Well, our intrepid CO Jim asked for more pics, so here ya go. In this episode, we will examine the workings of an old point-style distributor.

Here is the distributor from a 6 cylinder Healey. Name the manufacturer and get a big "yeah, so?" from the crowd. Identify the Vacuum advance and gain some recognition as a vintage owner. Name the model number and gain instant membership in the Austin Healey Club of America.




Let's take off the cap and look underneath. With the cap and rotor removed, you can see the points (the assembly that includes the red plastic block to the right of the pic) and the condensor (cylindrical object in the foreground)



To tune the car, one would remove the points and condensor to replace them with new units. Here is a pic with these two parts removed.



Most folks stop disassembling here and start installing new parts. But that is not good enough for a restoration. Let's remove the point plate. Pop quiz: What are we looking at now, and what does it do? More points if you can explain how it does it.



Here is another pic with the springs removed.



Next you have to remove the weights and then you can press out the shaft if you need to replace the bushing. Fortunately, mine was in good shape and after cleaning and replacing the electrical parts I could reassemble and then paint the unit engine green.

 

Here is one of hundreds of fun little sub assemblies. This is PART of the hood latch system. There are another 10 or 20 parts that make up the entire system, plus hardware. These have just been sand blasted so I can paint them.



Next we prime them...



And then we spray color



Later I'll try to take and post picks of the first half of this assembly.

 

The exhaust system is made up of 8 major pipe assemblies and hundreds of brackets, mounts, nuts, bolts, washers, and spacers. Here are the mufflers and resonators painted semi-flat black as per original. First I hads to sand blast the surface of the brand new pipes, then paint them.



Here is the front hanger assembly all assemblew and holding the rear of the header pipes. Noter the white panel above the header pipes. That is one of the heat shield panels. The originals were made of asbestos!!!



Here is the middle hanger all assembled and in place.



And this a picture of the mufflers now installed and hanging from the hangers.



Here is a shot of the third hanger.



And here are the rear resonators installed.



The rear-most hanger with resonators and tail pipes installed.



All these parts had to be painted, assembled, test fitted, and reassembled 5 or 6 times before it was right (and that included a trip to a muffler shop to have one of the "pre-bent" pipes rebent a bit).

 

Nice to see the progress, Bill.

 

It's been a long time since I've seen a distributor like that.

Nice paint booth.

 

You are crazy.

 

[QUOTE=Legal Bill,Sep 12 2007, 08:16 PM]


And this a picture of the mufflers now installed and hanging from the hangers.

 

Ah Ha - maybe I got it captured correctly this time

 

Great pictures Bill, I'm amazed at the amount of work. Any pictures of the top side?

 

I was gonna ask how you flipped the car over. So when do I get a ride?