Dual magnetic pickup distributor

[Z4life74]

Hello, 

I have a question that I have scoured the internet to find the answer to no avail. I have an early 260z that was automatic so it came with the dual pickup distributor. One for timing advance and one for retard (starting and when car comes to operating temp). My question is can I simply remove one of the pick ups in order to finish my MSD box install? My question was partly answered elsewhere however I believe that member is no longer active. This person stated that they converted their 2 pickup to 1 and it ran fine. Not sure how much truth there is to that because he did not elaborate on which he removed or what he did exactly. If anyone has experience with this please let me know. Im also aware people opt for the 280 dizzy but thats not an option for me right now as funds are low. Again if anyone has info or can point me in the right direction on what key words to search it would be appreciated.

[Stanley]

Electronic not points, right ?  The Chilton Z car manual covers all the various distributors and has simplified methods for setting them, so it might help. Or not. Or there might be a clue in the '74 FSM.

Why did they pick on the poor automatics with those crazy distributors. Put a distributor for a 4-speed and it will run way better, at least mine did.

[Zed Head]

Yes, assuming that you're going to use the pickup coil to trigger the MSD box.  You'll be using the two wires from just one of the coils.  Typically the wires are tied together though so it might be difficult to remove the other.  No need to remove one though, just use only one and leave the other as a spare.  

 

 

[Z4life74]

Copy that guys thanks for the responses. Im going to attempt to finish it this weekend. If it doesnt work I found a place where I could get a manual transmission distributor and try that route. 

[Zed Head]

49 minutes ago, Z4life74 said:

Copy that guys thanks for the responses. Im going to attempt to finish it this weekend. If it doesnt work I found a place where I could get a manual transmission distributor and try that route. 

If the distributor works now then the pickup coils are good, so it should work with the proper MSD connections.  If it doesn't work, it's not going to work with a manual distributor either.  Seriously, it's not complicated.  Two wires.  The hardest part will be figuring out which wire is positive and which is negative.  But I think the MSD instructions cover that, it's a common VR system problem.  Which yours is, a variable reluctor trigger.