Need Help to ID a Distributor

[Bob P.]

I have a distributor that was on my '66 427/425 that I need help with identifing what it is. When I purchased the car the TI system had been removed and from what I could tell the original distributor was taken off of the car as well. The distributor doesn't have an ID tag on it, so I can't rely on this to help ID it. The only thing I can tell you is that it is a tach drive distributor, it has what appears to be either a 81 or an 18 cast into the shaft below the shoulder that seats against the intake manifold. On that same shaft below the shoulder and on the opposite of the tach drive, there is a hole towards the top and a hole towards the bottom of the shaft. At the very bottom of the shaft in the bottom shoulder just above the gear, the shoulder has a notch machined into it. The vacuum advance that came is marked with a 201 and 15. Underneath the distributor cap on the plate the points mount there is a part number 2769047. That's about all I can tell you. Thanks for your help!0909121824b.jpg0909121825.jpg

[William C.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

First question, is there a hole in the bottom of the housing where the tach drive gear resides? That item was introduced in 1968 to retain the plastic thrust washer that was added in that year. Otherwise the differences between engines and years are in the advance slot, and the part number is stamped on the bottom of the weight plate. the breaker plate is standard for all single point applications, the cam on the top of the mainshaft will usually have a stamped number on it and the length of the slot in the plate that is part of the cam assembly is the major factor in determining the part number for the finished distributor.

[Bob P.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

If your referring to a hole just under the the tach drive there isn't one there. But there are 3 holes in the bottom of the cast housing that allows entry into the area where the points are. One I believe is for a wire to go up to the points and condenser. The wire has a plug on it to fill the hole once the wire is inserted into the housing. The other two holes are much smaller and I'm not sure if they are used for anything. The cams of the number 37 stamped into them. What I think your calling the weight plate has the number 724 and CCW stamped into it. Not sure what the advance slot is or where it is located??

[David L.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

The "MS 201 15" (GM # 1116201) vacuum advance was used on 1962-1964 models. As per Chevrolet Parts History (over the counter parts) GM # 1116201 was replaced with GM # 1116163 in January 1965. Assuming the "MS 201 15" vacuum advance is original to the distributor I would say the distributor was of the 1962-1964 vintage.

I once owned an early 1963 Corvette distributor with "1111024 2J20" tag (September 20, 1962) with a "41" casting number (1/4" size digits) on the housing. I have also seen an early 1964 Corvette distributor with "1111024 3K23" tag (Oct. 23, 1963) with a "31" casting number.

What is the number stamped on the small "football" on the top of the shaft and the number on the cam?

My 1966 Corvette distributor with "1111153 6A10" tag (Jan. 10, 1966) does not have a 2-digit casting number on the housing. The number on the "football" is "208W" and the cam is stamped "532 CCW".

Dave

[Bob P.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

What I think your calling the cam, which is shaped kinda like a hook and there are 2 of them, has the number 37 stamped into it. There is a number 724 and CCW stamped into the bottom of the plate that cam's mount too. Does that help?

[William C.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

Those are the weights, the cam is the unit that the weights set on, it will have a number stamped into the bottom side. The '201 vacuum advance is usefull only with a hydraulic lifter engine and was discontinued from service before 1968. Likely from a '63-64 250-300hp engine.

[Bob P.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

I believe what your referring to has the number 724 and CCW stamped on to it?

[Wayne M.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

If your referring to a hole just under the the tach drive there isn't one there. But there are 3 holes in the bottom of the cast housing that allows entry into the area where the points are. One I believe is for a wire to go up to the points and condenser. The wire has a plug on it to fill the hole once the wire is inserted into the housing. The other two holes are much smaller and I'm not sure if they are used for anything. ......

Yes, the larger hole is for the rubber grommet retaining the ground wire from the points to the negative terminal on the ignition coil. The other 2 smaller holes you refer to are drilled right thru the housing and threaded on the top side for the screws that hold the vacuum advance arm.

