Dual Pickup Distributor

[dbc105]

I ran across a dual pickup distributor and wanted to know what is the purpose of this other than redundancy in a racing application? I understand in a race car but what is the advantage in a street car?
Thanks,
DC

 

[69Bee]

I have one in my '87 dodge truck. Manual says one pickup coil is used on start, then revert to the other one for run.

 

[pnora]

I ran across a dual pickup distributor and wanted to know what is the purpose of this other than redundancy in a racing application? I understand in a race car but what is the advantage in a street car?
Thanks,
DC

It has to do with timing as most are fixed distributors and the computer does the rest. For most other applications it would be a poor choice. You have to be careful as the are differences in phasing between the reluctor and the rotor.

 

[pnora]

I have one in my '87 dodge truck. Manual says one pickup coil is used on start, then revert to the other one for run.

That's right. There is a little more to the design and function. The start side is held in by either a timer or temperature sensor. Cant remember which. Anyway the timing was change on the cold start and run for better operation and then it switched over to the run pickup for the duration. On the trucks I remember there was a relay that did the actual switching between the two.

 

[dbc105]

Thanks guys, that clears it up. I figured the pickups were 180 degrees apart but it sounds like one pickup is a little retarded so that when it is being used the inital timing is a little lower. I remember years ago I had an Oldsmobile and the HEI module had a timing retard in it and when the starter was engaged the 5 th post on the module either got power or went to ground, either way it would get about a 10 degree retard just when starting.

Thanks,
DC