The vendors should still have rebuilt non-smog recurved distributors in the
box. For all intents and purposes they look like brand-new units. The ones
I bought required a refundable core deposit; return your old distributor
and get the refund. The advantage is that they are pre-gapped and ready to
run once you drop them into the engine. No fuss, no muss. And they cure a
lot of ills if your old distributor drove you nuts.
If you think your existing distributor has a good shaft, bushings, cam and
breaker plate, then yes, you can recurve it yourself at a cheaper price.
But if you're intimidated by the internals of engines and have to do a lot
of guesswork, why not let the vendors have your core and let them get it
rebuilt by the pros.
The list seems divided between pro-points and anti-points people. Best bet - try
an electronic ignition system yourself, and keep the standard ignition points
setup as a fallback that you can switch back to at any time.
Points advantages: easy to manipulate the dwell for optimum performance, cheap
to swap out if it goes bad ($5 to $8).
Points disadvantages: can burn easily if ignition left on while engine is off,
can pit easily if gets contaminated by oil/dirt, wears out over short time
(relative to electronic ignition like Pertronics-types), rubber bumper can wear
resulting in change of timing.
No-points advantages: simple install, no dwell/gap to set or mess with for life
of unit.
No-points disadvantages: cannot set dwell so performance may suffer unless
compensated by hotter coil etc. Unit can fail without warning and is difficult
to figure it out (no visible clues to failures). Much higher cost than standard
ignition points.
Fred - So.SF
http://www.2xtreme.net/fredkatz
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