Pinto Car Club of America

I have a 1980 Pinto Runabout that I am trying to fix after an engine fire. The fire killed the distributor & I have one that I rebuilt for the 1977 sedan I have. The vacuum advance on the 1980 is a bigger unit & looks like it could be a dual vacuum unit. What is the difference in the two distributors & can I get by with the one from the 77 for now?

Thanks for any info!
Matt

Matt, the distribuitor is the same on a 77 as a 80 and the only difference is its either a duel or single vaccume advance. The dual vacuum distributors used the port closest to the distributor body to retard the timing. I forget the reasons why (I believe it was for emissions reasons), but I wouldn't use one unless you're trying to do a concourse restoration. They don't work well. If the engine starts to overheat the thermal sensor (vacuum tree) opens the port to the back side to retard the timing until engine reaches proper temp. The vacuum lines run through a thermostatic vacuum tree that locks out vacuum advance until the engine's water temperature comes up to about 160 degrees. Another emissions boondoggle.And if you develop a vacuum diaphragm leak on one of these dual vacuum distributors you can experience some really weird timing problems until you finally figure out what happened.

Sounds good Brad, thanks.

I'll go ahead & strip it of all the bad parts & more than likely make 2 good distributors out of 2 bad ones. I got a regular one that has a bad plug & stripped threads for the distributor cap but good single vacuum advance. Better than to throw away stuff if there are parts I can salvage.