I now have ESC!

[bruce]

Gentlemen,
I now have have electronic timing and spark control. WOW!! what a
difference!

It now idles smoother and has even more torque. I set the initial
timing to 4* as that is what the 454 Bin is set to. Step on the gas and
it seems to just GO now... very impressed!

I didn't get many knock counts, but its also very windy here gusts
25-40mph so I had to pay attention to the road and the steering. Coming
back was head-on into the wind, bit it still had more get up and go.

Hardest thing was getting the distributor in. Pulled it out and checked
it over trying to figure why it would not go down several times..
suddenly it just slipped in.

[Gordon Seykora]

Bruce;
IIRC the Hex on the shaft means you have to catch the correct tooth on
the cam?
Which distributor did you use. I have lost the list of information and
can not find which OLDS distributor works? I seem to remember a 1984
OLDS 305 is one of them with the 7 pins.
Gordon

[George Beckman]

Oh, yeah, it is great.  Congratulations. 

A bit of help with distributors; sometimes when you change distributors, the gear vs. the hexagonal oil pump shaft receiver are mismatched with the previous distributor.  I Was trying to put my distributor in exactly at the same rotor reference point and it would only go to one side or the other.  Turning the oil pump shaft slightly allowed the distributor to drop right into place.  (Don't drop a socket down there!)

On Oct 31, 2009, at 11:40 AM, bruce wrote:

I now have have electronic timing and spark control.  WOW!! what a difference!

It now idles smoother and has even more torque.  I set the initial timing to 4* as that is what the 454 Bin is set to.  Step on the gas and it seems to just GO now... very impressed!

----

Best Wishes,

George

http://www.pggp.com

[George Beckman]

Gordon,

Here is what I used and found:

I decided on a rebuilt distributor as it seemed pretty cheap and that way I new the module was working and the bearings would be good.   I believe there is only one company doing them.   It is a Cardone 30-1873    This one comes with a 7 pin module and I did not have a pigtail to plug into it.   I had to go to the moon and back in a goat's mouth to find one.  Finally found one in Rimrock, AZ.

Here is a paste of the list of cars O'Riley's Claims it fits.   Remember that it must come from a V8:

Buick back to top 

1981 - 1989 Electra

1986 - 1987 Regal

1981 - 1990 Lesabre

1981 - 1985 Riviera

Cadillac back to top 

1987 - 1990 Brougham

1986 Fleetwood

Chevrolet back to top 

1986 - 1990 Caprice

Oldsmobile back to top 

1981 - 1984 98

1980 Cutlass Salon

1981 - 1990 Custom Cruiser

1985 - 1987 Cutlass Salon

1980 - 1981 Cutlass

1980 - 1988 Cutlass Supreme

1985 Cutlass

1980 - 1985 Delta 88

1980 - 1985 Cutlass Calais

1981 - 1985 Toronado

1980 - 1983 Cutlass Cruiser

Pontiac back to top 

1981 Bonneville

1981 Parisienne

1981 Catalina

1986 Parisienne

1981 Laurentian

1987 - 1989 Safari

On Oct 31, 2009, at 11:50 AM, Gordon Seykora wrote:

IIRC the Hex on the shaft means you have to catch the correct tooth on the cam?

Which distributor did you use.  I have lost the list of information and can not find which OLDS distributor works?  I seem to remember a 1984 OLDS 305 is one of them with the 7 pins.

[Gordon Seykora]

George;
I am going to now create a file on my desktop to put a copy of this
information in. I will also shotgun multiply copies throughout my
computer. This is how I compensate for my rapidly increasing CRS.
Thanks;
Gordon

[Randy Van Winkle]

This distributor should fit an Oldsmobile 307 V8 (or 5 liter). This was a popular engine and it was used in all the vehicles on George's list. They had a lot of engine options during these years. I had a hard time finding this engine in the different cars I looked. I finally found it in the Cadillac listed. By getting mine at the men's mall, I was able to snip the wires to get all of the pigtails.

Randy (who took the distributor out of the Caddy in the rain)
Eleganza II "403"

--- On Sat, 10/31/09, George Beckman <gbec...@pggp.com> wrote:

[Ken Henderson]

A piece of plastic tailstock for a sink just fits inside the distributor
hole. I stick it in any time I tinker there, such as inserting a socket
on an extension to turn the oil pump shaft. I've heard of even the hex
shaft dropping into the pan.

