I have a question about a breaker plate for 37 Pontiac

[Guest bofusmosby]

Well, here I go again asking another one of my famous questions. I just bought a NOS breaker plate with the points, condenser, as well as the 2 wires for my 6 cylinder 37 Pontiac car. In the very first paragraph, it states (this is an actual Delco-Remy NOS part) that the "parts necessary for replacing the original ball bearing circuit breaker plate as used in many 6 cylinder, clockwise rotation Delco-Remy distributors". OK Houston, I believe I have a problem here. Even though it is written on the box for "37-48 P/6", on my car, the rotor rotates in a counterclockwise direction on my car! Does this mean that this is the wrong part? The actual part number on the Delco-Remy box is "1913502". If anyone has the ability to look up this part number, I'd really appreciate it.

There are several reasons why I bought this kit. First of all was the price. It wasn't expensive. Second was because of the 2 wires inside the distributor. Both the ground wire, as well as the wire that connects from the side of the distributor which goes to the points were in bad shape, with much of the insulation missing. These wires have to be very flexible due to the operation of the vacuum advance turning the breaker plate. The other reason was I believe that the condenser on mine has gone bad. There is a lot of sparking on mine when the contacts are opening and closing. Because of this, the points are also getting pitted a bit.

Any input you can give will be appreciated about this, and thank you for your time.

[Rusty_OToole]

This could be confusing. It could be that your shaft and rotor turn clockwise, while the plate turns counter clockwise. This is because the base plate must turn the opposite way of the shaft, in order to advance the timing.

Compare the plate to the one in your distributor. If they are the same OK. If it is a mirror image it is for the opposite rotation distributor.

[Guest bofusmosby]

Thank you Rusty. It looks a bit different, manufacturing wise, but the location of everything is the same. I forgot to mention that with this breaker plate kit, it also comes with 3 pieces of plastic that are supposed to go around the diameter of the breaker plate, which the instructions call these bearings. There are slots that the breaker plate slides through. However, from what I have been reading, I believe that the original breaker plate actually uses ball-bearings below the plate for this purpose. I'm trying to decide if maybe the original set-up is the best way to go. If so, then I could just swap the wires and parts over to the original breaker plate. Any thoughts about this?

[Rusty_OToole]

No I don't. Well I do but it would be pointless for me to speculate when you have all the parts in front of you. Go ahead and use your own judgement.

[Guest Pete Woodruff]

The part number is correct for the application listed on the box; and 1913500 is used for '37-'48 eight cylinder engines, both according to the 1953 Wholesale Parts catalog. Both six and eight cylinder Pontiac engines have counter-clockwise distributor rotation, as viewed from the top (rotor end). I suspect that Delco-Remy listed the rotation as viewed from the "drive" end, which would be clockwise.

The early repair kits supplied 3 ball bearings, but the later kits went to the plastic bushings. Again, I suspect because the ball "race" inside the distributor housings wore unevenly due to lack of lubrication. The plastic bushing would minimize the effect of this wear and allow continued use of a worn distributor. I would follow the directions as written if you intend to use the kit.

Pete