New Commando Owner: 225 HEI tune up Question

[69Commando]

I just got a 1969 Jeepster commando. It has the automatic Transmission , and the odd-fire Dauntless Buick 225 V6 V6.

The guy I got it from installed a GM HEI distributor, and now it's time for a tuneup. I do not know where the distributor came from, and need help to make sure that it is set up correctly. When I first got the jeep it ran great, but now it's running really rough and backfires. I removed all of the spark plugs and one of them in particular was wet and smells like gas. I suspect that when I pressure washed the motor, I got water on to something that should not have gotten wet.

Please take a look at the pictures I have, to verify they are the right parts for the odd fire distributor, and make suggestions for what cap I need to get. The cap has one of the hold down areas filed off, which I'm guessing I'll have to end up filing down the intake manifold to make a new the new cap fit.

When I go to the part store to get a new cap and rotor, what application make model and year do I tell them that I'm looking for?

 

[Lumpy Grits]

:ww:

That's a great piece of Jeep history you have.

I would take that cap and rotor with you, into the store. I have had very good luck using NAPA for odd ball stuff like this.
LG

 

[69Commando]

:ww:

That's a great piece of Jeep history you have.

I would take that cap and rotor with you, into the store. I have had very good luck using NAPA for odd ball stuff like this.
LG

Thanks, the more I am reading, the 1976 Buick Skylarks 231 V6 has the cap I need, not just to find one in stock.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

When you do find the correct cap and rotor-Buy 2 of each.
Start keeping a logbook of makers PN's and where bought. It really helps down the road.
LG

 

[oldjeeplady]

Thanks, the more I am reading, the 1976 Buick Skylarks 231 V6 has the cap I need, not just to find one in stock.

We have the 225 V6 Dauntless Buick 225 V6 in our stock 67 CJ5 . We have an oddfire 231 V6 (last year of them) in our 59 CJ5 Resto Mod.

our 59 build thread: http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f98/1959-cj5-one-piece-time-21347/

From Rock Auto:

Distributor Cap KEMPARTS 1435
Rotor ACDELCO 01 D448X

Many of the parts are interchangeable between these two engines. When we did a minor rebuild of our 231 we used 1975 Buick SkyLark 3.8 L 231cid V6, as the vehicle when ordering parts.

We found a good source of engine specs on the Buick site:
1977 Buick Skylark Rebuild 231 V6 3.8L Odd FireBY JASON KARSTENS MUSICIANwww.reverbnation.com/jasonkarstens - Home

Hope this helps and and welcome to the forum!

Rockford? just south Of Wisconsin? .. are we neighbors?

 

[69Commando]

We have the 225 V6 Dauntless Buick 225 V6 in our stock 67 CJ5 . We have an oddfire 231 V6 (last year of them) in our 59 CJ5 Resto Mod.

our 59 build thread: http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f98/1959-cj5-one-piece-time-21347/

From Rock Auto:

Distributor Cap KEMPARTS 1435
Rotor ACDELCO 01 D448X

Many of the parts are interchangeable between these two engines. When we did a minor rebuild of our 231 we used 1975 Buick SkyLark 3.8 L 231cid V6, as the vehicle when ordering parts.

We found a good source of engine specs on the Buick site:
1977 Buick Skylark Rebuild 231 V6 3.8L Odd FireBY JASON KARSTENS MUSICIANwww.reverbnation.com/jasonkarstens - Home

Hope this helps and and welcome to the forum!

Rockford? just south Of Wisconsin? .. are we neighbors?

Good Info! Rockford, Michigan.

Further update, I removed the distributor in the previous owner had in, and found out it is for an even fire motor.

So now I really am starting from square one, and will need to get an entire distributor. Looks like CRT Performance has one, but I can't seem to get them on the phone to ask more questions about it.

Rockauto has a few options, I may end up getting the ACDELCO 88864758.

 

[JR74CJ5]

Its strange it was running great before pressure wash and crappy after with a odd fire engine and even fire distributor. I dont know much about these engines, but have always liked that the odd fire shouldnt run on paper and yet is a great engine!

