All Small Six Distributor guidance ideas

This relates to all small sixes
6

62falcon wagon

Active member
Okay not new to these engines but since I am reassembling my 200 looking to find best distributor (within $$ feasibility). Been out of the loop for 10 years or so. Can’t find my FP6 handbook. It’s a 62 falcon wagon.

Early 70’s 200 ( from fairmont) approx .10 over cast pistons. (forgot which Chevy engine they can from). Turbo coupe T5( should have gone v8 T5. 1st gear great in parking lots but that’s about it.
1-Stock crank- all moving parts carefully balanced.
2-Stock adjustable rockers from original 144
3-Clay Smith cam, forget specs. Just remember it was a mid range power band first listed grind with “mild lope with decent vacuum and idle”
4-heavily modified head. Target compression was 9.8-1. Full porting per handbook guidelines, oversize stainless valves, log modified to accept 3 air cooled vw type C (shorter for karmen ghia etc) dual port intakes (vw linkage rod mounts fit perfect on top outside header mount bolts) and center log divider with inverted v shaped to promote flow to #3-4 cyl’s. Yes hood had to modified.
5- center intake has Weber 38 idf, thus 1-3 &4- 6 have 1 bbl 38 feeding as primaries.
6- front intake is centered between #1-2 and rear between #5-6 these are on progressive linkage fed by Weber 34 ict’s going from shut (actually cracked open just a fuzz cause it just works better) to open at 1/2 to full throttle.
7- decent fuel rail and regulator set up.
8-dual output header with center port divider with bungs added for wide band afr gauges. Just added bungs and cerakote.

Current distributor is a u pull it large cap with silver box on fender and round coil from a big 6 pickup.
It was running really good before car got parked for years and water got into block. Removed head and cleaned lower end and added some mods and changes to intake. While I am sure it will run good I have had these distributors fail needing a new box in the past on more than 1 occasion and I’m sure there is a bit of power left to be got from a different choice. This set up can return 30+ mpg if driven carefully OR 8-10 mpg when aggressively.
Is a recurved distributor (custom) gonna make me happy I spent the money? This is just a fun-mobile, it will never see any drag strip or competition use. I can probably find +/- $300 if it is reliable, durable and works well. Where do I source such a dist? Or am I dreaming?
 
As a side note, Wow. Cool engine build. I’m not new to engine building and mods but I am new to the Ford 200 and log heads. It would be interesting to see an illustrated breakdown of the top end mods.

I think @aussie7mains has a point about going with something like bosch electric but In terms of readily available distributors, there are some HEI models available. As far as I know, they all use the GM HEI module.

I decided to stay away from the cheap Amazon large cap ones because of reports of oil being pushed up into the cap area.

The one I bought wasn’t “cheap”, it still cost a couple of hundred dollars but like most things, it is made in China (I think). It comes with a spring and bushing kit for 12 to 16 degrees mechanical advance and vacuum advance is adjustable 0 to 10 degrees advance via an allen key through the vacuum diaphragm. Mine is from a company called SwapMeetParts. Their website is offline but they’re on EBay (where I bought mine from). I bought the small cap with external coil. Mine is on a new built engine with plenty of oil pressure and the cap area is dry and free of any signs of oil seepage after many hours of tuning and 200 miles of break in. If I were building another engine, I’d use the same one again. It’s been a solid produce.

You can find it on EBay by searching “Small Cap FORD INLINE 6 170 200 250 RED HEI Distributor + 45K Coil + USA WIRES”

There is also a member on the site who will custom curve distributors based on your spec. I have never discussed this with him and am relatively new myself but I have read plenty of good reviews. I will see if I can find his handle and edit this post.

Edit: member @wsa111 does the distributor curving I believe.
 
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I've had good success with the remanufactured Cardone duraspark units. I have a couple from O'Reilly's. And yes, having a pro like @wsa111 recurve yours will help, probably a LOT.
 
Anyone know if remanufactured DS typically include new center bushing?
Sorry for interrupting but it seems somewhat relevant.
 
The Bosch electronic mentioned by @aussie7mains is available from DSM Motorsport HERE. They do ship to the US, and the price on their site is in $AUS, so with shipping it worked out to about $149 US total. It took them a while (and a reminder email) to ship mine, but once they sent it, it arrived pretty quickly. It's a well-made part, and I dropped it in, wired up a full 12 volts, set the timing, and away I went.

It's not as adjustable as the unit that @awasson mentioned, but I started a thread HERE asking about that same distributor and the general consensus is that it was a crappy Chinese copy of an expensive MSD unit. Sounds like he has had a great experience with it, though, so YMMV.

There are many members here that have had @wsa111 recurve a Duraspark for them and going that route seems to be universally loved.
 
funkaholik said:
The Bosch electronic mentioned by @aussie7mains is available from DSM Motorsport HERE. They do ship to the US, and the price on their site is in $AUS, so with shipping it worked out to about $149 US total. It took them a while (and a reminder email) to ship mine, but once they sent it, it arrived pretty quickly. It's a well-made part, and I dropped it in, wired up a full 12 volts, set the timing, and away I went.

It's not as adjustable as the unit that @awasson mentioned, but I started a thread HERE asking about that same distributor and the general consensus is that it was a crappy Chinese copy of an expensive MSD unit. Sounds like he has had a great experience with it, though, so YMMV.

There are many members here that have had @wsa111 recurve a Duraspark for them and going that route seems to be universally loved.
Click to expand...
Yes, I saw your post about the distributor I have. The Bosch unit you went with seems quite affordable and if that’s what’s being used in AU then it’s definitely got a good testing ground. Plus they’re manufactured in Europe so the metallurgy is likely to be decent quality too. I’d have probably gone with one of those too if I had know about them at the time.

Unfortunately I found your discussion a few months after you had posted it so I wasn’t able to post an informed opinion on the distributor you were questioning. Not that it matters now but I probably could had taken some photos of the unit, circuit board and parts to add some facts to the discussion. As far as I could tell, nobody who commented actually had had their hands on one and I think the consensus was that since it is manufactured in China, then it must be the same as the GM style large cap $59 Amazon version which is known to be troublesome. Oh well, water under the bridge.
 
@awasson Agreed. Everyone tends to jump on the China=junk bandwagon quickly even though they may have no hands-on experience with a product. It's good to hear that you've had a positive experience with this distributor. It's one more option for people who want to upgrade at a reasonable price.
 
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