Anthony Green wrote:
> And now for the the questions...
>
> a. What is thing thing? I see people talking about vacuum advances and
> retards. What are they and what's the difference?
It adjusts your timing based on the amount of vacuum at the
other end of the little hose.
A vacuum advance advances the timing, a vacuum retard retards
the timing. The other end of the hose is around the throttle
in the carb, either just before or just after, depending on
the system. (usually just before for advance, just after for
retard, not always)
> b. How can I tell which one I have?
Look at the distributor from the top. Think of the vacuum unit,
it moves the spinning plate a little forward or backward. Think
of which way the vacuum rod will move the plate when the
diaphragm is sucked with the vacuum line.
(think carefully, because you are moving the plate, think of
how this affects the opening of the points/triggering of
the sensor. It can be counterintuitive)
For the same distributor, the vacuum line goes in one
side for the advance and the other side for the retard. But
there is no hard and fast rule that applies to all cars, since
the vacuum unit can be mounted on the other side.
> c. What are the implications of driving around when it is not attached
> correctly / tightly?
Basically, scattered timing. Inability to set the cars timing
accurately. More likely, the vacuum unit just won't do anything,
and you lose the potential benefits.
> e. What are my options if the idiot who jammed the machine screw in
> ruined the threading on distributor? Can these things be
> re-threaded?
Well, before rethreading it, try being a DPO yourself and
finding a screw that will work. Don't jam it in so hard you
crack the distributor casing, but you don't have to take
these things off very often. No sense making it a major job
for yourself when you could likely just find a screw that
works and leave it for life.
--
Trevor Boicey
Ottawa, Canada
tboicey@brit.ca
http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
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