distributor recurve

Im trying to limit the amount of advance my dist puts out. cant i just cap the notch the plate slides in to reduce the amount it advances?I would rather do this than flip sides and have to swap my distributor position.

change the springs ,kits available from jegs

After seeing the problems you had starting that engine in a previous post, gotta ask if the vacuum can is good or even hooked up. Secondly and depending on the year of this engine, does it even have mechanical advance as some of the early FE's were only vacuum and with often a double vacuum chamber advance/retard set up. If this is indeed so, only a replacement distributor will 'fix' your problem. Other then that, you need some replacement springs as noted above by nunattax and find someone with a distributor table - which is really the only way to do the job right as spring posts need to be "adjusted".

yes it does have mechanical advance 10l and 15l. 15l being the operative one at the moment, vacuum advance backed out for now so there is no vacuum advance. it does work if i want it.My earlier problems i think are because i wasnt giving it enough advance to start it. Its set now at 14 initial. with 30 more added im looking at 44 total. i want to reduce amount of vacuum not control thre rate it advances.[ie. springs].Its making power, not pinging but i think theres more in it through dist.

turn the dist upper shaft and use the 10 degree side--then you can set initial to around 16 or so for good starting and off idle responce---turning the dist is no big deal and if your going to play with cars that still use a dist you need to fiqure it out and get good at it--

1--set the crank to where you want it to fire---16*
2--mark where the base is
3 mark where the rotor is

4--when done these marks should line up again

5--it'll work every time