if it isn't one thing its another. went to work last monday in the vette and was running fine. went food shopping after work and used my escalade. i put the roof on when i got home so i didn't forget it . tues morning i put my stuff for work in the car and when i go to start it it just cranked. jumped in escalade and went to work.

got home and checked that i was getting fuel and pressure was perfect. open up distributor and took module to the AZ down the road and they said it appeared to be bad. asked them if it appeared to have one in stock and went home and installed it. still no spark.

i had replaced the one wire that goes on the "left side" (2 pole)  of module and it was quite pricey. the plastic housing that goes to the pick up coil was cracking so i decided to just get a replacement distributor. with the way things go, i figured if i just wanted to replace the pick up coil, something else would need to be replaced so i took the faster way.

will be installing it as soon as i finish my morning coffee and get my engine running.

The pick up coil/pole piece is usually trouble-free, but...the wiring, and insulation is subject to deteriorate over time. Replacing the dist is definitely the quickest way to solve that problem, but....I'd hang on to the original, and repair it....always helps to have a spare on hand!
Hope that new dist. fixes it up, anyway!

it was a rebuilt one that i got so i have to return the core. put it in with a lot of cursing and got everything back and turned the key and car started and sounded great. took it around the block and drove ok.about a half-hour later i ran up to the convenience store and again ran great. was going home and turned to go to my street and car stalled out and coasted to the corner i live on. walked to house and got a wrench figuring maybe distributor moved.

walking back my neighbor asked if everything was ok and said i'd know in a minute. he and a friend of his came out and i couldn't get it started. they helped me push it to my house. knew he had to be a nice guy as he has a 78 c3 in his driveway.

checked it out and again no spark. only thing i can think of is i got a defective distributor. will have to get a replacement.

got a question. the msd ignition boxes that i see a lot of cars with, i know you have to wire them in and it uses the coil and distributor cap and rotor of the car. is that all it uses? i see it does away with the module but does it also bypass the pick up coil?