Ken H.

George Beckman wrote:
> ...

[Ken Henderson]

George Beckman wrote:

Gordon,

Here is what I used and found:

I decided on a rebuilt distributor as it seemed pretty cheap and that way I new the module was working and the bearings would be good.   I believe there is only one company doing them.   It is a Cardone 30-1873    This one comes with a 7 pin module and I did not have a pigtail to plug into it.   I had to go to the moon and back in a goat's mouth to find one.  Finally found one in Rimrock, AZ.

Here is a paste of the list of cars O'Riley's Claims it fits.   Remember that it must come from a V8

This is a little more complete list for the Cardone 301873 from Rockauto.com.  Just remember to get one with no vacuum advance:

BUICK	ELECTRA ESTATE WAGON	(1981 - 1989)
BUICK	ELECTRA LIMITED	(1981 - 1984)
BUICK	ELECTRA PARK AVENUE	(1981 - 1984)
BUICK	LESABRE	1981
BUICK	LESABRE CUSTOM	(1982 - 1985)
BUICK	LESABRE ESTATE WAGON	(1981 - 1990)
BUICK	LESABRE LIMITED	(1981 - 1985)
BUICK	REGAL	(1986 - 1987)
BUICK	REGAL LIMITED	(1986 - 1987)
BUICK	RIVIERA	(1981 - 1985)
BUICK	RIVIERA T-TYPE	1981
CADILLAC	BROUGHAM	(1987 - 1990)
CADILLAC	FLEETWOOD BROUGHAM	1986
CHEVROLET	CAPRICE	1987
CHEVROLET	CAPRICE CLASSIC	(1986 - 1990)
OLDSMOBILE	98	1981
OLDSMOBILE	98 REGENCY	(1981 - 1984)
OLDSMOBILE	98 REGENCY BROUGHAM	(1982 - 1984)
OLDSMOBILE	CUSTOM CRUISER	(1981 - 1990)
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS	1980
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS BROUGHAM	(1980 - 1981)
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS CALAIS	(1980 - 1985)
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS CALAIS SUPREME	1985
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS CRUISER	(1980 - 1983)
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS CRUISER BROUGHAM	(1980 - 1981)
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS LS	(1980 - 1981)
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS SALON	(1980 - 1987)
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS SALON 442	(1985 - 1986)
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS SALON BROUGHAM	1980
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS SUPREME	(1980 - 1987)
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS SUPREME BROUGHAM	(1980 - 1987)
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS SUPREME CLASSIC	1988
OLDSMOBILE	CUTLASS SUPREME CLASSIC BROUGHAM	1988
OLDSMOBILE	DELTA 88	(1980 - 1983)
OLDSMOBILE	DELTA 88 ROYALE	(1980 - 1985)
OLDSMOBILE	DELTA 88 ROYALE BROUGHAM	(1980 - 1985)
OLDSMOBILE	DELTA 88 ROYALE BROUGHAM LS	(1984 - 1985)
OLDSMOBILE	TORONADO	(1981 - 1985)
OLDSMOBILE	TORONADO BROUGHAM	(1981 - 1985)
PONTIAC	BONNEVILLE	1981
PONTIAC	BONNEVILLE BROUGHAM	1981
PONTIAC	BONNEVILLE SAFARI	1981
PONTIAC	CATALINA	1981
PONTIAC	CATALINA SAFARI	1981
PONTIAC	LAURENTIAN	1981
PONTIAC	PARISIENNE	(1981 - 1986)
PONTIAC	PARISIENNE BROUGHAM	1986
PONTIAC	SAFARI	(1987 - 1989)

Ken H.

[Gordon Seykora]

Thanks;
Gordon

[Terry Taylor]

OK, If anyone is interested, I did a little more digging and found that
A dist that may work for us is a
Cardone 301873 (based on Georges post on 10/31. Autozone carries it for
$111.99 and RockAuto
has it for $97.79, but of course, you still need the wiring harness.

One of the nice things that RockAuto does is provide a list of other
vehicles that use the same part,
I have attached a text file and an Excel spreadsheet with those listed.