Hi, Everyone/anyone,

Am trying to overhaul my dizzy from a 1970 240z. Presently, am trying to separate the two contact point baseplates from each other. My Haynes manual says to remove the securing screws to separate them. Yet, there are no securing screws (visible) that keep the plates attached to each other. Is there something I'm missing here, or do I just have a "screw loose"?

Would appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks,

Mike

Are you talking about the distributor points? Are you working on a dual points distributor used on automatic transmission equipped cars?

Are you working on a genuine Nissan Distributor, many have been replaced with electronic distributor/ignition units over the years?

Could you site the page number or artical you are trying to follow?

Hi, Dj,

Thanks for the reply. Page 76, section 7 of the haynes manual deals with the dismantling and reassembly of the distributor.

I can't state for certain that it is an original Nissan Distributor. It certainly appears as though it could be 43 years old. It is a manual transmission with points. And yes, am talking about trying to separate the point breaker baseplate (movable one) from the stationary baseplate. It appears as though there is considerable grime and corrosion between the two plates, creating alot of resistance on the vacuum advance arm (difficult to manually advance it, due to corrosion). Just figured that if I can separate the plates, clean and polish them, remove all corrosion and grime, then lube all moving points.....I'd probably have fixed my original problem.

Hopefully I answered your questions.

Mike

I've rebuilt distributors. Several of them. I've chased those tiny ball bearings across the garage floor. I've had brass bushings machined to take up the slop in Subaru distributors. I've taken them apart, put them back together, and tried to make one working one out of several junkyard ones. I've tried to 'adjust' those tiny springs.

And it's a waste of time. The worn parts, the balls that are already missing, the tired springs. The rubber diaphragm in the vacuum advance that's either stiff or holy. After 150K miles or 15 years it's time for a NEW or a re-man distributor.

Get on RockAuto.com or whatever and orderer a remanufactured distributor. Don't waste your time trying to rebuild one only to end up with something that's not nearly as smooth, and correct as a re-man.

Your goal here is to drive a fun car, right?

Hi, Wade,

Yes, my car is a driver (albeit a 90% restored one). I initially did attempt to source a reman dizzy for the car, but had no luck. Autozone, Napa, and O'reilly ALL claimed to stock the dizzy's, yet had none in inventory anywhere and couldn't tell me when they would have any. I didn't try Rock auto yet...guess I can give them a call. But, when this problem first arose, everyone's advice on this forum was to secure another dizzy and rebuild mine, using the best parts from each distributor (seems many others have had difficulty sourcing reman units).

Having said all of that, I do still have 2 dizzy's and may as well try to make 1 good one out of them as opposed to waiting to try and find one at Rock Auto, then waiting for delivery, etc. I figure if this effort fails, and if Rock Auto actually has remans in stock, I can always go that route as a fall-back position.

Thanks for your reply and advice, Wade.

Mike

Does anyone else have any thoughts on how to separate the movable contact breaker plate from the stationary one? Also, while on the subject, I can see a fairly large amount of grime accumulation on the inside of the body of the distributor. Anyone have any suggestions on the best way to clean that? Finally, any thoughts/recommendations on the type of lubricant that I should use on the bearings, and other movable parts?

Thanks for any and all recommendations.

They used points up to 1974. The 1972 FSM has pictures and instructions, might be better than Haynes. Probably the same as 1970. Engine Electrical chapter - www.xenons30.com/reference

The breaker plate assembly comes out as one complete unit. Once it's out you can see down to where the centrifugal weights are. The two screws that hold the breaker plate down are out on the edges, they might be buried under that grime. Find the two square projections on the dist. body and look down at the bottom of them, you should see the screws holding the plate down. Can't tell if you already have it out or if you're trying to take it apart in the distributor.

The later breaker plates, like used in the electronic dist.'s used a wire spring clip around the bottom of the hole in the center of the breaker plate assembly to hold the two plates together. Maybe you have a newer plate.

Edited October 28, 201212 yr by Zed Head

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_nkw=CARDONE+31+607+Distributor+

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/shop_parts/distributor/nissan/240z.html

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/sku/A1_Cardone/Distributor/A131607.html

http://www.partsgeek.com/gbproducts/DC/16438-05082600.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ff&utm_content=DN&utm_campaign=PartsGeek+Google+Base&utm_term=1970-1973+Nissan+240Z+Ignition+Distributor+A1+Cardone+31-607+70-73+Nissan+Ignition+Distributor+1971+1972&fp=pp&gbm=a&gclid=CJy-lOXiorMCFQtxQgodFk8AYw

Have you seen any of the Cardone rebuilt distributors? How was the quality? I've come across a few accounts of poor quality from Cardone's rebuilt products, in general. They seem to have a very large share of the market though, so may be the only choice.

Thanks alot, Zedhead and Wade,

Have downloaded the FSM from xenon's and have checked the manual on the distributor. It did show how to remove the braker assembly, which I had already done. But, unfortunately, it didn't tell how to separate the breaker plate from the breaker spring. I will check out the assembly for the wire spring clip that you mentioned, Zedhead.

Thank you, too, Wade. I checked some of the sites you listed and it does appear that they have these reman dizzys in stock. Think I'll proceed with the mission at hand, and simultaneously order a reman unit. That way, with a little luck, I'll end up with a functioning spare when all is said and done.

Thanks alot, Zedhead and Wade,

Have downloaded the FSM from xenon's and have checked the manual on the distributor. It did show how to remove the braker assembly, which I had already done. But, unfortunately, it didn't tell how to separate the breaker plate from the breaker spring. I will check out the assembly for the wire spring clip that you mentioned, Zedhead.

Thank you, too, Wade. I checked some of the sites you listed and it does appear that they have these reman dizzys in stock. Think I'll proceed with the mission at hand, and simultaneously order a reman unit. That way, with a little luck, I'll end up with a functioning spare when all is said and done.

It's been a long time but I don't believe the two plates are separable. If I'm remembering right, they will rotate relative to each other a total of about 40 degrees. If I recall correctly they're peened together on a hollow shaft through which the disty shaft goes.