Distributor question

[Scott R]

I've been searching the archives for hours, and I must be missing something. I was testing certain aspects of my distributor and I found that I can pull the center shaft up by the rotor about 1/2" inch. If I'm reading some of the older threads correctly this means that I have excessive vertical shaft play?

Also what I perceive to be backlash in the shaft is also pretty sloppy... what to do?

[gtihop]

yup that's what you have. Just went through all that and rebuilt it. should have .004" up and down play- not very much. search some articles about rebuilding it- not too hard to do.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by gtihop

yup that's what you have. Just went through all that and rebuilt it. should have .004" up and down play- not very much. search some articles about rebuilding it- not too hard to do.

What I'm seeing is that the rebuild is easy, getting the parts on the other hand is not.

[jpnovak]

Does the rotor turn itself when you pull up the 1/2" If not, I suspect that your rotor mount on the centrifugal advance mechanism is loose. Pull off your rotor, pry out the piece of felt under the rotor and check the screw to see if it is tight. Tighten the screw and that should solve your problem. Don't forget to put some oil on the felt when you put it all back together. This keeps the advance mechanism lubricated.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by jpnovak

Does the rotor turn itself when you pull up the 1/2" If not, I suspect that your rotor mount on the centrifugal advance mechanism is loose. Pull off your rotor, pry out the piece of felt under the rotor and check the screw to see if it is tight. Tighten the screw and that should solve your problem. Don't forget to put some oil on the felt when you put it all back together. This keeps the advance mechanism lubricated.

Everything is loose, but I'll check that shortly and report back.

[Scott R]

OK, the screw behind the pad is tight, the entire shaft is moving, bottom to top.

[gtihop]

I used steel washers that I got from a local electric shop.Took a bit of trial and error to get the clearance right but it worked well. I bought the gear pin from the porsche dealer for 2.30 . Drilled out old pin was the easiest way to get gear off. The effort was woth it- cars runs really good now.

[Scott R]

Well, isin't this interesting:





Ok, what exactly is missing?

[Scott R]

Oh man it gets worse, one spring was floating around inside the housing, the little tang that holds the spring is all bent to hell and a chunk is missing from the weight unit. DOES IT EVER END!

[gtihop]

Could be like mine- the PO had the springs reversed and the vac lines switched at the throttle body!
On the bottom-1 steel shim, 1 fiber shim and 1 steel shim. Inside I used all steel shims and added/subtracted to get the proper clearance. There are some really good pics of what the weights and springs look like- I'll try find them and send them.
Search dist thread under my name about a month ago, you'll see some members that posted really good rebuild procedures.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by gtihop

Could be like mine- the PO had the springs reversed and the vac lines switched at the throttle body!
On the bottom-1 steel shim, 1 fiber shim and 1 steel shim. Inside I used all steel shims and added/subtracted to get the proper clearance. There are some really good pics of what the weights and springs look like- I'll try find them and send them.
Search dist thread under my name about a month ago, you'll see some members that posted really good rebuild procedures.

Thanks a ton for the pics! The spring has one end on the magnet, and the other on the base. The little plastic piece, tiny little butterfly looking thing is cracked, and the tabs are gone. So the spring just flew off at some point.

About the vertical play, I just pulled the drive gear off and I ended up with the exact amount of shims you stated above, now can you tell me where to add the additional shims when I put it back together? (barring that I can find a way to repair the spring retainer.

[gtihop]

put the shims inside the housing below the advance plate. put an approx amount of shims to take up the play, reinstall gear temporarily and measure endplay with a feeler guage. Add or subtract these shims to get the proper clearance. I used steel shims from an motor rebuilding shop. When you finally put drive gear on, make sure the new pin is installed and peen the ends over so it doesn't come out. This must be done or the pin and gear will come off= new engine!
as far as the spring retainer- try a tiny dab of expoxy to hold the end of the spring over the retainer or find a used one

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by gtihop

put the shims inside the housing below the advance plate. put an approx amount of shims to take up the play, reinstall gear temporarily and measure endplay with a feeler guage. Add or subtract these shims to get the proper clearance. I used steel shims from an motor rebuilding shop. When you finally put drive gear on, make sure the new pin is installed and peen the ends over so it doesn't come out. This must be done or the pin and gear will come off= new engine!
as far as the spring retainer- try a tiny dab of expoxy to hold the end of the spring over the retainer or find a used one

I corrected the spring keeper by decreasing the eyelet of the spring, also not per a previous poster the springs were on the wrong sides, long vs. short, stupid PO.

I'm going to ask my mechanic for shims tomorrow, and thank you very, very much for the advice on where to install them.

[RoninLB]

other holtjv pics


Distributor service (Clean and lube) real easy without removing the pinion gear!

[Scott R]

OK, was just finishing up the rebuild today, and I installed the new roll pin in gear. How do I insure that the roll pin stays in? Can I tack weld it? Maybe something else?

[gtihop]

what i did was flare the ends over with a punch and hammer. it sort of mushrooms each end so that it won't come out. easier with a person holding the dist and one person with the hammer/punch.

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by gtihop

what i did was flare the ends over with a punch and hammer. it sort of mushrooms each end so that it won't come out. easier with a person holding the dist and one person with the hammer/punch.

Thanks once again for the advice, I'll flare it in my shop press tomorrow.