2LittleTime Posted June 15, 2017 Report Share Posted June 15, 2017 1981 King Cab, z22, 2wd, manual trans., Weber, emissions deleted Got around to the distributor today...... trash. This thing must have been running at exactly five degrees BTC throughout the entire rpm range for years. I looked at the typical sources like Rockauto and Nissan Parts for the vac can, breaker plate, mech. advance springs etc. No luck on those for the DN480-14 distributor. It seems the Cardone 31-622 reman. distributor is the only offering out there. NAPA is just throwing their part number on the same distributor and charging an extra 20 bucks. I went ahead and ordered one of those from Rockauto to get me back up and running. I'm concerned about this thing coming with the right springs and vac can on it. Easy enough to figure out how it is curved when I get it installed and get a timing light on it. I can see if it is even close to what the service manual says it should be. I'm also concerned about the quality....... I know they ain't replacing all the goodies in there for 90 bucks and some change. I would like to repair the one I removed and "put it on the shelf". To my point. Any one have a source for new parts or know if there are any aftermarket new distributors available for the z22 motor. As always thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted June 15, 2017 Report Share Posted June 15, 2017 Talk to distributorguy on here. He rebuilds distributors professionally and seems to be a pretty good dude. 2 Quote Link to comment
distributorguy Posted June 15, 2017 Report Share Posted June 15, 2017 Thanks Lockleaf. Parts just aren't available. I make bushings, have tens of thousands of springs on hand, and have a pile of spare distributors for parts. I own 13 Sun distributor testers and one Snap-On Distribuscooe to verify advance curves. You're right to question Cardone products. Most are worse than the old cores they "rebuild." I can build yours up work the way you expect it to, versus how the factory assembled it. I make up for modern fuel and any potential modifications you may have made to improve performance. I'll tell you outright that points will make more power than electronics, but both can work almost equally well in normal driving. Cardone electronics are f'ed up. They don't fit or work properly. China trash. Parts like a vac unit may still be had straight from Nissan - nowhere else. I'm not cheap but you get what you want and a product that will last and last. Value. 1 Quote Link to comment
2LittleTime Posted June 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2017 I'll fill out an advance curve sheet on your website and have you see what we can do. Thanks for the quick reply. I have the original Hitachi as it came from the factory. Bushings and end play are OK so I may scavenge the breaker plate and vac can off the Cardone for now just to get back on the road. The plastic shim sandwiched in the breaker plate got brittle, disentigrated and locked up all the advance. It actually didn't run terrible the few miles I've it driven around town at a constant 5 degrees. A little doggy off the line but not terrible. Quote Link to comment
distributorguy Posted June 15, 2017 Report Share Posted June 15, 2017 Even without the vac functioning, it should run very well. If not, you have a serious issue that needs attention. Be wary of the Cardone parts. I've seen several of their breaker plates that drag on the shaft - so much that it activates the advance curve even at idle making drivability completely unpredictable. Cardone also rebuilds vac units, and sometimes they leave out some of the internals resulting in a huge amount of advance. Again, do some comparisons before using their parts. 1 Quote Link to comment
2LittleTime Posted June 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2017 Just ordered a factory new DN480-14. Nissan still had one. I got really nervous about ending up with a 3500 pound paperweight somewhere down the road. What I will probably do is send you the original one I took off the truck and have you go through it. I figured a module, cap and rotor are 200 bucks from Rockauto so $200 more for a brand new dizzy from Nissan wasn't a bad deal. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted June 15, 2017 Report Share Posted June 15, 2017 1981 King Cab, z22, 2wd, manual trans., Weber, emissions deleted Got around to the distributor today...... trash. This thing must have been running at exactly five degrees BTC throughout the entire rpm range for years. I looked at the typical sources like Rockauto and Nissan Parts for the vac can, breaker plate, mech. advance springs etc. No luck on those for the DN480-14 distributor. It seems the Cardone 31-622 reman. distributor is the only offering out there. NAPA is just throwing their part number on the same distributor and charging an extra 20 bucks. I went ahead and ordered one of those from Rockauto to get me back up and running. I'm concerned about this thing coming with the right springs and vac can on it. Easy enough to figure out how it is curved when I get it installed and get a timing light on it. I can see if it is even close to what the service manual says it should be. I'm also concerned about the quality....... I know they ain't replacing all the goodies in there for 90 bucks and some change. I would like to repair the one I removed and "put it on the shelf". To my point. Any one have a source for new parts or know if there are any aftermarket new distributors available for the z22 motor. As always thanks for the help. Timing for the Z22 is about 5 BTDC maybe 8 and is adjustable by loosening screws and turning clockwise to advance and CCW to retard. When revved up to 3k it should show a total advance of about 32 degreeds. If the mechanical weights are stuck.. free them up! OR Find a used distributor don't replace with a 'new remanufactured' one that full of shitty quality parts that is worse than what you have. Or find a used one on line and ship. Quote Link to comment
2LittleTime Posted June 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2017 Well so much for my OEM distributor. Nissan showed the thing in stock online and then cancelled the order as the part was no longer available. I'll start hitting up the junkyards tomorrow. The Cardone came today. Seems mechanically sound. The air gap was way out of spec so I set that right. I'll get it on and throw the tach and vacuume guage on it. See where it curves out on the mechanical and then how the can acts. I've got the SM for can specs. If mechanical adv. is close to what you said I will be happy for now if it gets me in and out of the driveway. Throw the spare module in the glove box. One thing I noticed different is the drive end on the one that came out has a plastic collar with a spring steel hoop around the end and the one I just recieved has a solid steel one. Any idea if this makes a difference? I was going to install it then crank the engine over by hand and pull it back out to check for any scoring or interference marks before I started it. Or I can just change the collar out. They are both slot drive not splined. Quote Link to comment
2LittleTime Posted June 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2017 Well so much for my OEM distributor. Nissan showed the thing in stock online and then cancelled the order as the part was no longer available. I'll start hitting up the junkyards tomorrow. The Cardone came today. Seems mechanically sound. The air gap was way out of spec so I set that right. I'll get it on and throw the tach and vacuume guage on it. See where it curves out on the mechanical and then how the can acts. I've got the SM so if it is close to what you said I will be happy for now if it gets me in and out of the driveway. Throw the spare module in the glove box. One thing I noticed different is the drive end on the one that came out has a plastic collar with a spring steel hoop around the end and the one I just recieved has a solid steel one. Any idea if this makes a difference? I was going to install it then crank the engine over by hand and pull it back out to check for any scoring or interference marks before I started it. Or I can just change the collar out. They are both slot drive not splined. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted June 17, 2017 Report Share Posted June 17, 2017 The splined ones were used on the Z24i and KA engines and is actually a CAS. Slotted will work. Quote Link to comment
2LittleTime Posted June 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2017 The junk is installed. Initial - 5 degrees at 650 rpm Mech. -starts at 750 rpm -all in for an additional 12 degrees at 2275 rpm for 17 total Vac can -adds 20 at idle -adds 10 at 12 in vac -adds 3 at 7 in vac Runs well. Temp stays low in op range. Ive got the NOX smell now at idle. May see about putting a stop collar in to kill about 5 degrees off that vac can. Quote Link to comment
2LittleTime Posted June 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2017 The junk is installed. Initial - 5 degrees at 650 rpm Mech. -starts at 750 rpm -all in for an additional 12 degrees at 2275 rpm for 17 total Vac can -adds 20 at idle -adds 10 at 12 in vac -adds 3 at 7 in vac Runs well. Temp stays low in op range. Ive got the NOX smell now at idle. May see about putting a stop collar in to kill about 5 degrees off that vac can. Quote Link to comment
distributorguy Posted June 18, 2017 Report Share Posted June 18, 2017 All-in at 2275 is WAY too soon. If you bend the spring tabs out until you get that up to 3000, then you can bump the base timing up to 12-14 BTDC. The vac is fine if you can hook it up to ported vacuum, so there's no signal at idle. Quote Link to comment
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