Rebuild an MSD Distributor

[CC57]

Well the more I disassemble, the more “surprises” I find.

 

Does anyone on here have any experience rebuilding a MSD distributor?

 

I’ve part# 85501 (no advance assembly, rotor plate welded directly to the oversized shaft, mated with a MSD-6A)

 

Took the distributor cap off before putting the distributor back in the engine and ….whoa!

 

The MSD Magnetic Pick-Up replace¬ment is rusted very badly, including the contact area where the reluctor passes. The reluctor is pitted and corroded. And a snap ring, where it goes I don’t know, was rusted so bad it fell apart in 3 pieces while I was inspecting the distributor. Heck it’s a wonder the engine was performing as well as it was with all of this.

 

Anyway, I’m reluctant to send it to MSD to rebuild, for the following reasons:

 

1) Possible price gouging. The reluctor they sell runs $55. What appears to be the same reluctor (look up 76 Ford pick-up) runs $10 from O’Reilly’s.

2) Their repair facility is in El Paso. Anyone read the news lately with all the issues on the TX- Mexico border?

3) Takes 7 – 10 business days after receipt before they’ll ship it back. I’ve already wasted enough time getting this car back together.

 

But I guess the most compelling reason is it doesn’t appear that it would be too difficult to rebuild, but I would like an experienced eyes overseeing my first go at this.

 

Appreciate any assistance.

[KISS_Racing]

I sent a 6AL back to them. They are top notch people, I had 4 blown diodes and 6 burned resistors. They fixed it and sent it back at no charge to me for repair or shipping it back to San Antonio. My 6AL was 4 years old and came with the racetruck when I bought it.