Carrera Distributor taking apart and reassembly

[88-diamondblue]

Thr first part of this is from Carrera Distributor Mechanical Advance? After having one of the fiber washers break in my distributor the play in shaft of the distibutor was excessive. The distributor needed to be disassembled. The pin at the bottom of the shaft is soft metal which is deformed on both sides, one more than the other. Tried driving the pin out of the shaft to get the gear off, I just deformed the pin even more. Credit to Aaron (BURN-BROS) on the tip to grind the end of the pin off and drive it out. Ended up at Van's, an alternator repair shop in town. They tried to remove the pin with an arbor press but no luck, so they ground the end off and punched the pin out (sorry no pics of this part). They had the hardened steel shims (washers). From there the shaft came right out.

The next step was to remove the piece that the rotor goes on. There is a small snap ring holding it on. Tried using small picks to get it off but no luck with that. Ended up using two screw drivers to pry the shaft up, it came off but the snap ring was launched into space never to be found. If you do this cover the top with a shop rag to contain the snap ring. After getting it apart I just cleaned, lubed and re-shimmed.
I sanded the shims with 1500 grit sand paper to debur the washers. Put the gear back on and put a roll pin in. Reinstalled the counter weights and springs and feels like new. Will see how it works at the end of March.

[88-diamondblue]

Am trying to find a part number for a solid pin. The roll pin is going to be replaced by a solid pin that is deformed at each end to keep it in place.

[ghnat]

Nice writeup. I'll be doing the same on mine. What did you use to re-lube?

[BURN-BROS]

Michael, the Pin is available from our host. You've done a great job on your dizzy and should be happy with the results.

[rusnak]

There is a company in Los Angles that will rebuild the Carrera distributor for $150-. I would have gone that route, but my distributor exploded, leaving my 911 stranded in Oakland, and I had to spring for over $650 for the new one from Porsche.

One note of extreme caution: I think Milt mentioned that the little gear on his distributor came off, went around the crankshaft, and put a hole in his case, destroying it. Also, if you send your distributor in to get rebuilt, you get all new springs, rotor, cap, gear, etc.

[88-diamondblue]

I used a white lithium grease to assemble. Nothing was wrong with my distributor except for the broken fiber washer. All the clearances were fine. The roll pin will be replaced with the correct solid pin. If the gear comes off, the pin was not installed properly or the distributor failed and sheared the gear off. The cost for this repair was $8.00 for the removal of the pin, a new gear pin and cost of hardened washers. The shop only wanted a couple of bucks for their time tried to give them $10 and they took $6.

A thanks to Aaron (BURN_BROS) for all the info & help he provided.

[Determined]

I recently did mine as well, nice work and write up.

Alex

[Gunter]

Question:
Can you get at the weights/springs by removing the circlip on the top and prying up on the rotor parts to get them off the shaft?
Or is it absolutely necessary to remove the pinion gear and slide the shaft up to get to the weights?

And: What is the small screw for under the felt?

[88-diamondblue]

Gunter,

Taking the springs and cir-clips off will get the weights off. There is no screw under the felt, it is a wire cir-clip that holds the piece that the rotor fits on in place. No need to remove the gear unless you need to reset the lash on the shaft. The fiber washer broke out on the top side and only way to fix it was to remove the gear.

[Gunter]

Michael:
The distributor on a SC must be different.
There is a screw under the felt in the center of the shaft.
There is a circlip on the outside of the shaft where the rotor sits.
I don't want to remove the gear if I don't have to but at this point don't see how to get to the weights for cleaning.

[Gunter]

I solved the mystery by servicing 2 distributors from 3.0 SC's without removing the pinion gear.
For details, go here:

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

[BURN-BROS]

3.2s came with either circlip retention or Machine screw . The SC IIRC only had the machine screw.

[fredcalero]

Can anyone tell me where I can buy one spring as seen on the photos above? fredcalero@comcast.net

[doug petty]

I've got a question.
Does the centrifugal advance on a carrera dist really work since the dme controls timing.

[rick-l]

Originally posted by doug petty
I've got a question.
Does the centrifugal advance on a carrera dist really work since the dme controls timing.

Go here previous thread and read what Cris Bennett says

[DRACO A5OG]

Hey Carrera Guys,

Today, I heard this horrible wobbling buzzing sound in the right side of the engine compartment and my car hesitated and bucked in low gears. less in 2nd then none in 3rd. But the sound was there through out the RPM's and appeared to follow the speed of acceleration.

As she idled, I placed my hand on the distributor and felt the buzzing sound eminating from the distributor cap. She hunted alot.

I opened up my distributor cap to find a piece of what seems to be broken or sheared off piece of metal which appeared to be a washer of some sort. I was baffled until I saw this thread.



I proceeded to remove the cap but cranked to close to TDC and marked exactly where it was as not to mess up the timing.

When I removed it, the shaft had alot of play on the shaft moving up and down about 2MM. I spun the shaft and guess what? "BUZZ". It isn't a metal to metal grinding but more like rubbing of the upper spring housing unto the distributor housing. I guess the washer retained the shafte in the center position which permitted only the bearing to work.

Sorry if my explaination is a bit convoluted.

QUESTION/HELP... Does anyone know the order of placement of the flat washers, specifically inside the distributor? I plan to remove the pin and take out the shaft but have no idea where the replacement washer might go. I will use the rolled pin method to reassemble.

Hey Rusnak, just incase where is Distributor Rehab Shop in L.A.?

TIA

[euro911sc]

Draco,

Not sure on the Carrera, but the SC (looks exactly the same as the pic above) has the bigger metal washer against the housing of the dist. on the top and the bottom. then comes the Phenolic washer, then the smaller metal washer. So the order is mirrored top/bottom. Aaron says to replace the Phenolic with other hardened metal washers or you can order a dist rebuild kit for 912/356 from Stoddard and the kit has 1 in it. See my post:

Replace dist. washers with different material?

Kit also has many other hardened washers if you choose to use those. End play should be 0.005"-0.010" per Aaron.

Enjoy!

-Michael

[DRACO A5OG]

Michael,

Thank you so much!!!

Unfortunately did the repair before you posted.

My distributor was missing the larger shim/washer and phelonic washer on the top portion. I was a bit worried about putting too many shims but it did feel wierd that the play is still so loose.

I placed 4 0.010 MM Stainless Steel 18-8 Shims.

.005-.010 MM end play, really? OK need to redo and meet the tolerance.

I think the Distributor was rebult and done incorrectly or could all the shims/washers have grinded away (170K Miles)?

Thanks again,

Hey Rusnak, you out there?

[DRACO A5OG]

OK, placed washers to take up the play, now the tolerated play is 0.010 MM .

She started right up!

May need to replace the upper inner bushing inside the distributor housing and retaining clip for one of the springs, does any one know what type they are, Stoddard does not sell them. All I can see is that it is black in color and some type of plastic for the bushing and a piece of metal looks like a double flanged piece that goes on the pin which holds a spring. I temporarily bent out the pin a hair so it will be harder for the spring to slip out.

TIA

[rusnak]

Hey Drago,

Sorry about that bro. I went out of town and I'm just now catching up on email and getting work done at the office.

It sounded like your distributor was going bad at first, but when you said your washer fell off, it sounded even worse. You don't want too much play or the shaft can break, or you can lose the gear into your crankcase. If that happens then it'll go around until it puches out through your crancase somewhere else.

I think you have it fixed though. Remember to take the felt out and put some motor oil in the shaft, then replace the felt.