasing a rebuilt prestolite distributer unit with a prestolite electronic module installed from Mike Murley at Murley Marine . Installed the unit and am now in the tuning phase . I will post the results of water testing in a few weeks. Thanks ,Jim B.
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blammie
Groupie Joined: June-27-2010 Location: Toledo Status: Offline Points: 46 |
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Hey Barr,
I know this is kind of an old thread, but... But you never told us how the distributor worked. I'm looking to to the same thing to my 68 Barracuda, and am wondering how you fared. Thinking, I'm not that far from you and could check those guys out if they treated you well. |
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