Can a distributor go bad or be going bad and the car still actually start and run decent?

I have a 69 Camaro with a late model goodwrech 350 in it, I'm still using the stock 1969 327 210 horse distributor (1111483) with a new cap, rotor, points, condenser, plugs and wires. The car runs and drives but it's breaking up at around 3000-4000 rpm's. I have the dwell set at 30 and the timing about 4-6 degrees advanced with the vacuum advanced hose plugged.

Am I missing something or doing something wrong? Is the stock distributor calling it quits?

Sounds like a vacuum problem...

Start the car at night in the dark and open the hood. Do you see a light show? anywhere from the cap or wires? Because they are new does not mean they are good :)


Kev

Sounds like a vacuum problem...


Could you elaborate on a possible vacuum problem? I did spay some wd40 all around the carb and vacuum lines and didn't find any leaks.

Could you elaborate on a possible vacuum problem? I did spay some wd40 all around the carb and vacuum lines and didn't find any leaks.

I also checked the resistance in the spark plug wires and they seem OK?

Anybody have any ideas?

I would probably look to run a little more timing, maybe 10 - 12 degress ... but first, put a vacuum pump on vac advance canister and make sure it holds vac ... Also, you may want to remove the dist and check it for excessive play ... Lastly, what is you plug gap ... should still be .035 since you are still running points ...

Distributors can and do "wear out." Excessive "side to side" play in the shaft bushings can cause problems, as can excessive "up and down" play.
Even more common is a worn and or stuck mechanical advance mechanism, or the "breaker plate" being stuck to the main saft, causing no mechanical advance.

Not enough advance is the most likely cause of your motor running out of power at 3-4k.

Use your timing light to confirm that your timing advances smoothly as the rpm's are increased.

I would also run considerably more that 4-6 degrees of initial timing.

Did u clean off the pionts before instalation...pass a peice of the cardboard on the box thru the pionts to remove any protective oil to stop corrosion in storage...
This burns and sometines causes a intermitent contact at higher rpm.

If not us a bit of fine sand paper 800 or 1200 grit to re surface the piont faces.
Did u replace the capacitor? and is the wire going to the dizzy the correct length....if the coil is relocated, and the wire lengthened or shorten to any great difference this can have the same effect in practice of having the wrong capactitor.

Mentioned above is looking at HT leads on a dark night for leaks and crossfire...good advice....if u have a high Voltage coil u will get a faint glow that is normal

Make sure #5 and #7 HT leads are separated...common cause of cross fire.

For worn dizzy...shaft/bush wear, check as Jim says, also use a timing light, see if there is any 'wander' of of the timing on the crank...this will also pick up wear in the bottom gear or gear mesh gap not right