73 Ski Nautique - Distributor Problems
Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Engine Repair
Forum Discription: Engine problems and solutions
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=39212
Printed Date: October-07-2024 at 8:35am
Topic: 73 Ski Nautique - Distributor Problems
Posted By: dustinb
Subject: 73 Ski Nautique - Distributor Problems
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 5:27pm
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Hey everyone. I'm new to this forum. I could really use some help. I'll make this as short as I can. I have a 73 Ski Nautique. It has a Mallory Distributor. PART #YL554FV. The advance springs inside the distributor are broken. I'm looking to either replace the springs, or go with and electronic distributor. The problem is I can't find parts anywhere. I emailed nautiqueparts.com and they couldn't help me out. I sent them pictures of my motor. They said it's not a pcm engine and they were torn between a commander with aftermarket manifolds or an interceptor engine. They advised me to start a forum on here. I'll upload some pictures of the engine. On the valve cover is says correct craft. And it says model 255. If there's anything else I can do to help give more information let me know. Thanks Dustin |
Replies:
Posted By: Hollywood
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 5:29pm
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Summit has several spring kits available https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mrg-928g" rel="nofollow - Mr Gasket 
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Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 5:47pm
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Neither Commander nor Interceptor were options in '73. A pic would be helpful. Like HW said, a Mallory spring kit will fix the problem described. You'll want to verify the timing curve with the option you select. |
Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 5:47pm
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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 |
Posted By: GottaSki
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 5:48pm
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Mr Gasket owns/bought Mallory some years ago, and supports Malloy products,, so don't be to concerned about the branding. ------------- "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing." River Rat to Mole |
Posted By: dustinb
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 6:00pm
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Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 6:01pm
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Mr Gasket owns a whole bunch of companies, MSD is one of them and you can find Mallory support from MSD but I've been unlucky at tracking down springs. MSD's webpage says they're working to bring back the Mallory brand, but it hasn't happened yet. Maybe somebody can find the right spring kit in stock somewhere and post it here. The Mallory part number is 29015 and plenty of places (like Summit for example) list it as not available KenO |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 6:03pm
| 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. |
Posted By: dustinb
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 6:04pm
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Posted By: dustinb
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 6:08pm
| 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? |
Posted By: dustinb
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 6:09pm
| Under the blue paint it looks red |
Posted By: GottaSki
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 6:10pm
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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? ------------- "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing." River Rat to Mole |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 6:13pm
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Yeah I'd vote 302, certainly an option in '73. Red=Palmer. I'd be looking at new distributors. Don't toss the old one (especially the gear!!!). |
Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: July-05-2016 at 6:17pm
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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 |
Posted By: SNobsessed
Date Posted: July-06-2016 at 12:18am
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You might try this guy: http://advanceddistributors.com/wordpress1/" rel="nofollow - Advance ------------- “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Ben Franklin |
Posted By: dustinb
Date Posted: July-06-2016 at 3:47pm
| 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. |
Posted By: JoeinNY
Date Posted: July-06-2016 at 4:02pm
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I think 351 if we are still voting ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1477 - 1983 Ski Nautique 2001 1967 Mustang 302 "Decoy" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO5MkcBXBBs - Holeshot Video |
Posted By: GottaSki
Date Posted: July-06-2016 at 4:46pm
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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. ------------- "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing." River Rat to Mole |
Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: July-06-2016 at 5:00pm
I'm not voting for Hillary or the Donald but as far as the engine goes, along with Gotta Ski's things to look at you can measure across your intake manifold from the centerline of the bolts on one side to the centerline of the bolts on the other. I just measured a 351w and it's about 9 1/4 inches centerline to centerline. A 302 will be somewhere around 7 1/2 or so. Now for the voting I think I'll do a write in vote for Alfred E. Neuman |
JoeinNY wrote:Posted By: dustinb
Date Posted: July-12-2016 at 1:04am
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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 |
Posted By: Gary S
Date Posted: July-12-2016 at 2:11am
Do what Chris suggested, Jeff is a great guy. Pick his brain see if he can help. He mostly specializes on English cars,but I'll bet he works on them all. He did my MGA distributor it looks like new rather than the 57 years it is ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1711&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1966&yrend=1970" rel="nofollow - 69 Mustang HM SS 95 Nautique Super Sport |
Posted By: MrMcD
Date Posted: July-12-2016 at 5:48am
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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. |
Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: July-12-2016 at 9:56am
That sounds like a very good description of a set of springs in a Mallory distributor Here is a picture of the flyweights and springs in a Mallory ford distributor from back then looking pretty much like you describe  Weak red one that controls low speed advance and stronger silverish one that doesn't come into play till near the end of the advance curve |
Posted By: dustinb
Date Posted: July-12-2016 at 6:22pm
| 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! |
Posted By: dustinb
Date Posted: July-12-2016 at 7:03pm
| And keno that's exactly what the inside of mine looks like. Aside the heavy spring isn't really connected |
Posted By: Duane in Indy
Date Posted: July-12-2016 at 7:06pm
Never thought I would have a need for one of these again. (distributor machine) ------------- Keep it as original as YOU want it 1978 Mustang (modified) |
Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: July-12-2016 at 8:11pm
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 |
Posted By: KENO
Date Posted: July-12-2016 at 11:01pm
Here's a picture of some Mallory YL springs for reference. You can easily see the shape of the ends 
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