Replacing springs in my stock distributor, 69 RR 383

Hey Guys,

I'm going to be replacing the springs in my distributor. I have gold, silver and black, Which ones should I use to begin tuning? I don't know which ones are weaker or stronger and I heard you use one weak and one strong one. I have the FOB round plate to limit my initial advance what should I set that at? I'm thinking 14*? I am also installing pertronix II and the coil that goes with it. Thanks!

The plate limits your total mechanical advance, not the initial advance. Basically, you set the initial advance where the car idles/runs best & then use the limiter plate to make sure your total initial + mechanical advance doesn't go over 36-38 degrees (to avoid knock). As far as the springs...thinner ones advance sooner/faster than thicker springs. Some of the springs are thick, but have an "oval loop" on one end so they don't hold back the advance at all at low rpms, but limit it at higher rpms. I believe stock distributors came with one small/thin spring & one thicker spring with an oval loop. The springs really set the "advance curve" of the engine. Hope this helps

If the current fat springs are the same size, replace one with a skinner one. Compare size and length of the springs in the kit. How skinny/weak will dictate how fast it comes in as the RPMS go up. Good Luck

69a100 said:

If the current fat springs are the same size, replace one with a skinner one.

Click to expand...

That's the kinda usual, for a street car set-up.

Those springs 'set' the advance rate, per RPMs, how fast, or slow the advance comes in. The slots for the weights set the advance amount, in degrees.

If the two springs are the same, you get a one-stage advance...or straight line.
If one is lighter, than the other, you get a two-stage (curved) advance.

Pick your poison!

I was fortunate to have a friend with a dist bench test machine. We ran into a strange problem --could not get enough mechanical advance --stock dist. We played with different springs , but still not enough advance Finally figgered it out. the slots that the weights locate in , was too short. . Die grind them out a little bit---problem solved. According to numbers, the dist had been replaced at some point in time. ..................MO