My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[DerekTheGreat]

This is one place that the GM HEI distributor has it all over the Duraspark stuff. Its right on top under the rotor, takes longer to get the cap and rotor off than to change the springs.

Only played with one of those once, on that '79 G10 Sport Van I had briefly. Yep, sure was nice.

[Arquemann]

Haven't had the (mis)fortune of working on an HEI distributor, but these reman Durasparks are so sloppy that even the reluctor gear removal/reinstall went quickly.

Anyways, dad welded up the slot in the advance plate and I slowly dremeled away at it until the slot was about 10,5mm wide, which should translate to about 20-21° of mechanical advance all in. I ended up putting in a light original spring and one 925D spring. The mrgasket 925D springs are very light and there was some stuff on forums about not putting both in for bone-stock applications. Slapped it all back together with some fresh grease, only dropped the reluctor wheel roll pin twice. And she fired right up. Probably because there was now 30° of initial due to the reluctor alignment being a bit off.

Also swapped on the other vacuum advance canister I had, it gives about 18° vs the one I took off that only gave 10°. Set initial at 10° and played with the vacuum advance for a while as the engine was warming up. For some reason, the timing still retards about 5° when the RPM rises (pickup polarity should be correct), but atleast there is some mechanical advance coming in finally. Dunno how much, because I really don't feel like having my arms and face above the fan and belts while they fling whatever bits of dirt at mach 5. No idea about the RPM either, feels kinda high.

Will have to see just how it feels, I'm not gonna be fine tuning the total timing because I couldn't give a shit about top end performance when I drive 99% below 3500rpm. I'll play with initial so I'm happy with the idle and cruise and hope it doesn't ping, which it probably won't even with like 15° initial (which would be35° total). The vacuum advance pot is also adjustable, might play with it too.


After I get the timing finished up, probably a good vacuum, wash and wax left to do for this season.

[Arquemann]

Managed to squeeze a short test drive today anyways.

Something still isn't right, low end is alright, pulls nicely at the top end, but the inbetween is still incredibly meh. It's very lacklustre where I would think a stock 302 would be at its best.
Dunno if it's the timing retarding issue screwing with the mechanical advance or what.

Needs more figuring out, I wish I had a different ignition setup to try...

[gadget73]

what do you have the vac advance on? If its on something that gets vac at idle but drops above idle that would explain it. if its mechanically dropping with more RPM something is odd. usually thats a flat spot on the advance weight.

[matth825]

It’s a chunk of change but you could always go with a Pertronix distributor. Infinitely easier to tune.

[Arquemann]

When setting initial and checking mechanical, vacuum advance has been disconnected, as it should. My vac advance is normally hooked to ported vacuum.

Yesterday after reassembling the distributor (everything works like it should inside),I set initial at 10° and while checking the mechanical advance, I noticed (again) that the timing retarded about 5 degrees with rpm, and stayed there until the mechanical advance started appearing. It did that a couple years ago when I changed to a carb and this ignition setup, but way worse. It was caused by the incorrect polarity on the pickup.

Today I rechecked the polarity, switched the wires, reset initial at 10° and it would run like shit and barely take any throttle. So I'm pretty sure it's not a polarity issue.
After switching back the wires, I reset the initial at 15° for kicks, and suddenly its not retarding as much anymore? Closer to 2 or 3 degrees, which is tolerable, probably from a used cam and the end play in a reman dizzy. Backed the initial down to 10°, and now its retarding more again? Turned the initial to 15° again and it's retarding less?

No fucking clue... But I left the initial at 15°, total should be about 35-36°. Will need to drive it to see if it's unhappy about it. Played with the vacuum advance a bit, it could probably come on a bit earlier too.
Another oddity is the rpm, I feel like the engine is freaking screaming at the rpm I see the mechanical advance starting, but my piece of shit rpm gauge says it's like 2000rpm. Said gauge is garbage, works half the time and is erratic at best. I dunno if it's just the mechanical fan that's absolutely screaming to the extent that I'm thinking the engine is reving high because I can't hear the engine over the fan.


matth825 An Ignitor 1 distributor would be over 400€, for what is basically the same system as what I have, but all under the cap. I like that I have a combo of OE parts, easier to find and replace. Also the inductive pickup of a Duraspark is supposedly better than the hall effect on a Pertronix. Honestly the Duraspark mechanical advance is very straightforward to tune.

EDIT: Also noticed yesterday that on a wot pull, it went noticeable richer than before right at the top end. I'm guessing the mechanical advance did somewhat work before recurving (and installing the other weight), and now that there's less total advance in the upper register, it's running rich.

[Tiggie]

Just here to say I also feel like an engine is screaming when I am under the hood and on the throttle at 2000rpm. Sounds very different than the drivers seat or with the hood closed.

[Arquemann]

So, currently she sits at 15° initial, 18-20° vacuum and 20-21° mechanical, seems to work nicely. Pulls way smoother and accelerates without obvious flat spots or peaks in the rpm range. Still slow as balls though .
Big difference in tip-in and cruising was changing the vacuum advance pot, going from 10° to pretty much double. I can use OD around 60kmh again, previously it lugged quite badly at that speeds and would bog hopelessly if I were to give more throttle, now it doesn't mind hills or even slowly accelerating from around 60kmh. Though I've learned to use D in town, so I think I'll keep doing it for the trans' sake. The extra vacuum advance also helped the cruising AFRs a bit, they're quite spot on, depending on the temperature though. Going to the cruise night yesterday they were fine, but a wee bit leaner on the way back, as temps had dropped from 25°C to about 12°C. I might check what a +1 main jet will do, or I might drop a couple degrees off initial. No obvious stuttering or jerkiness, but I feel like going could've been a bit smoother.

