I'm running a tall deck 10.2 BBC 598 cubes with a 16/71 Littlefield blower with 2 x 10-50 dominators. The engine is being built right now and the blower is at Littlefields being converted for gas on the street. Question, this is street driven and I am struggling to find a distributor to fit under the blower. I know I can go offset but this means the dizzy will be sat in my scuttle...this engine is in a T bucket. I could go front drive with MSD and Jesel belt off the cam. Anybody got any ideas on a solution that isn't going to cost mega bucks ? Thanks, Andy
Contact GMC BUBBA here on the HAMB. He knows EVERYTHING there is to know about distributors and his pricing is very fair!
Other than what's been mentioned already, you might consider a Summers Brothers front mount system: http://www.summersbrothersracing.com/distributor drives.htm Roto-Faze has also offered a front drive IIRC, and they also make a shorty distributor for blower applications. http://www.roto-faze.com/
So the tall deck 598, 16/71 and 1050's were in the budget but the " front mount" might break the bank ?!?! Wish I had that problem .....
There are a few ways of doing it, you can run a super chiller they are a bit expensive, you can run a spacer that looks like a chiller but no guts, or you can reverse the blower basically while your blower is being rebuilt you turn the internals around in the housing and run a short drive, so the overhang is in the front, but will not work well if its a retro or high helix blower. The spacer may be the easy way for you.
This pic will give you an idea, this is a chiller the spacer is the same height, this is a 6/71 but you can see the rear overhang of the large unit will be over the top of the dist. I have done it many times the only broblem you have to take the blower off to service the distributor but clears just fine.
Yea this dude sells these 4" on ebay for 595, or Big als sells a 3" one for around 400. If you want to run a mag you get one with an offset base reasonbile off ebay sometimes.
Didn't say it would break the bank...but hey, we all try to stay on a budget don't we ? Dizzy sat in the scuttle.........hmm, well. The distributor on an offset drive sits behind the engine. My engine is tight up to the bulkhead. This will mean cutting the panel in front of the windscreen....which would look horrid..
You know that you are going to be fussing with this engine constantly, just for the fun of it. Get the dist upfront where you can play with it.
msd makes a real short, crab cap dist for chevys, use it with a crank trigger, has a slip collar for adjustable height, might do the job? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MSD-8489/
Not real surprising... doing it for a living for so long you hear alot, I liked when you would sell a 35,000 engine package and the customer wants to save money and askes if he can just run a holley blue pump to save a little...
There I was thinking you guys didn't get irony...... Its not an issue spending the money on the distributor and the idea of getting around 6 MPG doesn't bother me one bit, but where I can save money, I will. I had a great conversation with a guy that MSD recommended for offset drives and his charge is $1200 to supply me with the offset and distributor. If i have to pay that, I will.......after all, the engine ain't going very far without it eh ? I just wondered about alternatives.....don't want a mag on the street, have you been to england ? Seen the weather we get here ? Ultimately, its either the crab style distributor as one kind chap suggested or its a front drive, which I like the idea of......only thing that puts me off either is the crank trigger. I run as few electrics in the T simply because of our inclement weather....especially in the pennines !! Believe me, it rains... a lot !
Thanks for your help with this, it is an option just hate the crank trigger idea. Wouldn't be a major issue though, I run an MSD Digi 6 which, I think, is compatible.
Crank triggers are pretty reliable as a rule...water and assorted crud doesn't seem to affect most designs.
As you already have one of the major components (the box) I'd think that the crank trigger and MSD crab style distributor would be the viable way to go. Not having to pull the cap on a regular basis for distributor maintenance and hence the blower would be one plus in it's favor.
I have the early mallorys with the low crab cap in stock , hook 9it to your msd box and live happyly ever after. I can tune the advance to your blown needs as well........
Homespun is absolutely right, 20 years of Off-Shore powerboat racing, salt water too, never a miss or failure from the triggers. Failures would be from lack of maintenance or poor initial set-up. BDM
If you go the front drive route, keep in mind that you will have to set the end play on the camshaft. I have one on the engine in my avatar. THe Summers unit uses a ball bearing on the dist. drive snout, and shims between the snout and the cam gear. Also, if you are buying a Summers unit used, make sure the dist drive gear is hobbed the right direction. Some of these things got used on airplane engines, and the teeth on the dist gear are cut the wrong direction....ask me how I know. RBS superchargers makes gears and parts for those Summers drives, and they were very helpful a few years ago when I was sorting that whole thing out.
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