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That little round piece...is it still in my distributor?
They might be but from the looks of it, they werent used....the deal is...if you look down in the cap....the cap screws up to the bottom of the lid, which is the thing you see on the outside...at the bottom of the holes the wires go in, there is a small area at the bottom and just a little bit up the sides, where the power is transferred from the rotor to the wire....most of the walls are insulated....so you need as much conductor as possible across the bottom of the hole...the little round piece would sit flat in the bottom to do this...they also have 2 verticals, partial sides, that have little cleats that dig into the sides of the wires...they shouldnt come off that easy and it looks like they just werent put on at all.
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Is there anything wrong with running it this way...especially if I just want to start up the engine?
Due to the above info, this probably reduces the spark energy some...if it isnt sealed in there good, vibration from running/driving could be enough to cause a miss in 1 or more cylinders...if they are really loose, even idling could be a pain....something you would have to figure out...if the conductors in the wires are down good in the bottom of the holes with good contact and they wires are pretty snug in the cap and have a good tension holding boot, running it for testing would be fine....driving may be ok too...
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I know it is getto, it sounds getto and I dont know any better. But if it works...
I may be the original source of this mod....back in the earlier days of the Zone, I had done this to my truck and ran it for 2 years that way....I posted a bout it and even bought the pieces for a few people and mailed to them so they could do it...it still to me is the easiest and cheapest way to set the timing on a stock truck....better mileage by a little than with the stock stuff and it was cheaper. I eventually went with the civilian distributor with its vacuum advance which gives an increase in power and mileage...much more than these wires did, but the civvy dist is hard to find...
Bottom line, if done correctly, this will work...it has for me!!
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Oh and do I need to replace all the screws that are missing from the distributor? (you can see what I mean from the picture.
The screws that hold the lid on would be good to replace....another source for water to get in...also due to the way the coil gives power to the distributor...that arm with the spring instead of a wire...the lid should probably be put on nice and evenly in terms of torque...it certainly couldnt hurt...
Glad to help!!
brute4c