Anyone heard of this brand of electronic distributor? Went over to my friend Jeff's house tonight to help him figure out why his 1956 Chevy had quit running. We were pretty sure it was the distributor since it had sheared the alignment notch on the rotor, but why?
We pulled the cap and when he cranked the engine the distributor didn't turn!!! What the heck?
Pulled the distributor and the shaft had somehow broken internally, so when the gear turned, nothing happened inside the cap. There's a little window that lets you see a bit of the internals below the plate, and it looked like everything was a mess inside, plus a little spring fell out that was much like the springs on the mechanical advance weights.
This is the first I've seen of this brand, and the first time I've ever seen a distributor shear internally.
Checked Fleabay and it appears these must be dirt cheap Chinese, as they're selling them for $34 buy it now! Steer clear of this crap, it's junk!

 

 

i seen those and was thinking of buying one. not now lol, thanks

 

I was somewhat concerned when he bought it, but figured it's his engine, so not my concern. Since I did the upgrades on the engine I got the call when it quit. Ended up costing him a little more money, since I wasn't going to warranty something I didn't buy.
we put a new Pertronix Flamethrower distributor in it. Much higher quality, but a tad over $200 too.

 

I bought one of the cheap ones from ebay last year,not sure if it's the same brand or not,but now i'm glad i ended up not using it.This is the second ebay distributor i have heard about recently,i sold a set of tires to a guy a few weeks ago that was telling me about his distributor doing the same thing and that he had got it off ebay for around $60.Although his lasted a little while though,he had it in a really built up motor and said it lasted almost 2 years,just the same though i'm glad mine never made it off the shelf haha.

 

From what I can find out, Pro Comp and RPC are the same distributor, and most are sold on Fleabay for cheap. I did a search there and after looking at both, they're identical.

 

I wonder if that is the distributor with the clear housing I was going to get? I'll have to check into that. Ideally I would like a Billet MSD or something like that.

 

No, it's an all billet housing with a chrome sort of block on the side that I think has the electronics inside. my friend with the '56 also has a MSD billet distributor if you're wanting one cheap. I think he waants $50 for it.
This is the RPC/Pro Comp like the one that self destructed:
PC Chevy Pro Electronic Distributor SBC BBC 350 454 427 | eBay

 

He wants $50 for an MSD billet? Can I see a pic, or is it in decent shape, if so, I'd take it.

 

Drop me an email and I'll forward it to my friend Jeff. Then he can send you a picture. Yes, it looked in great shape when I looked it over. asked him why he didn't just use it, and he said he'd forgotten he had it until after he bought the Pertronix.