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327 Distributor Rotor

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Trog View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: 327 Distributor Rotor
    Posted: Dec/01/2015 at 10:58am
My '66 Ambassador hardtop balked on a test drive with a freshly rebuilt carburetor and now will not start, but I suspect either the condenser or the rotor now. I have spark from the coil to the distributor (albeit orange, not blue) but no spark at all to the plugs. Looking for opinions about the rotor. The rotor contact button off the car is "two-piece" not a solid contact. I previously tried to use a new one of these "two-piece" contacts rotors on my '66 convertible but it did not work. The original rotor off the convertible was a one-piece contact.
The rotor I just pulled off the hardtop shows these two contact pieces pretty close together (maybe 15-30 degrees) whereas the new rotor I previously tried to use on the convertible the two contact pieces are more like 75-80 degrees apart.
Should I avoid this two-contact rotor and try to find a solid contact rotor? Except for these 66s, I have never before seen a rotor with anything other than a solid contact end.


Thanks.


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Trog View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/01/2015 at 11:47am
Additionally I see two types of rotor contact material are offered, brass and aluminum with aluminum about $2.50 more. Any advice there?
Thanks
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gtoman_us View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gtoman_us Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/01/2015 at 12:20pm
I am pretty confident that your distributor is typical of my '64 which is a Delco Remy.  They use all of the standard GM V8 cap, rotor, points and condenser.  Still available at most parts store like NAPA.
 
I have only seen the one type of rotor never a 2 contact but then again I am only a hobbyist and there might have been some odd ball configurations.
 
The pic tells me you are in need of a new one.  Might as well change out the cap, points and condenser while you are at it.
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Trog View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/01/2015 at 2:00pm
Thanks, I did find a NAPA Echlin RR1670 which appears to have just the one standard contact and I plan to get it. The NAPA RR169R and RR169SB are the "two-contact" type. It seems too, among the various universal parts houses, that the contact can come in not only brass and aluminum, but aluminum and tin. I have all the new parts but the rotor and plan to change them all out.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote purple72Gremlin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/01/2015 at 3:09pm
Orange spark? At the spark plug?   How old are the points and condensor? The Delco window V8 distributor all use the same cap and rotor from 1957-74.   Some cap and rotors should be matching sets. Like blue streak, Accell, and others.   There should be a small ground wire bolted to the breaker plate, check that. If the spark is orange at the coil, I sure would take a close look at that condensor.

Edited by purple72Gremlin - Dec/01/2015 at 3:15pm
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Trog View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/01/2015 at 3:37pm
Distributor end of coli wire to metal consistent orange spark; nothing at the plugs. There are a number of variables out there among the NAPA/O'Reilly's/Advance Auto(CARQUEST left overs)including a points/condenser assembly but I opted out of it because one of the screw slot holes was 90 degrees off from the standalone point set. Except for the NAPA Echlin DR1670, all the rotors have that "dual contact" button...maybe that isn't a good term for it, but I used that to distinguish from the normal rotor contact I'm used to. I feel like the condenser is the culprit, but the rotor is just odd. Below is a photo. There is the contact going straight out, but there is another metal underneath, bent at an angle to the one straight out.

Edited by Trog - Dec/01/2015 at 4:01pm
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Trog View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/01/2015 at 3:59pm


Edited by Trog - Dec/01/2015 at 4:10pm
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Lucas660 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lucas660 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/01/2015 at 4:27pm
All of the rotors I have seen have been like this, it is because the end of the rotor it a much heavier material than the spring part that contacts the carbon button in the cap.
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Trog View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Dec/02/2015 at 8:56pm
Guess they made the design change to the after market rotors sometime after 1957 because my '57 Nash also has that single contact style. Today I had to order a "heavy duty" contact point set because the one I tried to use had too much plastic content and too narrow where the wire terminals connect and I just could not get the screw tight enough to hold the terminals.
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