Help. New distributor has no solenoid.

[rds]

Sorry for the dumb question but I'm not a technical guy. I just bought a brand new Cardone distributor from RockAuto for my 71 Newport Custom 383 2bbl and it doesn't have a solenoid like the original distributor. Is there an upgrade in the new distributor that negates the need for the solenoid? What do i do with the wires that connected to it?

 

[Big_John]

Sorry for the dumb question but I'm not a technical guy. I just bought a brand new Cardone distributor from RockAuto for my 71 Newport Custom 383 2bbl and it doesn't have a solenoid like the original distributor. Is there an upgrade in the new distributor that negates the need for the solenoid? What do i do with the wires that connected to it?

There are no dumb questions.

It's part of the "cleaner air package" that the feds required in 1971.

I don't see why you couldn't use that distributor. The wires can be insulated and left in place if you want. A piece of heat shrink tubing on each end would do the trick nicely. Or you can look at where they are coming from and just remove them. I'd probably leave them in place, or at least in place until I decided it was running well.

This is from the Factory Service Manual for a '71 Plymouth, which will be basically the same for a '71 Chrysler in a lot of areas. I strongly suggest buying either a used paper copy or an electronic version and you can find those on eBay. For the moment, you can download the '71 Plymouth chassis and the '71 Dodge body manuals to get you started. Service Manuals – MyMopar Unfortunately, they don't have a '71 Chrysler manual to download.

I also suggest you check the point gap in the distributor.

 

[CBODY67]

The solenoid was part of the emissions package that retarded the base spark timing at idle. Once off-idle, the ign was advanced to normal. Most of the solenoids failed with time, and they were NOT replaced, usually.

If you remove the wiring and contact at the carburetor plus the wiring to the distributor for the solenoid, it'll look "stock" as a 1968 situation did.

If you feel you need the solenoid for cosmetic reasons, just transfer the unit to the new distributor. Easy to do. Just a few screws inside the distributor. Make sure the old unit holds vac, though!

On your distributor, they usually ship with a generic advance curve, so you might check the advance of your distributor at 3000rpm first. Then put the new one in and do the same. Matching what the orig distributor did and then look at the base timing that results. Hopefully, it'll end up at about 10*-12*BTDC.

For good measure, DO check the point gap on the new distributor BEFORE any timing checks happen.

Let us know how it works,
CBODY67

 

[73Coupe]

I got rid of the heavy and clunky "retard solenoid vacuum advance" on my 71 and replaced it with a normal vacuum advance from @halifaxhops . Now, it looks better and there's a lot more room around the distributor.