Broken reluctor tooth

[grandpaslincoln]

I broke two of the teeth off on the reluctor for the DS2 distributor on my truck. I stuck the other one back on so I wouldn't lose it. I did however lose the other one. From what I've found out, the distributor I bought is a cheapass Chinese/Tawainese/assholese knockoff, so the genuine FORD replacement reluctor doesn't FIT. In fact, NONE of them do, the shaft is even too big. The question is, can I run it like this? Will it have an adverse effect on my ignition system, or am I gonna have to get a new disty??? If you look at where it broke, it also seems to be made from shit metal. The genuine FORD reluctor I bought (thinking it was the same) looks a hell of a lot more durable solid than this piece of shit.

[Grand Marquis GT]

Those fingers contact the pickup magnetically, which is how the box gets it's signal. It's really a 50/50. Could potentially cause an intermittent miss on one of your cylinders.

[Archangel]

I'd try running it, you didn't kill it good enough - the one in my 429 I managed to rip the whole tooth out!

[grandpaslincoln]

lol

I figured the best way to see was to actually run it and see if it misses or not. I don't think it will, the rest of the tooth still covers a good majority of the armature as it goes by.

[gadget73]

Depending where exactly the pickup is located and how bitchy it is, it may or may not work. I'm betting it will work fine though.

[Southern_Pride]

I may still have a DS2 distributor here at the house.

[351m]

I did that to 351M dizzy... truck still ran fine, as long as most of it still goes past the pickup it should work.

[Archangel]

Jon, I just noticed it - in the picture, the tooth right under the frowny face has a big crack across it, just like the tooth that broke - you may wanna finish killing that one before reinstalling the reluctor wheel back in the dizzy, you can imagine how much damage it can do if it breaks off while you're driving and gets jammed somewhere.

[grandpaslincoln]

Yep I know lol

I JB welded it back on after I took the pic, dunno if it's gonna hold or not, guess I'll find out lol

[TomO]

You could try breaking the remainder of the teeth off to match the ones already broken. That way, each cylinder will have an equal chance of missing.

JUST KIDDING!

[Archangel]

TomO, that's what I'd have done, trim them all the same then when reinstalling the wheel put a washer under it so it sits a bit higher then before and the teeth go through the middle of the pickup magnet.

[grandpaslincoln]

Forgot to update this. Truck runs great! Thanks mangs!

[Archangel]

good to hear, happy trucking