I'm trying to figure out if I've just had 2 bad distributors or there's another issue with the motor. First distributor came apart internally after the retainer clip under the rotor button came off, allowing the rotor button holder piece to move upwards, which allowed the advance weights to spin freely, breaking the advance springs, and the truck died. Towed it home, found all of this damage inside the distributor, repaired and went out again. Apparently, the retainer clip I found to use didn't work so well and it happened again. Then I bought a "refurbished" distributor. It looked good and I opened it up to verify point gap, tightness of screws, etc. I verified the advance weights and springs. Everything seemed in order. After installing the new distributor I drove about 2 miles. The truck idled fine, but lost power as speed increased. Returned home and while truck was idling I noticed a clicking noise coming from the distributor. I removed and opened up to find the advance weight springs broken and one of the spring attachments broken off of the advance weight retainer plate. However, the retainer clip under the rotor button was still intact. Also, the advance weight pins on the retainer plate are loose and wiggle around. So, on this distributor, I'm thinking I just did not check it well enough. I just dropped in another distributor I took out of a spare engine I picked up last year. Before I start my truck again, I was hoping for some advice and/or feedback about other possible problems. Anyone ever seen anything like this? For some more background info I have good fuel flow. New tank, lines, fuel pump, and rebuilt carb. I pulled the rocker cover and checked the valve clearance. I've pretty much followed the tune up section from the manual. When the truck ran before the first distributor incident, it worked well. Good power, good oil pressure. Since then, it still started fine, idled fine, good oil pressure, just lacked power as speed increased. I'm sure do to no operational advance weights.
Thanks,
Scott