79 Chrysler 115 distributor swap

[Nickmell]

I have a 79 Chrysler 115 with no spark. I've been chasing spark for years and have installed a CDI electronics upgraded CDI box part#115-3301 . I think I have it narrowed down to the preamp in the distributor but new ones aren't cheap. I did manage to find an older point style CDI off of a 70hp Chrysler for a great deal, does anyone know if I would be able to run the points distributor off the updated CDI? I plan on calling cdi in the morning but thought I'd ask here first. Thanks

 

[Nordin]

Yes you can swap the distributors, the electronic dist. (one with the preamp) has two terminals.
One for the blue wire (ignition from keyswitch) and the white/black wire (trigger CDI box).
The older dist. with points has only one terminal for the white/black wire.

You just isolate the blue wire and leave it. It purpose is to feed the preamp with 12VDC voltage and with points you do not need it,

Set the points gap to 010 and do not set the tension of the drive belt to tight.
It can bend up the shifting from forward/reverse to neutral.
With a 008 thick feeler gauge tip pointing at the belt mid-point it should start to bend when the belt flexed about 1/4 in when pushing in.

When installing the dist. the curved line at the pully should follow the flywheel rim when the #1 (top) piston is at TDC.
Set the timing at WOT to 30dgr BTDC.

 

[Nickmell]

Yes you can swap the distributors, the electronic dist. (one with the preamp) has two terminals.
One for the blue wire (ignition from keyswitch) and the white/black wire (trigger CDI box).
The older dist. with points has only one terminal for the white/black wire.

You just isolate the blue wire and leave it. It purpose is to feed the preamp with 12VDC voltage and with points you do not need it,

Set the points gap to 010 and do not set the tension of the drive belt to tight.
It can bend up the shifting from forward/reverse to neutral.
With a 008 thick feeler gauge tip pointing at the belt mid-point it should start to bend when the belt flexed about 1/4 in when pushing in.

When installing the dist. the curved line at the pully should follow the flywheel rim when the #1 (top) piston is at TDC.
Set the timing at WOT to 30dgr BTDC.

Awesome thanks for all the info, I'll give it a try.

 

[Nickmell]

Yes you can swap the distributors, the electronic dist. (one with the preamp) has two terminals.
One for the blue wire (ignition from keyswitch) and the white/black wire (trigger CDI box).
The older dist. with points has only one terminal for the white/black wire.

You just isolate the blue wire and leave it. It purpose is to feed the preamp with 12VDC voltage and with points you do not need it,

Set the points gap to 010 and do not set the tension of the drive belt to tight.
It can bend up the shifting from forward/reverse to neutral.
With a 008 thick feeler gauge tip pointing at the belt mid-point it should start to bend when the belt flexed about 1/4 in when pushing in.

When installing the dist. the curved line at the pully should follow the flywheel rim when the #1 (top) piston is at TDC.
Set the timing at WOT to 30dgr BTDC.

Well I might have screwed up. The distributor I bought is from a 3 cylinder and I was thinking I could just switch bottoms with my 4 cyl... That's not going to work with the points system is it?

 

[Nordin]

You need a distributor cap for a 4 cylinder and I do not think yours from the electronic dist. fit.
You need one for a 4cylinder with points.

But check your electronic dist. cap. It might fit, I am not 100% sure.

 

[Nickmell]

You need a distributor cap for a 4 cylinder and I do not think yours from the electronic dist. fit.
You need one for a 4cylinder with points.

But check your electronic dist. cap. It might fit, I am not 100% sure.

Cap looks the same as mine but I haven't tried it yet. At least I'll be able to test and see if this resolves my spark issue and if so I found a rotor on eBay. Didn't even think about the 3 cylinder difference untill I unboxed it.

 

[Nordin]

Of course you need a rotor shaft with four cam.
I forgotten that.
In total, you can swap electronic dist. with a points dist. but you need a dist. for a four cylinder engine.