1940 -356 engine with 1954 distributor !

Posted by Bill Butterworth On 2012/11/20 14:21:02

Just opened my 1940 356 engines distributor to replace points and found out the distributor is actually form a 1954 Packard! Distributor uses same cap and rotor but different points, the condense I'm not sure about. Any advice on this? Getting 54 points is not a problem, what seems to be a problem is setting the timing. My past experience with distributors is just loosing the tightening bolt and rotating the distributor to get the correct advance was simple. In this 54 distributor the tightening flange is fixed to the distributor outer case. This flange has two bolt holes for two tightening bolts one hole is round the other is elongated. So to adjust the timing, only one bolt can be installed in the elongated hole this is how it was done by the previous owner and the amount of adjustment is only what is allowed by the elongated hole for the second tightening bolt.
Am I missing anything on adjusting the timing with this distributor?
Thanks