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1952 Distributor


Hans1965

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Hi all,

 

I cannot get my 52 Super Riviera to run properly.

 

I had an experienced guy over in my garage and he cleaned further ground connections, adjusted the carb settings, finetuned timing  etc. But at higher RPMs, when playing with the throttle it still does backfires mostly in the exhaust. We got the distributor out and he bench tested it. The vacuum advance is shot, but the centrifugal plates do not seem to adjust timing properly (less than it should) and the big question is can that be adjusted somehow. No idea if the internals of the distributor are the right ones. 

 

Does anyone have an idea or can sell me a well running one?

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Hans

 

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Does it have the breaker plate suspended by three (3) little steel balls in a groove around the inner circumference of the housing?  Does the plate move freely in that groove?  My '38 distributor has a 'Spark-O-Liner' in it.  Apparently it was common for the balls to get stuck and not allow the breaker plate to move in response to the vacuum advance actuator.

 

Ref: https://forums.aaca.org/topic/383537-sparkoliner-distributor-saver-for-buick-and-gm-cars/#comment-2417170

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8 hours ago, EmTee said:

Does it have the breaker plate suspended by three (3) little steel balls in a groove around the inner circumference of the housing?  Does the plate move freely in that groove?  My '38 distributor has a 'Spark-O-Liner' in it.  Apparently it was common for the balls to get stuck and not allow the breaker plate to move in res

Yes, it is moving freely!

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Your distributor probably has a cork "gasket" underneath the advance plate.  It sounds like the distributor just needs to be disassembled and cleaned, which isn't a really big job.  Then, you can check for broken/worn parts.  Most likely, the advance mechanism has never been cleaned and is sticking, but I doubt that's causing your backfiring.  I once set up the advance mechanism in my Corvair incorrectly, and it retarded timing rather than advanced it - it didn't backfire, but it sure fell on its face when I hit the gas.    

 

Like EmTee said, I'd do a compression test and try to figure out if an exhaust valve is sticking or something.

 

Here's a good website with info from the service manual:

https://www.hometownbuick.com/1952-buick-ignition-system/

1952-buick-breaker-plate-disassembled.jpg

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5 minutes ago, Aaron65 said:

Most likely, the advance mechanism has never been cleaned and is sticking, but I doubt that's causing your backfiring.

I did that on my '38 and found the centrifugal weights covered in a light surface corrosion and stuck/sticking.  I disassembled, cleaned, lubricated and reassembled everything.  I had to re-time the engine after reinstalling the distributor because the weights were apparently stuck 4~5 degrees advanced the last time I did it.  Installing it exactly where it was before yielded TDC instead of 4* BTDC...

 

Also check the ground lead to the breaker plate and the primary wire to the breaker points.  Both of mine were in rough shape; the primary wire was frayed and crumbling.  Bob's Automobilia has replacement pieces, including rebuilt vacuum advance units (https://bobsautomobilia.com/).

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A majority of the old cars on the road need the clean-out and relubrication of the weights and springs @EmTee just described.

 

Also the 2 wires he mentioned in the distributor must be good, the points wire and the ground wire. They are special wires made to bend a eleventy zillion times without breaking, but by now they have probably already done that and more. They should not be stretchy. Wires that are not broken inside the insulation are not stretchy! Bad ones disconnect when the breaker plate moves, and it is like turning the ignition on and off. It causes a lot of banging in the exhaust. Sometimes it causes the muffler to explode.

 

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On 8/25/2022 at 7:55 AM, Hans1965 said:

. . . I cannot get my 52 Super Riviera to run properly . . .  No idea if the internals of the distributor are the right ones. 

You might have a mismatch of distributor and its vacuum control. Listed in a Buick Master Chassis Parts Book there was an early and later distributor vacuum control diaphragm spring for 1952 Buicks. What’s the date code on your distributor and what’s the part number on your vacuum control?

 

1-1-Scan-003.jpg.819d64d4ec63e743a9710a292f5f5381.jpg

 

 

As a side note, when the Buick V8 engines came out in 1953, there was an early service bulletin change to add a spacer between the front end of this spring and the retaining nut to alleviate the tendency to pre-ignite at high speeds. Could this be a similar problem on your 1952?  

1-Scan-001.jpg.ceb7ef8fa288fb236c7653a0dcd18168.jpg

 

Al Malachowski

BCA #8965

"500 Miles West of Flint"

 

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On 8/27/2022 at 2:57 PM, Hans1965 said:

There is no number on the vacuum advance. 

One would think that the only difference in the earlier vs. the later spring for a 1952 distributor advance control would be in the tension rating. A spacer might be a quick and cheap experiment to eliminate your problem.  

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2 hours ago, 1953mack said:

One would think that the only difference in the earlier vs. the later spring for a 1952 distributor advance control would be in the tension rating. A spacer might be a quick and cheap experiment to eliminate your problem.  

There is no spacer in mine. Thanks for the comment.

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