So I've narrowed my issues down to a bad vacuum advance dashpot (the breaker plate was lubed up & moves very smoothly). I can't for the life of me find anyone who supplies the dashpot alone; every place I check says to buy the whole distributor and a new dashpot will be included. Does anyone have any suggestions of a source for new dashpots?? Thanks!

Here's one - http://www.datsunstore.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=advance&x=0&y=0

Type "advance" in the search window if it doesn't come up.

Spendy!

And, weirdly enough, Courtesy Nissan shows the part as available, for a lower price - http://www.courtesyparts.com/advance-va-p-277665.html

Parts number from here - http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsunS30/DatsunZIndex/Electrical/Distributor/240Z/ForManual/FromSep71/tabid/1633/Default.aspx

Looks like this might fit, I'm surprised that other Datsun models aren't listed. Any thoughts?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370643483078&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

Other than single vs. dual points configuration, what is the difference between an AT and a MT distributor? I'm currently running a Petronix electronic ignition within my troubled MT distributor. I'm wondering if I can just pick up an AT distributor, pull the dual points out & put my Petronix in & be set. Has anyone attempted this?

The advance curves, vacuum and mechanical, are different among the numerous distributors that you could run on your engine. The advance specs are in the FSM if you want to compare, and somewhere on this forum there is a thread with a spreadsheet linked compiling most of the options out there.

You started out looking for a 1972 vacuum advance canister, why don't you just swap that instead if the advance curve is the same, instead of a whole distributor? Is there more to the story?

Thanks ZedHead. I can't for the life of me find a replacement vacuum advance canister! The closest I could find is one that appears to be the same as ours, but is for a Honda Civic. I just don't know if its worth the $60 risk a wild chance. Do you have any suggestions of where to obtain a Hitatchi-compatible canister? I spent the day calling CourtesyNissan, NissanPartsZone, etc. all of whom show they're in stock but they actually don't have them.

http://www.enginepartsrus.com/standard-motor-products-vacuum-control-honda-civicvc291-p-2528.html

Jarvo, did you try ZSpecialties, the first link I posted? Or is $62.95 too much?

http://www.datsunstore.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=advance&x=0&y=0

Edited September 11, 201212 yr by Blue