B/RB vacuum advance source?

I've done several of these conversions. You will need to modify the reluctor to correct a phase discrepency between the rotor and the cap, it amounts to cutting a new relocated keyway in the bore of the reluctor.

For the big block vacuum advance unit try Year One, their part number is NG1025; about $20.

NAPA (Echlin) or any store that carries Standard-BlueStreak. Spend a few minutes with the older-car application catalogue and the buyer's guide; both lines still have a great many different advances for these engines and you should be able to get one that works the way you want it to.

Crane used to make adjustable vacuum advance units for Mopar G/RG, A, and B/RB engines. I just got off the phone with the Crane techline, whereon the guy claimed Crane never made any such a product.

I looked up the advance in the NAPA Echlin line for a '66 Dodge Charger w/383 engine. This pre-smog application would seem a good match for your '62. There are two possibilities listed: VC1165 and VC1175. Here are the specs:

VC1165: Advance starts at 8 to 10 In. HG vacuum

VC1175: Advance starts at 4.5 to 8 In. HG vacuum

No spec is given (rats!) for the total amount of advance these units provide, but that's not a big deal...you can read it right off the pull arm; the number is given in distributor degrees (e.g. "6.5R" or "7X") which you double to get crankshaft degrees (ignore the letter after the number).

You mean like Ebay 4500838245 .

I love how Year One pretends that just one vacuum advance, which *fits* all B/RB single-point or electronic distributors, *works* in all of them.

Hey, Ehrenberg, what's wrong with Stuttgart? (but neat idea anyway)

Well, sure, it'll work. Just how well is the question. Actually if you keep your foot flat to the floor you'll never notice a difference :)

nate

Hi

I believe all elecronic vacuum advances are adjustable so any one WILL work.

Larry

I'd like to know that also. Mopar electronic distributors last FOREVER (no side-load whatsoever on the bushings) except for the vacuum advance. The only way I know to get a new vacuum advance unit is to buy a rebuilt distributor, put its vacuum advance on my old distributor, and throw the "reman" distributor in the attic in case I ever get desparate enough to be forced to use questionable junk some day...

The really sad thing is that whenever I find a junkyard distributor with a vacuum advance that doesn't leak, I grab it and use it and even though it may be nearly 40 years old, it lasts longer than the new cr*ppy ones they put on cr*ppy re-manufactured distributors :-/

Interesting project you've got going, BTW. If you need to re-curve the Mopar unit, there are a lot of different advance springs that have been used over the years. Lightweight springs (fast advance) are easy to come by at speed shops or online, but if you need to slow the advance down you have to go junkyard diving. One interesting thing to note is that stock Mopar setups had one "light" and one "heavy" spring, but the heavy spring had a slotted end hook so it didn't do ANYTHING until the very end of the advance curve. IOW, running two stock "light" springs will actually SLOW the advance curve up to the point where the "heavy" spring would finally kick in, at which point it becomes faster. Not usually a problem, though, as speeding up the curve at the tail end of the curve (higher RPM) generally doesn't cause problems.

Last time I checked, single-point vacuum can doesn't even *fit* in an electronic distributor.

BZZT. That would be a single-point, he needs an electronic distributor. The housings are the same, but the advance mechanisms don't swap because the pivot plate for points differs from the pivot plate for a reluctor. Something like a '72 C-body (440 or 383) would be a good starting point.

If you can actually FIND such an animal for sale retail, let me know!

Sure, if you'd rather spend 40 bucks for something that takes five minutes to do yourself.

"Fits" and "works" are relative terms, since the swap in question requires a little more than bolting parts together, the "fits" is correct; the "works" depends on how fussy one is.

Naw, they aren't. Something fits properly or it doesn't. Something works properly or it doesn't.

Wanting an engine to run properly is not being "fussy".

With that smogger advance curve? Yetch.

I'll get on it.

Huh?!

Pages upon pages upon PAGES of brand new vacuum advances in the Echlin and Standard-Bluestreak catalogues. Applications going back to the '50s and earlier.

Yeah it appears that the Stude advance was set up the same way. Actually this conversion is for sale commercially from one of the Stude parts vendors but I'm chea^H^H^H^Hfrugal and decided to see if I could figure out how he does it rather than spend $300.

Of course, I may come close to that by the time I'm done, but at least I'll have spent lots of time on it and maybe I'll know what I'm doing

nate

Had so. The small changes came in '68; the big change came in '70 and '71.

True, but that does nothing about the vacuum advance curve.

Just in case anyone was wondering, I almost got the electronic conversion together and then went to look at a car for sale:

Oh well, such is life. I suppose I ought to finish it anyway just to prove that I can do it. Thanks for the help, anyways. I did eventually find a parts store that hooked me up with a vacuum unit that fit.

nate

What is G/RG?

Thanks.

Slant six, I believe. I think the 225 had a taller deck, hence RG.

nate

G is the 170 cubic inch slant-6. RG is the 198 and 225 cubic inch slant-6.