[Bob P.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

Given the additional information. Anybody gotbody got an idea of what this distributor is?

[William C.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

Still a '62-63 hydraulic lifter version from here...The '201 vac can was not used on any of the SHP engines and not at all after '63 as far as I can tell because it was only suitable for a distributor with an engine that pulled high vacuum at idle. Anyone else???

[Wayne M.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

If your referring to a hole just under the the tach drive there isn't one there. .....

Bob -- the hole that Bill C. is referring to is the one at the opposite the end of the tach drive gear. See pic below; the two distib's on the right have the hole (which anchors a nylon thrust button installed from the inside). The presence/absence of this hole will closely nail the time the housing was machined. One on extreme right has a band dated '0_J_3' (Sept 1970). I used to have a points distrib dated 0_B_23 (Feb 1970) which did not have the drilled hole. I believe the consensus (from many previous threads) is that the hole appeared in production with distributors dated in the spring/summer of 1970. The 2 distrib's on the left [with no drilled hole] are Feb 1968 and March 1964 (R to L).

[William C.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

Based on your description, about a 95% chance it is a 1111024, 1963-64 250-300hp version.

[Mike Z.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

Great input from all, but here is my couple of cents worth. Your 66 425HP engine would have originally come with an #093 TI distributor. TI was a required co-option on the 425HP, and a regular option for 390 & 350HP. The #093, like all BB units from 65-67 had a unique housing, which had a partial filled lower groove, just above the lower cam gear. The vac canister that the #093 used was a #360. You did not show a pic of the top of the mainshaft "football", which the shape would have told us if it is a HiPo shaft.
So, what do you have? The housing tells me: 68-late BB-70, or 63-70 SB , because it does not have the partial fill of the early BB and it does not have the drill hole in back of the tach coupler (about 3rd week of March-earliest date I have seen the drill hole, and agrees with the late Feb engineering date on blueprint copies I have). The #201 vac was used on several BB and SB applications i.e., 67-69 435HP, 70 LT-1, 68-69 Z-28 etc., etc., but I do not believe prior to 67 based on blueprints-but it ain't correct for your application. The comment re: the advance slot is true, but since your unit has points, and probably always has had points, rather than TI with a pole piece vs. a cam piece.
I suspect, the owner had problems with the TI (most likely the Amp and in particular the germanium transistors), so they switched over to points-I see this all the time and we put together complete or partial systems, as we carry everything needed for the system. To see detailed pictures and read more details regarding this P/N and similar units, you can check out my E-Bay listing #200855086337. Please note I am not soliciting a sale or business-I offer the listing information, as I can not fit all my comments and pictures on this forum regarding the correct distributor for your car.
Thanks,
Mike

[Duke W.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

The 201 15 VAC was used on '62 250, 300 HP engines, and '63, 250, 300, and 340 HP engines. It did not work well on the 340 HP because that engine's idle vacuum was less than the 15" it took to pull the 201 to the limit and hold it there. The result was idle instability and stalling.

Different VACs were used on '64 engines.

Even though the 201 was replaced in service parts, it was OE on '65 L-78, and '67-69 L-71. It can cause idle instablily problems on L-78, but all three year L-71s used ported vacuum advance, so the 201 is not an issue unless they are converted to full time vacuum advance, which requires the installation of a 12" VAC to be successful.

Of course, the above were all TI, and I assume the OP is talking about a single point. Didn't the '62 single point distributors have an oiling port for the upper bushing? If so, hat should help narrow it down to '62 or '63.

Duke

[William C.]

Re: Need Help to ID a Distributor

OK guys, just for fun, I put together a spreadsheet with all the vacuum advance art numbers at least thru the early 70's along with the references I used to compile them. I can't seem to be able to upload the excel file here, but if anyone want's it, drop me an email. The most usefull part is I have multiple sources identified for the information, Delco Remy and others.