Distributor woes

[nealf]

Hello all:

I am not sure any of you remember, but several months ago I swapped out my aftermarket distributor (dual point, Roto Faze, Ford Motorsport cap) to a stock Bosch unit. The car, a '70 2800CS ran like a raped ape but sucked down large amounts of fuel. I also discovered a need to rebuild one carb which I did. The car has not run better, in fact it runs worse that before. I wondered if there would be harm in putting it back on assuming it will run well once again.

I just cannot understand why it would run better with an aftermarket dizzy, rather than the one that was designed for it. Maybe whomever set it up knew something? I bought the car 2.5 years ago with no history other than that it was from the West Coast.

Any thought appreciated.

 

[velocewest]

Well, just tossing the points and adding a Pertronix to my 2800CS dizzy made my car run much better. The breaker point distributor in the e9 is obsolete on the order of kerosene headlamps... Pretty much everyone I know who has installed Pertronix, Luminition, Crane, or Mallory ignition has been pleased with the improvement. You can even swap in Bosch breakerless ignition from an e12 with little trouble, it's all junkyard parts.

When I'm done with my Megasquirt install there won't be a distributor any longer, it will have Ford EDIS multi-coil wasted spark ignition.

 

[Honolulu]

Gas consumption not directly tied to your ignition.

I don't believe your stock diz caused the gas consumption problem, more so because you got into at least one carb.

One real possibility is that either or both of your carbs is putting down too much fuel, caused by a failing float needle valve, leaking float, or a cracked or warped carb body. I have a spare set of carbs from another 2800 (4-door) and on both of them, the carb castings don't mate well. Since you have been into the carbs, the first law of What's Going Wrong is to look at what you did last.

Second, you say that the car ran like a raped ape. Well, I haven't raped any apes lately, but you're gonna get performance without significant gas consumption. It just isn't in the math. Energy in = energy out (plus losses).

Third, coupes get crappy gas mileage anyway. You don't say what mpg are you getting, that causes you to complain? You do note that you drive it hard, so maybe you're getting exactly what you, any of us, would expect.