Step-By-Step Guide to Rebuilding a Delco-Remy 663-Y Distributor.

[Gary W]

I wasn't sure exactly where to post my step-by-step photo guide, so I'm including the link here:

 

 

 

[RansomEli]

Gary,

An excellent presentation. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to the next episode(s).

 

This is very helpful.

Edited October 13, 2022 by RansomEli (see edit history)

[leomara]

Wow!  Gary, I have a 1928 Chrysler with a dual point Delco Remy distributor and would I love to see something like this about that.

[Fordy]

someone needs to organize this sort of thing all in one place so its easy to find! Great guide by the way.

[Tonz]

Ironically I've just read this post after doing a rebuild on my Delco 638C on my 26 Chrysler 50 four banger.

I used it as is for the first 50 miles knowing it would have to be stripped and checked over as the backing plate had one of the three mounting tabs broken. And when hooked up to the strobe light the mark on pulley was bouncing 2° and on reving the motor it would retard by about 3-4° instead of advancing. At this stage we suspected a worn shaft, but that proved to be fine.

Surprisingly the motor was starting and running fine! 

The strip down revealed some stunning surprises. Keeping in mind that over the past 100 years quiet a few people have had a go at it.

1. The advance weights were installed upside down! Murphy's Law - if you design a part that can be fitted back-to-front someone will.

2. The Delco ID plate was attached with tiny screws which were a tad too long and just touching the spinning weights.

3. The thin spacers on the weight pins were missing, so the weights were flopping up and down

4. The mentioned broken tab on points backing plate.

5. The wings that keep the weights down were bent upwards.

Fortunately the shaft and points cam showed negligible wear, I had a spare to salvage bits off and a complete Delco 6 cyl dizzy to strip to see how it was assembled.

With the strobe light it now holds a steady position and advances beautifully when raising revs. Interestingly now I  have three timing settings, idle about 5°,  centrifugal fully advance about 20° and retard lever brings timing back to about 0° for hand starting. Overall I'm very happy with the results and with a few more miles I can fine tune these settings.

 

 

[Oldtech]

Ha Ha. My father bought the 29 iHC from a dealer. He told me it ran lousy when he got it and after investigating, discovered the weights were in the distributor upside down.  I never forgot to check since.