I have a few questions I thought it's worth starting a new thread for. First off, this cam spins in the plate, not easily, but when it was in the distributor if I twisted it enough for the advance weights to come out and a little more it would spin. I'm guessing it would be indexed from the factory if this was an issue? I don't think it would spin under normal operation. Second, my distributor has a vacuum brake. Is it worth hooking this up again or should I remove the plunger and plug the vacuum line?
I would do my best to restore the vacuum brake mechanism to be fully operational. Mallory has a very good reputation for making a quality product, and I very much doubt that they would have added anything that wasn't useful and necessary. There are millions of old Ford flatheads out there that use this same exact mechanism; Mallory in fact designed the first Ford distributors. I have a couple of distributors with this vacuum brake and they usually need the leather pad replaced. I found some 1/4" thick leather for the purpose, but if you have a stout old belt, you can make your own.
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