I would see if you broke or sprayed loose a vacume line or something when pressure washing before going too far. Usual water contamination areas would be cap and rotor and carb / vac leak areas.

:ww:

 

[69Commando]

Its strange it was running great before pressure wash and crappy after with a odd fire engine and even fire distributor. I dont know much about these engines, but have always liked that the odd fire shouldnt run on paper and yet is a great engine!

I would see if you broke or sprayed loose a vacume line or something when pressure washing before going too far. Usual water contamination areas would be cap and rotor and carb / vac leak areas.

:ww:

I agree, it may be a coincidence, when I pulled the spark plugs a few of them where wet with fuel. Also, a couple of the plugs where not very tight.

 

[69Commando]

I am going to either go with the CRT performance or the Proform street strip distributor, from Summit. Anyone have experience with either? https://m.summitracing.com/parts/pro-67091

Now that I am using Tapatalk,here are some better pictures. Enjoy.

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[Hedgehog]

Before investing a ton of money, do a compression check. It's easy to do and will tell you a lot about the condition of your engine.

I find the relatively filthy condition of the inside of your cap to be telling. Electricity will travel if given a chance and should be fairly clean inside. Isn't the main difference between the even fire and odd fire dist. the cap itself?

Edit: I understand the attraction of a performance distributor. Consider this, a performance dist. is usually set up to run the high RPM's performance vehicles live in. Generally 225 V6's live at low RPM's so a performance Dist. sold at a premium is unnecessary. You can source stock odd fire distributors that will perform perfectly at your local NAPA store at a very reasonably price.

I love the snow plow. When I was young I completely believed that you couldn't buy a 4wd without a plow rig on it.

And that paint. If you follow the trends you would clean the paint and shoot a nice satin clear coat over it. ,,,,,,,,, On second glance, the rust might need some work.

 

[69Commando]

The trigger and the cap are both different. See picture. The odd has three stars and the even has 6.

The reason for looking at CRT is because of the drive gear, some of the over the counter parts houses I have read have hardened steel gears that will chew up the cam.


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[Hedgehog]

Incompatible drive gears are definitely a problem with AMC V8's. I'm not so sure about the Dauntless Buick 225 V6 . Is the cam gear compromised? If so you would be ahead by getting a matched set with cam and distributor gear. Generally the dist. gear will go on any distributor.

Thank you, I wasn't at all aware the trigger gear was different.

 

[69Commando]

Before investing a ton of money, do a compression check. It's easy to do and will tell you a lot about the condition of your engine.

I find the relatively filthy condition of the inside of your cap to be telling. Electricity will travel if given a chance and should be fairly clean inside. Isn't the main difference between the even fire and odd fire dist. the cap itself?

Edit: I understand the attraction of a performance distributor. Consider this, a performance dist. is usually set up to run the high RPM's performance vehicles live in. Generally 225 V6's live at low RPM's so a performance Dist. sold at a premium is unnecessary. You can source stock odd fire distributors that will perform perfectly at your local NAPA store at a very reasonably price.

I love the snow plow. When I was young I completely believed that you couldn't buy a 4wd without a plow rig on it.

And that paint. If you follow the trends you would clean the paint and shoot a nice satin clear coat over it. ,,,,,,,,, On second glance, the rust might need some work.

The paint is definitely very rat rod looking, which I like. You are right, there really isn't a whole lot of sheet metal left. However just enough that I will make a great plow jeep when I get it running good.

The best part about this project, is I had a couple seats out of a 2011 Volkswagen Jetta that actually fit really nicely and are very comfortable in the Jeep. When I got it, the stock factory driver seat slider did not work. Which was a problem since I am 6 foot 6 and could not get in to sit behind the wheel.

Before I had a fouled spark plug, the motor ran great and ran strong, so I went ahead and ordered a CRT distributor. After thinking about it a little more, I think I ran it too long with the choke on accidentally and caused it to run really rich and fouled a couple plugs. Which in turn led me to investigate The GM HEI The previous owner installed, which come to find out after talking to him again, he got it from a junkyard several years ago. So it is no wonder the Looks the way it does, I think it might even be an original cap.




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