VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 1927 Distributor

I have a 1927 huckster which I believe is built on a car frame. It has the 4 cyl engine and a 374-A distributor. Is this the correct distributor for that year? The car runs but it runs rough. I put new valve springs on and that helped a good bit, now all cylinders are firing. But it's still not smooth, sounds like it misses sometimes and dies at low rpm. It has new plugs and wires and I confirmed the firing order (1,2,4,3) is correect (it wasn't when I bought the car). I think next is replacing the points and possibly cap / rotor. If this is the correct distributor for the car, anyone have suggestions where I can get parts? Any other suggestions what I should look at to make it run smoother?

Thanks,
Mark

Hi Mark,

Welcome to the site! You'll find a wealth of info and good folks here.

If the engine is early-to-mid 1927 (see the manufacture date on the block), according to the parts book, looks like you have the correct distributor. See http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/parts/1916_28/cp4cm48.htm

If the engine is late 1927 or 1928, the correct distributor is the 635B.

There are a few vendors that carry parts for these oldies-but-goodies. The Filling Station, Marx Parts, Gary Wallace and some others.

With my '28, it runs much smoother after a good tuneup. Clean and gap the points, scrap the carbon off inside the distributor cap and rotor, etc. Timing is very important.

Cheers, Dean

If your engine is an early 1927 one,then the timing for No.1 cyl to fire is set with the spark lever in the full retarded position,with No.1 piston right at the top of its compression stroke(Top Dead Centre),ready to fire.The point gap is 0.030",and the spark plug gap is the same.If the rotor is out of postion you'll need to follow the owners manual(a handy thing to have)on how to re-set it to its proper position.And you need a good "hot" spark plug with a long reach,such as Champion W89D,Auto-Lite 3077,or if you can find them,a set of AC78s plugs.

Thanks for the info. Where is the serial number on these engines? All the numbers I've seen look cast so I was assuming the were part numbers. Also, how do you adjust the timing? The 27 service manual I have and the 28 owners manual don't talk about setting the timing of the distributor. They only discuss the timing of the crank and valve cam.

Thanks

Hello
Before throwing a bunch of parts at your engine to try and make is run smoothly, I would suggest doing a dry and/or wet compression test or cylinder leak down test if you haven't already, to check the condition of the internals of the engine. Low compression pressures from pitted valves that don't seal tight or worn piston rings causing engine oil to bypass the rings and mix with the gas and excess compression pressure bypassing the piston rings can all cause rough idling or rough running at low engine speeds. Until you verify this, no matter what you change will have little or no effect on the running of the engine.

If you have never done a compression test on an engine, most older Glenn, Motors, Mitchell and/or Chilton service manuals have a tune up section in them that tells how to take a compression test of an engine plus other useful info. Some of the manuals are still available at libraries.

Another useful website is Old Online Chevy Manuals or http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/ which is chock full of good information.

We have the points, rotor and distributor cap in stock for your 27 Chevy with 374A distributor. The set is pricey ($165.00) so I would make sure these are bad before replacing them. We also stock engine, trans and differential gaskets and make up spark plug wire sets. Please see our web site www.marxparts.com

Regards Bob@marxparts

To time your ignition do the following:
Remove the plugs(makes turning the engine over easier)
Remove valve cover
Turn the engine slowly,watching No.1 cyl intake valve (2nd valve fro the front of the engine)opening then closing.
After it has closed,hold a small diameter piece of wood dowel down No.1 plug hole,and continue turning the engine over very slowly,until the dowel stops moving upwards.This is the top dead centre(or upper centre)firing position for No.1 cyl.
With the spark lever in the full retard position(assuming your engine has a REMY 374-A distributor)make a white chalk/crayon mark on the distributor body in line with the lead tower that has the No.1 cyl plug lead.
Remove the distributor cap,and note the position of the rotor metal segment.It should be pointing at or very close to the white line.If it isn't in line with the white mark,remove the rotor button,slightly loosen the breaker cam nut,and crack the cam(it has a tapered bore and fits onto a tapered shaft)free,rotate the cam(with the rotor temporarily fitted)until the rotor segment is directly in line with the white mark.
Snug the cam retaining nut down slowly,using the rotor to prevent the cam from turning.Once it's just snugged down,tighten the cam nut right up.The breaker points should just be beginning to crack open.If they aren't,loosen the small locknut on the fixed point stud and adjust the breaker gap to 0.030".Re-tighten the stud nut.
Re-fit the rotor button & cap,ensuring the leads are in the correct firing order,1,2,4,& 3.
Hope this helps you out.

CJP's 29
That is the clearest explanation on ignition timing i have read well done.
keep up the good information.
cheers peter

I adjusted the timing following the directions here. I also found that the points were not correctly aligned. After fixing those two issues the engine runs better, I can actually take it down to idle now and not have it die. It's still rough however. I suspect the carb needs attention next and I'm sure that the timing, while much better, is not perfect.

Thanks to all who provided info.

Mark

Hi Mark,

I noticed that nobody answered your question about the manufacture date of the engine.

The date is among the numbers cast in the block that are near the distributor.

Here are a couple of pictures of that side of the engine:

1927 Chevy engine pic: http://www.vccatas.org.au/anatomy_vintage.html#Engine

1928 Chevy engine pic: http://www.bearmetalkustoms.com/car...images/cars/andystruck/andystruck009.jpg

The casting date for the '28 is located under the Chevy bow tie and to the left of the distributor. I believe the '27's date is right behind the distributor.

The date has three components:

1. The first is a letter (A-L). This indicates the month of the casting (A=Jan, B=Feb, C=Mar, etc.)

2. The next item of info is a number (1-31). This is the day of the month that the engine block was cast.

3. The third item of info is another number that indicates the year (7=1927, 8=1928).

Notice in the pictures that I pointed to that the '27 has a single exhaust port, whereas the '28 has two exhaust ports. It's not uncommon to find a '28 head sitting on a '27 block.

Also, notice that the '28 engine has push rod covers. The '27 did not.

After you really determine what you have, then you can move forward in researching how to set it up and get it running well.

Cheers, Dean