Anyways, at yesterdays cruise night I had a chitchat with an acquaintance that recently got the right to work as a inspector for vehicles applying for museum/historical vehicle status. He took a quick once-over at the MGM, see if there's any point of trying for historical status. Not really, paint and vinyl top is too weathered and worn to pass honestly. Not much else to comment on.
Historical status would mean a considerable tax break aswell as eligibility for historical vehicle insurance, which is cheap. In reality historical status would save me about 400€ a year. It sure would be nice, but it would definitely be a long ROI considering the car would need a respray.

Today she got a long overdue wash, ought to wax her too now that pollen season is over and I don't have to do it all in a day.
White is a handy colour, even when absolutely filthy it looks pretty good from afar and it's posivitely radiant when actually clean. Too bad white is one of the most boring car colours ever. Like, you went to buy a new car and could pick any colour you wanted, and ya picked none! I'd love one in old-man-beige like Grand1's '79 Marquis.

[Tynnerstroem]

A fine looking car for sure! I for one like the color combination of white and red. It’s so very American and works so well on your car. The hubcaps make it look so stately.

It’s interesting about the tax. Where I live, any car is exempt from the annual tax as soon as it hits 30 years of age, at which point it also only does inspection once every other year and it’s exempt from most low-emissions zones in our big cities (handy for me living in the capital). That actually makes my Grand Marquis mega-cheap to run, especially considering that parts from RockAuto are basically free. This is regardless of the shape of the car though, but it sounds like where you are it has to be “nice” to qualify for something similar?

[Arquemann]

It’s interesting about the tax. Where I live, any car is exempt from the annual tax as soon as it hits 30 years of age, at which point it also only does inspection once every other year and it’s exempt from most low-emissions zones in our big cities (handy for me living in the capital). That actually makes my Grand Marquis mega-cheap to run, especially considering that parts from RockAuto are basically free. This is regardless of the shape of the car though, but it sounds like where you are it has to be “nice” to qualify for something similar?

In Finland when a vehicle is 30 years old, you can apply for museum/historical status. Then it needs to pass the museum inspection, which means the vehicle needs to restored or in excellent original condition, biggest points are visual condition and originality. Minor, period correct and inconspicuous are allowed to some extent, safety items excluded. It depends alot. Especially if the inspector is a stingy cunt.
Cars 40+ years old get inspection every 2 years and museum/historical cars every 4 years. Exempt from vehicle tax and can use historical insurance which is under 100€ a year.

I did not know that Sweden has emission zones, we don't have any in Finland, yet. Good to know every banana-shaped pilsnerbil is allowed in Stockholm and can piss off EV-snobs there too!

[DerekTheGreat]

I didn't care for white until I owned a white car. I like it. Practically every interior color goes with it, especially red or blue. Other great advantages are that it repels heat and is arguably the most durable pigment next to black.

[friskyfrankie]

I didn't care for white until I owned a white car. I like it. Practically every interior color goes with it, especially red or blue. Other great advantages are that it repels heat and is arguably the most durable pigment next to black.

Except on the Police CV's that chip like crazy! Was that a water based paint?

[Arquemann]

I didn't care for white until I owned a white car. I like it. Practically every interior color goes with it, especially red or blue. Other great advantages are that it repels heat and is arguably the most durable pigment next to black.

It also hides a rough paint job and orange peel very well
White is a very practical colour, but its still boring.

Except on the Police CV's that chip like crazy! Was that a water based paint?

A durable pigment means something else. You know all the red cars that have faded to pink? That's because red isn't a durable pigment.
And yes, the white paint on mine chips like hell too.

[Arquemann]

Well that wax job was an absolute travesty... Even Glym's SRP gets stuck in and kinda bakes on when buffing off in some parts of the car. Leaving horrendous swirls, changing neither the bottle, pad or buffing towel helped at all. Had to apply and buff off a couple times in some spots, mainly between the belt line and swage line on the passenger side and the trunk. A shitton of work just so it's less of a mess than before starting... Seems like the paint is deteriorating faster and faster.

I guess it's more glossy now, just highlights all the imperfections in the body panels and paint... Atleast the black streaks coming from under the side mirrors, handles and vinyl are gone again.
Considering a wax job is a ton of work, barely makes the car look any more presentable, Auto Glym SRP lasts for fuck all and I only really care about the ease of keeping it clean, I should probably be looking at other products for the paint. Maybe some sort of sealant or coating, something easy to apply that lasts long.

I might spritz some wet coat on top and get on with my life. Interior vacuum and dusting next up, probably gonna treat the dash to some vinyl/plastic conditioner.

Here's a couple shiny pics for you to gawk at, you should see how incredibly shit the paint actually is. Can probably find every type of paint defect under the sun...



Yes, it does chip alot:

[gadget73]

Ford white paint is bad about chips. Its single stage paint, not sure if that has something to do with it but every 80s-early 90s Ford with white paint I've ever seen either has a bunch of chips or no miles. My Mark VII has a lot of spots with touch up paint and plenty more that need it.

as for the fading, paint oxidizes in white, so its not like the paint is going to change color, it just gets dull. Red doesn't turn pink, its just showing through a layer of white haze. Buff it off and it goes back to red. Buff white oxidation off and its just shinier white.