Twin Six Distributor Rotation Question - Nash?

[Mark Wetherbee]

I bought this distributor in a big lot of Ford stuff  at an auction last summer. It is a Twin 6 distributor Auto Lite #IGE 4019 A with service tag reading that it is a LH rotation for 38-40 cars and that new points were added. My question is whether or not this is a LH (Counterclockwise) rotation or if it a RH (Clockwise) rotation. Looking at how the points are, I always thought the rotation of the cam was under the arm from the pivot toward the contact points when actuating the arm (by my thought it is a clockwise rotation). Does this sound right, or better yet, can anyone confirm the rotation and-or application of this distributor? Thank you in advance for anything you can tell me - there is another Forum member interested in a CCW rotation distributor and I do not want to misrepresent this.

 

[Restorer32]

One sure way to tell is to take it apart and look at the spiral groove cut into the center shaft which is supposed to "screw" any stray oil that gets on the shaft back into  the engine. We used one of these dists on an ALF speedster we built. The firing sequence of that overlapping rotor is a mind bender to understand.

[Mark Wetherbee]

Good idea- I'll pop the rivet out and pull the shaft today!

[Mark Wetherbee]

Another of those "I feel dumb today" moments - I drilled the rivet and removed the sleeve and then took off the plate holding the points - I had not been thinking it was a Mechanical advanced distributor - in my defense I have a Ford Model A which is all manual advance and a T which is even more primitive...

 

Looking now at the mechanical advance, it would advance the cam CCW when looking at the top of the distributor. All that said, this was made without a spiral groove to tell me rotation but cant deny the centrifugal advance.

[Dandy Dave]

Been working on a 34 Nash with a straight 8 and a similar distributor. Next time I get over there I will have to take a look at which way it turns. Was just checking the points in it about a week ago but made no mental note about the rotation. Dandy Dave! 

[Dandy Dave]

1 hour ago, Restorer32 said:

One sure way to tell is to take it apart and look at the spiral groove cut into the center shaft which is supposed to "screw" any stray oil that gets on the shaft back into  the engine. We used one of these dists on an ALF speedster we built. The firing sequence of that overlapping rotor is a mind bender to understand.

No Baloney There. I usually do the firing order on systems like these as two separate systems and sequences. Once you have that figured out in your mind it makes it easier. Also, I noticed one set of points is delayed slightly from the other on the 1934 Nash I've been working on. Dandy Dave!

[60FlatTop]

Here is my 1935 Twin Ignition Advanced Six Victoria. It had that distributor. When I bought it the car had a 1950's single ignition distributor. I installed a correct one and the 35' of plug wires.

 

I had a spare distributor cap on my desk for a pencil holder. A few people picked it up and asked if I owned a twelve cylinder Jaguar. The Nash also had Invar struts cast into the pistons for concentric stability with heat change. I was working with satellites at the time and they had Invar chassis for deep space. I told the guys "My Nash had that too!"

 

You will notice the lack of a vacuum advance. The cars had a tall engine that would lean under power. A wire cable was attached to the frame through a pulley that would rotate the distributor under power to reset the timing.

 

This was all around 1985. One person in Wisconsin had the only other known driving specimen. I had heard one other Victoria was in a junk yard. I called him back in the long distance phone days and was comparing notes on the cars.He cautioned me to watch for grease in the engine block center hole. A bad spark plug wire arc could start a fire. I told him I had put new wires in and cleaned and painted the hole. He replied "Oh, you have one of THOSE cars." He hung up and I never heard from him again.

 

That dual point system is 100% back up. it should be timed dead on with both sets. Owners need to, periodically disconnect one wire to test that both sets are working. Empirically, one set would fail and the car would run until the second set went bad. Then you were stuck.

 

Another car I should have kept.

If any of you have the book Pump And Circumstance I am pretty sure that is my actual car parked at the Gulf station on page 58.

Bernie

Edited March 21, 2017 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[viv w]

I have a 1926 Chrysler and a 35 Ford V8 both with dual point ignition. Both cars have only one lead going to the spark plugs. I have not as yet got involved with setting up these points, but I read that the reason for dual points on the V8 is for the dwell. Perhaps the 6 cyl Nash is the same.

Viv.

[tom_in_nh]

For distributor # IGE-4019A, it is a LH rotation as viewed from the top.

It fits a six cylinder 1939 Nash Ambassador. Not sure of other years.

Hope this helps.

Tom