73 IH dump truck quite.

[snowstorm]

I seem to recall there might have been at least 3 different distributors for that engine, depending on application.  Yours is later production, so that might simplify your search.

prestolite and holley the 3th? delco ??

[snowstorm]

Pertronix ask you to get the number off the distbutor and see if they can match it to the right kit. I'm not one hundred percent positive that it is a 549, that is what I was told, but the owner wasn't sure. I am going the try and confirm the engine identification.

the cubic inch of the motor is cast in the block. it is a v8?? 2bbl or 4? as i recall some of the v8's 304 345 392 478 549. in line 4cl was half of a 392 in line 6 401? 450 they had replaceable liners. just before ih dropped gas motors they came out with 404 446 ans a 537 all v8's

[snowstorm]

"North River Energy" I did a little digging and looked up Pertronix electronic conversion kits like "John Woodworth" talked about earlier in this post and if I can figure out which kit goes to my distributor I might just get one. "whiskers" are you talking about wiring a line directly to the coil from the battery and putting in a switch of some kind to make sure there is juice on the coil if this happens again? When we put the points back on we did find a solderless conection that was some what loose, but it looked very clean. When the truck shut down we coasted a good 75 yards, the alt guage was showing a positive 13 volts or better. I believe the motor was still rolling over " automatic trans". I flipped the ignition switch off and back on several times no split, or sputter, nothing.

got a picture of what you call solderless conection. cleaning up the points with sandpaper or what ever you had on hand wasnt that unusual yrs ago

[snowstorm]

and after setting the point gap your timing light will go to cyl 8 not 1. ih timed on #8. i can look up timing specs if you find out what motor you have

[North River Energy]

Snowstorm,
Was thinking variations on the distributor design, not so much the manufacturer.  Mine has some form of internal governor, and I think I've seen at least one or two others that did not.
The tarnish on the contacts seems to respond best to a small abrasive pad on a die grinder. :-\

[pineywoods]

A few observations from nearly 3/4 of a century of messing with old breaker point ignition systems..Some of them had what might appear to be a governor, it's actually a timing advance mechanism. Advances the ignition timing at higher rpms...On corroded contacts , the culprit comes from 2 sources.. The breaker points have a plastic block that rides on a cam, 8 lobes on 8 cyl engines, 6 or 4 accordingly. That cam needs a smidgin of grease, don't over do it, just a film of grease,otherwise it slings off and contaminates the contacts. The other problem is water, not from outside moisture though. The distributor mechanism sits in a hole in the block that is open to the crankcase cavity. Especially on older engines with worn rings and lots of blow by, the crankcase is full of combustion products under some pressure. That stuff will seep up the distributor shaft and fill the body of the distributor. Yeah, there is a seal, but I never heard of anyone changing it. We don't think about it, but a large part of combustion products is water vapor. Fill the distributor with crankcase gases and when it cools down, the water vapor will condense out, all over everything. Contact points are usually tungsten, which corrodes quickly in the presence of water...
Now for your old IH, I doubt the problem was corroded points. Most likely you inadvertently fixed the problem by removing and re-installing the point assembley.  There is a terminal block on the body of the points, 2 wires, one hot wire, the other goes to the condenser. The brass terminals on those wires only clears the metal distributor base by 1/16 inch. If they get cocked sideways a bit when the nut is tightened, they may actually touch against the distributor base. Add some corrosion and vibration and you get exactly what you described here.
Ben there a few times... ;D

[whiskers]

 
[/quote] got a picture of what you call solderless conection. cleaning up the points with sandpaper or what ever you had on hand wasnt that unusual yrs ago
[/quote]

wire end crimp connectors, terminals, butt connectors. sorry no picture.

[nastcat]

I am now trying to confirm the identity of the engine in my truck. I have attached some pics.

Looking down into the engine compartment from the passenger's side


Lower on the passenger's side


Looking down into the engine compartment from the drivers side


Lower on the driver's side


A peak looking through the dog house


Here is the information off the side of the driver's door

The door plate says CERT. NET  H.P. = 224 @ 3400 R.P.M. and  CERT. GR.  H.P. 251.5 @ 3600 R.P.M.

Any help I recieve will be appreciated

[nastcat]

"whiskers" these are what I was refering to as solderless conncetors.




"pineywoods" I hope you are right and I guess we will try to see how things go with the truck. I am going to throw some new plugs and wires on it, maybe a coil to be safe. 

[snowstorm]

it may be a 478. look on the side of the block under the exhaust manifolds. the ci number should be there and they are about 1". its been a while since i was under one

[snowstorm]

Snowstorm,
Was thinking variations on the distributor design, not so much the manufacturer.  Mine has some form of internal governor, and I think I've seen at least one or two others that did not.
The tarnish on the contacts seems to respond best to a small abrasive pad on a die grinder. :-\

i dont think i have ever seen an ih gas truck motor without a governor. way back when. while  i was going to tec school i worked at a mopar ih dealer. we always checked the governed rpm as part of predelivery. as i recall all the v8"s were 4000rpm

[North River Energy]

Nastcat,
I don't think that's a 549. Mine has the distributor off the front to the passenger side. I'll try to get a picture later today.
Snowstorm, I can't remember where I saw the alternate distributors.  Might have been with some of the literature that came with the truck, might have been on the Red Power forum. From what I have read, that motor was also used for stationary pumps etc.

[nastcat]

Dang it, I liked the sound of "549". Oh well I guess I will see if I can make sure by checking the side of the block for the CI number. Not easy with the butterfly hood. I found the pertronix electronic ignitor and a 40,000 volt coil for this distributor. It will cost about a hundred bucks off ebay. When I was looking for these I used the numbers from the tag on the distributor. The tag gives a IHC logo and the number indicates that it is a holley distributor.

[North River Energy]

You might like the sound of '549' (and it does have a nice exhaust note as well :laugh:) but from what I read, you'd expect to see around 3-4 mpg. I've only used mine as a site truck, so can't confirm that number.

[nastcat]

Yeah, it isn't that important which engine, just that I can make it dependable. From what I read 3-4 mpg is what I can expect out of either engine. I plan to mostly use the truck on my property, rarely on the road.