Distributor Corrosion

[69.roadrunner]

Any advice on how to get rid of corrosion on an MSD billit distributor? I read articles and found it is common with fixes from drilling a hole in the cap , re-gapping the plugs (to .45), to replacement caps. Did anyone find any fix to be a best solution?

other info...I have a 2 yr old MSD dist, with an MSD 6AL and Blaster coil on a 1976 440 engine in a 1969 roadrunner. I don't know the specs on the engine when it was re built and know the engine was typically a low compression, however the car runs 14 sec flat 1/4 mile with 3.23 street tires. 13's with 3.90 gears. Point is...the engine has some decent power . Thanks

 

[Meep-Meep]

I've run either the stock or old Mallory distributors and never had a corrosion issue that was so bad that I would notice it, but I have seen some evidence of corrosion on plenty of cars over the years. Ozone is produced in the cap because of high voltage discharge and is very reactive. Venting is a good option and maybe spraying the bare aluminum with WD40.

 

[Mesopic]

Can we get some photos of where the corrosion your talking about is?
Are we talking about corrosion on the metal points cause i use a bit of emery paper, or just regular sand paper fixes it pretty quickly.

 

[69.roadrunner]

thanks for the reply and advice. I appreciate it

- - - Updated - - -

i will get some pics. It was so bad a few months ago, i was almost stalling due to the misfires. I had a mechanic clean up the distributor so now it does not look bad. I will still send when I can. After he cleaned and filed the parts , the car ran great for a few times and now i feel a "misfire" like hesitation on take offs only.
Thanks for responding.

 

[69.roadrunner]

Here are some pics i took today. I noticed a small hole in the top of the cap that had a black plug. Do you know if the plug can be removed to allow the excess ioniztion to escape?

 

[Dako]

Blow the inside of that cap and dist. out with some compressed air. You have a bunch of residual 'debris' left from when your mechanic 'cleaned things up'. Is your hesitation a misfire or maybe an accelerator pump in the carb gummed up?...if it stumbles, but quickly recovers, then I would be looking at the carb. Ol' racers will say: Most electrical problems tend to be fuel related, while most fuel problems tend to be electrical related...

Good luck with the troubleshooting!

 

[RustyRatRod]

Looks like those two lock nuts are rusting up and causing rust to get everywhere. I would begin by taking it down, cleaning everything up good. Then replace those two nuts with a couple of stainless lock nuts. If the piece they hold down is rusted as well, clean it up and paint it. Be careful though. It MAY need to be grounded on the distributor body. If it does, make sure to leave the under side unpainted.

 

[69.roadrunner]

Thanks to all for the feedback and advice! I'll let you know what happens

 

[69.roadrunner]

So I swapped out the msd dist with a stock just to see if the dist is the issue. Before I do, is it a must to go tdc on # 1 plug? Or will I mess up the timing?