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Really confused now

Discussion in 'Early CJ5 and CJ6 Tech' started by sparky, Mar 4, 2006.

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  1. Mar 4, 2006
    sparky

    sparky Sandgroper Staff Member Founder

    Perth, WA
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    As I have the distributor out and I'm working with it I started looking at it.

    The casting number is for a 225 OF.

    But my distributor looks like this:
    [​IMG]


    Not like this as it should:
    [​IMG]

    What in the world? It runs fine, more than fine, really strong. The MSD I have for it is for an OF V6 and it works. But the distributor has extra lobes on it for an EF. Plus the distributor is from a post '81 V6 with the module that's in it...

    I thought it wouldn't run with an EF distributor unless it was "converted"?

    Any ideas what's going on? Leave it be it works? R)
     
    sparky, Mar 4, 2006
    #1
  2. Mar 4, 2006
    mb82

    mb82 I feel great!

    Charlottesville Va
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    Leave it. Why fix something that isn't broke.
     
    mb82, Mar 4, 2006
    #2
  3. Mar 4, 2006
    sparky

    sparky Sandgroper Staff Member Founder

    Perth, WA
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    Not really purporting that I "fix" anything I guess. I'm just confused about what's going on base on what I thought I knew.
     
    sparky, Mar 4, 2006
    #3
  4. Mar 4, 2006
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    Does look like an EF
     
    Patrick, Mar 4, 2006
    #4
  5. Mar 4, 2006
    sparky

    sparky Sandgroper Staff Member Founder

    Perth, WA
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    EF module and 6 lobes not 3. :? Really got me confused.

    That's no my distributor pictured above, I don't have it that far apart but you can see the lobes...
     
    sparky, Mar 4, 2006
    #5
  6. Mar 4, 2006
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    That's what I have out in the garage; an EF dist. with an OF pickup coil...
     
    Patrick, Mar 4, 2006
    #6
  7. Mar 4, 2006
    sparky

    sparky Sandgroper Staff Member Founder

    Perth, WA
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    Yeah MOP and I did that buy you cut the 3 extra lobes off as in the illustration above, right?

    OR, does it not need that? Just needs a OF pickup coil and leave all the lobes?
     
    sparky, Mar 4, 2006
    #7
  8. Mar 4, 2006
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    Well, mine still has all 6 lobes.... And it never ran quite right, even with the OF pickup...
     
    Patrick, Mar 4, 2006
    #8
  9. Mar 4, 2006
    sparky

    sparky Sandgroper Staff Member Founder

    Perth, WA
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    Weird. I can't figure out how mine has run right with the extra lobes. I'm not gonna fool with it since it works, unless it stops working. Then maybe I'll just buy a DUI. R)
     
    sparky, Mar 4, 2006
    #9
  10. Mar 4, 2006
    vanguard

    vanguard

    evenfire crank?
     
    vanguard, Mar 4, 2006
    #10
  11. Mar 4, 2006
    sparky

    sparky Sandgroper Staff Member Founder

    Perth, WA
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    MSD wouldn't work and I couldn't run it 180* out could I?

    I know the MSD shouldn't work if it wasn't an OF and it definitely works.
     
    sparky, Mar 4, 2006
    #11
  12. Mar 4, 2006
    73cj5

    73cj5 Member

    Maine
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    Is the msd set for the wrong number of cylinders so it sparks on every other pickup? Could you have an even fire without knowing it?
     
    73cj5, Mar 4, 2006
    #12
  13. Mar 4, 2006
    timgr

    timgr We stand on the shoulders of giants. 2022 Sponsor

    Medford Mass USA
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    Well, if the spark arrives twice as often as it should, the spark plugs will be firing on the exhaust stroke as well as the compression. I'd guess that wouldn't matter, since there's no fuel to burn. It does mean that you are limited to, say 5000RPM instead of 10000 from the MSD box point of view. Just a theory...
     
    timgr, Mar 4, 2006
    #13
  14. Mar 4, 2006
    sparky

    sparky Sandgroper Staff Member Founder

    Perth, WA
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    No setting, it's a different PN for EF vs. OF. I have the OF PN.

    Tim, could be, seems like I read somewhere that a Porsche owner had an OF on his EF 6 cylinder and it didn't do well.

    The MSD kicks out a 3000 RPM or 3500 RPM I can't remember after that it can't make multiple sparks fast enough to keep up so it generates one big spark.

    Still that'd mean that the crank was swapped? Anyone done that here? With the different balancing how would that work?
     
    sparky, Mar 4, 2006
    #14
  15. Mar 4, 2006
    steverdenver

    steverdenver Member

    Denver,(Littleton...
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    I bought a new (from Pep Boys) HEI dist that was supposed to be an OF and casting said OF but it was and EF. The assembly plant was confused...
     
    steverdenver, Mar 4, 2006
    #15
  16. Mar 4, 2006
    sparky

    sparky Sandgroper Staff Member Founder

    Perth, WA
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    :? My distributor appears to be an EF I've not checked any numbers on it to see but I'm 99% certain it is. No vacuum advance, 7 pin module and 6 lobes contacting the pickup coil.

    So the issue is how the heck is it working in my engine not what is it.
     
    sparky, Mar 4, 2006
    #16
  17. Mar 4, 2006
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    OK, dumb question (maybe) do you have the OF cap and pickup coil?
     
    Patrick, Mar 4, 2006
    #17
  18. Mar 4, 2006
    sparky

    sparky Sandgroper Staff Member Founder

    Perth, WA
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    I'm guessing I do. But I thought with the extra lobes it wouldn't work. That gets back to what I asked a couple posts ago.

    Do you just need to swap out the pickup coil (and cap) to make the EF work in an OF? If so then why bother cutting extra lobes off in the distributor as the article on CJ Offroad has you do?

    I hafta admit, I don't know what the pickup coil does or how it works. If I did that'd probably help. ;)
     
    sparky, Mar 4, 2006
    #18
  19. Mar 4, 2006
    timgr

    timgr We stand on the shoulders of giants. 2022 Sponsor

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    But it has to be the OF module that straightens out the degree differences between the cylinders. With only 3 signals per rotation to fire 6 cylinders, it's got to make an interpolation. Remember that the distributor turns at half the speed of the crank.

    I don't think that's relevant. I believe the multiple sparks refers to within each cylinder ignition. When the timing comes around, at 1500 RPM, the MSD makes, say, 10 sparks of 1ms in length 1 ms apart, 20 ms duration. At some point it cant make a short enough spark to make separate sparks, so they merge into one spark.
     
    timgr, Mar 4, 2006
    #19
  20. Mar 4, 2006
    Patrick

    Patrick Super Moderator Staff Member

    Los Alamos, NM
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    The pickup coil is what senses the lobes on the shaft. The trigger. The OF pickup should have it's "points" (magnets) un evenly spaced.
    I was running an EF dist. with OF pickup and cap, and it never did run right.... Maybe it was a different issue, tho....
     
    Patrick, Mar 4, 2006
    #20
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