distributor gear play

[Peterfrans]

I discovered that my distributor has noticeable play. First thought was worn bushings, but on further checking it appears that the play is between distributor gear and the worm gear on the crankshaft. I worried that I might have the wrong size distributor gear (25.15mm), so I checked on a spare case (73) and crankshaft with three different distributors and they all show the same play. Is this considered normal???

[E Sully]

The play usually comes from the fiber washer disintergrating, leaving just the metal shim washers.

[Peterfrans]

Originally Posted by E Sully

The play usually comes from the fiber washer disintergrating, leaving just the metal shim washers.

Thanks, but that would account for the up and down movement of the shaft which is not the problem here. Two of the three distributors i tried are recently rebuild and dont have excessive up-down movement.

[BURN-BROS]

Peter,

The early distributors have the smallest driven gear, so the scenario of a wrong gear and excessive play would not come into play.

Excessive play scenario would be 3.2 drive gear (@ crank) with a 2.0-2.7 driven gear (@ dizzy)

The fatal scenario would be 2.0-2.7 drive gear with a 3.2-3.6 driven gear. This would cause a failure of the drive gear on the crank.

The gear(s) on the crank is most likely worn or the play you are witnessing is normal.

[Peterfrans]

Aaron,

I guess you are right, as all gear if fairly new and shows the same behavior (tried combinations of two cases, three crankshafts and three distributors), we need to file this under "works as designed".