Vacuum Advance Problem

[MPolzin@xxxx]

Just to give a bit of background, I have just completed replacing the engine on my one of my Deloreans due to severe engine damage caused by the previous owner. I picked up a used engine with 22K miles on it, and installed this in the car, and an having an issue with the vacuum advance.

The car starts right up, and runs well when it is cold. When cold it runs normal, idle is normal, and there is no unsual sounds. As soon as the car warms up and the vacuum advance kicks in on the distrubutor to advance the timing, I can hear a clicking sound coming from the distributor. It sounds like metal on metal, and the timing is not being advanced as it should. If I put my hand on the distributor I can feel it rumbling a bit as if it is trying to advance the timing but fails, and retrys, etc.

Anyone have an idea as to what might be causing this? My next step is to pull the intake off and pull the distributor assemly out and take a look at it, but I've never done anything with a 'D' distributor so I'm not sure if this is something that I might be able to service or not? 

One thing I did notice when I got the engine was that the rotor was broken, so I'm curious if the distributor could be damaged by dropping something on it (thus the broken rotor and perhaps damaged distributor)? 

Anyone know if you can pick up a replacement Bosch distributor at Pep Boys or another auto store, or Boch part number for it? Thanks

This car is inches from seeing the road for the first time in three years, so any help would be appreciated.

Mike Polzin

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