distributor moving around help please

-
C

col318

Active Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2015
Messages
35
Reaction score
1
Location
colombia
Hi there, i just finished rebuilding my 318... it fired right up the first time i tryed to start it good oil pressure and vacuum... The problem is that entire distributor its wobbling in its bore, i checked with a timing light and the timing was rock steady not jumping at all, the distributor its seating all the way inside the drive gear and the clamp was tight... I did replaced the oil pump/ distributor drive gear bronze bushing but i had to ream it to size by hammering the drive gear in, not hard but hammered anyway... No way to get special tool in this country... I did not replaced the drive gear because it looked fine

The distributor itself has no play at all and the shaft looks straight

Should i just do the obvious and replace the bushing and drive gear or there is something i might be missing here??

Camshaft end play was withing specs 0.006" or less

Any suggestions will be greatly apreciated.
 
I am confused as to what is actually wobbling, the distributor body? like the hole in the block is bigger than the cast aluminum body?
 
bushing worn in block

bad worn bent drive intermediate gear

something wrong camshaft

bend dist shaft or damage or wear to tang
 
Whats wobbling its the entire distributor body... the rotor its not hitting the cap i removed the distributor and it doesnt have side to side play in its shaft, air gap seems constant across all 8 reluctor tips 0.008" ....
 
Hint, hint. You hammered on the intermediate shaft.
 
Are you positive the tip of the distributor is in the slot of the intermediate shaft?
 
here is a video if you look at it full screen you can see the distributor dancing a bit :cheers:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0-uznyQQMg&feature=youtu.be"]distributor fail - YouTube[/ame]
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20150303_140029750.jpg
    47.4 KB · Views: 400
I guess keeping the camera still for more than five seconds was too challenging.
 
Either that or as suggested earlier the intermediate shaft bushing may have broken from the stress of hammering the shaft in.
 
Sure looks like the dist isn't clamped down tight to me. or something in the slot where the dist shaft "blade" goes into the int shaft holding it up a little bit??
 
RustyRatRod said:
I guess keeping the camera still for more than five seconds was too challenging.
Click to expand...

actually yes, the video was like 2 minutes long

i checked the bushing before installing the intermeiate shaft permanently and didnt noticed any breaking it might be that it just weared in seconds because of the "reaming"... when i say i hammered it i mean i used an old distributor shaft to hammer the shaft it in with a small wood hammer head that has no handle and then turned it by hand to """""ream it"""""" its not like i used a mallet to drive it in.

i also checked the slot, its clean but there is a little side to side play with the distributor tang is this normal??
 
looks to me like the shaft is bent. I would find another distributor to stick in there and see if it does the same thing, then you can eliminate that much of it.
 
col318 said:
actually yes, the video was like 2 minutes long
Click to expand...

Really? The one I see is 12 seconds and half that is spent lookin like a drunk has the camera.

But, if the distributor is tight, as said, I would check the intermediate shaft.
 
when you tapped it in where did you hit it? I have tapped the intermediate shafts in before but I use a long screwdriver and tap in the slot very lightly, I think you hit it on the gear and bent the shaft
 
Is the clamp actually tight against the distributor?

If not the bolt could be to long an bottoming out
 
I saw a distributor do that when a internally balanced engine had an externally balanced torque converter on it.

It was a 318 that someone had bolted up to a 360 converter
 
Does the distributor lift up off the deck when you release the hold-down bolt?
 
Heres what I would do. Remove the dizzy, clamp the body in a vice.remove the cap, spin the rotor, watch the driveshaft. Put a dial indicator on it if you have to. A bent shaft should be obvious. If dizzy shaft is ok, replace oilpump drive. This is not rocket science.
There is a 1 in a bazillion chance that the oil pump could be the source.
My money is on the dizzy.
There is one wild card; If the dizzy is not fully seated in the block, but is sitting on a slight angle. This will force the dizzyshaft to one side of the I-shaft. As the I-shaft spins it carries the D-shaft around in an off-center circle, which presents as a wobble of the entire dizzy. This can also happen if the I-shaft is up too high,(probably due to the bushing not being installed correctly) preventing the dizzy from seating properly.
 
I had the same problem when i put the dist in my 318. Wasn't down in the block all the way. Tapped it down with a hammer and long screwdriver...problem solved.
 
I've got that same issue on a police 318-4.

I've tried three different distributors in it.

All wobble.

Pretty sure it's the intermediate shaft, just too lazy to fish it out.

Engine doesn't have good compression, so I'll probably just scavenge parts off it.

Would have been nice to yard drive the car, though.
 
As mentioned,, the I/shaft prob isnt in far enuff,, so when you clamp the distributor down,, it crams the dist spade, down into the I/shaft slot in a manner that it can't "float" in the slot, thus transmitting the motion to the dist.. The dizzy is actually being pushed up..

If you can't get the I/shaft to tap down a little lower,, and you can't shim the dist up, perhaps consider grinding a bit off the bottom of dizzy shaft, just enuff clearance for it to "float".. jmo

hope it helps..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top