Buick 225 Distributor Questions

I've been reading through a number of threads related to this question, but just wanted some advice specific to my situation I guess.

I am nearing the finish line of my 2a rebuild. The 225 has been completely rebuilt, heads were surfaced and hardened seats installed but otherwise stock, and it has a CompCams 252h camshaft installed, and an Offenhauser 4bbl intake.

I had intended to reuse the original distributor, which now has a Pertronix kit installed. However, there is a lot of up/down play in the distributor shaft. So it seems like I have two realistic options, which are to send that distributor out for a rebuild and stick with the Pertronix kit or go with the 76 (?) Buick Skylark distributor (part #D2000) that I've read about. Both option seem to cost about the same from what I can see on the Rockauto website.

I know there are lots of opinions regarding points vs Pertronix vs HEI and I'm not after that so much but maybe I am, I dunno. This is my first Dauntless and first flattie so it's uncharted territory. I have a Pertronix kit in my J2000 and it's been great, which is why I gravitated toward that for this motor. But since it seems a rebuild of the stock distribitor is comparable to the later HEI in cost, which makes more sense for my build?

The rest of the flattie is D25/D44 with 5.38s, T90, D18, with an NOS Warn overdrive going in - just for reference.

 

Hei, hands down.

 

Six of one, Half Dozen of the other, as far as I'm concerned. I've got a pertronix setup in mine, and I don't see any good reason to switch out for an HEI.

 

Is this a Delco points distributor? I think there plenty of tutorials online re how to take them apart. I believe you can take the up-down slack out by shimming between the drive gear and the distributor body. Then I would look at the lateral wear of the shaft bushings, and wear of the pivot pins for the advance weights. If the advance plate were worn out, I'd replace it. If Delco, I expect that the advance can, weights and springs are standard parts. If this is a Prestolite distributor, I'd lean toward not messing with it and replacing it with a Delco or Buick HEI.

 

To the best of my knowledge, Pertronix doesn't make a module for the prestolite in the 225. Or at least they didn't when I did mine, I swapped out for a delco when I did mine.

 

If it’s a delco and you decide to put the pertronix conversion in, there are shims that you install between the cam gear and the housing. They will help take out the up and down play to achieve the correct gap the conversion requires

 

Thanks for the thoughtful replies, and my apologies - it is a Delco unit. Shimming the shaft for the Pertronix kit is what got me to thinking about whether or not to proceed with this particular distributor. Basically wondering if it's worth it to use as is with shims when everything else is rebuilt/new and if not then do I send mine for a rebuild or purchase the HEI. To my untrained eye, there does not appear to be anything visually wrong with this distributor. I also don't really know what the up/down play means - if it's due to loose components, excessive wear, etc hence my concern about running it as is or getting a replacement whether HEI or remanufacture this one.

 

Up/Down play would mean, pop the distributor cap off, grab the counterweight plate, and pull up and down on it.

 

I don't understand. I meant that I do not know what the cause of excessive play would be for example worn parts, damaged parts, broken parts, etc.

 

It's a wear thing. It's why they make the shims. The Distributor Driven Gear, due to being cut on a helix (I'm probably using that term incorrectly), causes the gear to either push up into, or pull down away from (I don't actually know which it is in the case of a standard rotation dauntless, but it's one or the other) the distributor housing, and that can cause wear, resulting in excessive endplay.

 

Oh gotcha, that makes sense. Are the shims then an acceptable fix for that or does the excessive endplay suggest potential failure and replacement is in order? That kind of sums up my original inquiry.

 

I'm sure that there is a spec for it, I do not know what it is. In general, I have no issue shimming out endplay, it's when the bushings in the body of the distributor go bad, and the distributor shaft is just knocking around in there, that I look for replacements.

 

The pertronix has instructions on how to shim they do it for magnet clearance in the ring the unit reads.