The
"Rotor" is the thing that spins underneath the cap that send the spark
from the coil, through the points to the cap,
Sorry,,,I am not trying to nit-pic here, but with all of the young
people we have on the list, I think that for their own understanding of a
distributor that the above statement should be clarified
The "Rotor" is the thing that spins
underneath the cap that send the spark from the coil
that statement is true
the spark from the coil goes to the middle post on the distributor cap,
to the rotor, which turns and makes contact with the outer (spark plug
wires) posts on the cap
through the points to the
cap,
this statement is wrong, or misleading at best,,,, the points actually
are what open and close making a complete circuit to power the coil, which
in turn causes the coil to send out a spark (to the rotor),,,,,, the actual
spark does not go through the points
Those of you who totally understand a distributor can disregard the
rest of this email, on the other hand if the workings of a distributor
are in the grey area of your tech, please read on and I will go a bit deeper
.
A distributor is one of the final steps
of getting the spark to the sparkplug's at the correct time to cause the
engine to run correctly, it begins at the crank, which is connected to the
cam by means of a timing set, usually consisting of two gears and a
timing chain, the timing set keeps the crank and cam in time with each
other, causing the valves to open and close at the correct time with the
position of the pistons. On the cam is another gear drive, which turns
an intermediate shaft, sometimes called a distributor or oil pump drive, the
distributor drops into the top of the block, and is driven by this gear, the
distributor housing turns freely while sitting in the block, and this is
where your timing is adjusted with use of a timing light attached to
the #1 plug wire and aiming the light at the HB to see the timing
marks. At this point the distributor starts doing it's part which
consists of several things, as it turns, it mechanically (points type
distributor) opens and closes a set of points which completes the
circuit to the coil and causes the coil to send out a high voltage charge
from the coil to the center terminal of the distributor cap which goes
back inside the cap and to the rotor which is turning with the engine,
as the rotor turns it completes the high voltage circuit
between the coil and the individual plug wires located around the outer part
of the cap, and delivering the HV charge at the correct time to
the sparkplug, causing the fuel in the cylinder to fire.
Any one of the above mentioned items being worn can cause an engine to
either not run correctly or not run at all.
To all the people that read through this long post, please feel free to
add and or correct my statements,,,,,Let the truth be known,,,
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