Distributor change and PO bypass/upgrade (1 Viewer)

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Aug 26, 2014
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Tucson, AZ
Hello all,
I recently took my 77 down to my local Toyota to have the carb tuned and have the motor looked at in general since it was still running a bit funky and I had finished a lot of back-to-stock fixes. The mechanic got the idle way better, and found my distributor was off by 3 teeth. That vastly improved Performance. He then said that my vacuum advance on the distributor was no longer working, it still needed a valve adjustment, and then the carb needed retuned. All well and good so far.. so I looked for a new vacuum advance for my distributor online and did not find one for my year, for the us. But I did find a new distributor at city racer. It says it works on 77 on. So I’m not sure if it will match my cruisers distributor..

On another leg of this quest, the oem wires going to my distributor are not being used.. from what I can tell my igniter is being bypassed for an aftermarket one on my firewall (firewall XR700), and it looks like something has been added to the inside of my distributor because of that...

My questions..
-will city racers vacuum advance distributor work in a 4/77 40?
-what has been done to my distributor?
-and can I still try to run a stock Distributor?

Alternately...
-can the current vacuum advance be fixed?

I know this is a tall order but I will include many pictures and can supply more if asked.

I would appreciate any help.

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You have an optical ignition? So, your new distributor is set up for traditional points, and needs no aftermarket Fireball igniter.

You probably can find an OEM igniter somewhere (without capacitor), or, use Pertronix, or, older points if your coil is matched. Otherwise connect the optical ignition on your new distributor, or swap in the new advancer from your new distributor.

If you change distributors, be certain that you have mated the distributor with the oil pump, or you will not have oil pressure and toast the bearings within minutes.
 
@4Cruisers can probably hook you up with a replacement advancer

I still have several brand new NipponDenso advancers that are a direct replacement for a '77 2F. Almost identical vacuum advance curve, too. Here are a couple of photos of a '77 2F distributor I've recently refurbished:

'77-Distributor-1.jpg


'77-Distributor-2.jpg
 
Not a fan of the Crane system. Since you already have the city racer dizzy, I would install it and run it with the stock coil, no igniter.

And as previously be super careful about making sure the dizzy is fully seated. Since your mechanic was able to move your old dizzy three teeth, it sounds like you should use his /her services again.
 
Not a fan of the Crane system. Since you already have the city racer dizzy, I would install it and run it with the stock coil, no igniter.
With the '77 2F distributor, an external condenser can be added similar to the City Racer distributor. As Mark said, set up that way, you could run it with the stock coil and no igniter.
 
The 77 OE distributor with a condenser would be more bulletproof than with no condenser and an igniter, right?
Should be, but the external condenser could be pre-installed and not connected. If the igniter fails (unlikely?), the condenser could be connected and the igniter bypassed.
 

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