'74 CIS fuel distributor help please

[mike95125]

Here is the story:

So I decided to bleed my system which required pushing the plate in the air box up. "Wow" I thought, "that is stiff." And it was.
I recalled that when I had the system apart while rebuilding/resealing it I depressed the protuberance from the fuel distributor so that it went in......and it stayed there. I was concerned that I destroyed it at that point with that innocent action, but I figured that maybe there is no spring in there and it was pressure dependent.

Am I wrong? Is there a spring?

Fast forward to this morning, I reach in to find the plate very difficult to move. Hard enough that I looked in the book and questioned the obvious air flow direction as it would not budge......right away.

So it budged....and did not return to the normal down right position. So I pressureized the system and listened as this horrible, demonic bagpipe sound came from the unit. The protuberance did not protrude.

AM I TOTALLY SCREWED!?

The only thing that I can think of that would not spell complete disaster is that maybe the pressure had not built up yet as there was air in the system still. This may explain the bagpipes, but it could have been fuel turbulence. I am not sure as there theoretically should have been gas pumping out of the injectors, but none came out of the cylinders (my headers are off on the drivers side due to filling with fuel from the cold start valve).

Any ideas as to what is going on and am I completely screwed? As I am sure you all know, this part is not cheap or easy to find and thay say that you can not disassemble and fix anything inside.

I am soo friggen bumed. This is a potential show stopper.

[Elu]

I know the demonic bagpipe sound is normal...however the lever should drop back down. I press mine up once in a while when the car won't warm start. I had a mixture issue and before I had it adjusted I had to purge the air from the system. I believe that sound is just air passing through the CIS and if you smell your hand after you release it, you should smell gas.

Hopefully this bump will get someone to say if there is a spring or not. I think there is...but I'm not sure. I've never had mine apart.

[Walter_Middie]

No spring - just fuel pressure. I have had my fuel distributor apart - the plunger in the center needs to move freely. You can remove the distributor off its base, and the plunger will fall out. You don't have to take anything apart to clean the plunger. Clean it up and the hole it rides in on the fuel distributor, and try it again.

There have been threads about cleaning the distributor if you want to get crazy:

CIS fuel distributer cleanout w/pics

[mike95125]

Thanks for the tips. I need to see if I can get the plunger out now. Maybe a magnet? If not I may have to pressurize it and tap it. There was lots of air inthe system.

Thanks guys.

[mike95125]

Wow, that was some quick resolution

I plugged all of the outlets o the distributor and pressurized the system which forced out the piston after a short while. I extracted it, cleaned it and the bore and it works like a champ now. Thanks for all of the info.

How do you clean injectors? I have two that are flowing 1/2 as much as the other 4.

[Walter_Middie]

You're clear across the country, but this guy did my injectors. He does great work. I've talked with lots of locals that have used him also.

http://www.witchhunter.com/