Broke down in Moreno Valley SC distributor needed

[kjchristopher]

Headed out to Texas. Looks like the bearings in my distributor went south. Lots of side play, broke the rotor. Any suggestions for parts or repair? 213-842-2363 or kjchristopher@gmail.com

['76 911S 3.0]

If you are in a real pinch, I have the bushings that were removed from my SC distributor during it's rebuild (the guy who rebuilt it said they were in excellent shape and didn't really need to be replaced). I have them in my garage in Orange County and the guy who rebuilt my distributor did it out of his garage just off the 5 and 91 freeways in Anaheim.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Walter's Porsche in Riverside can tow, procure parts and repair.

[kjchristopher]

Turns out there are 144 new distributors in Germany. Only $1500 - $1700 to get them here, and not in my timeline. Unfortunately, the 911 ended up on a U-Haul trailer. I'll look into rebuilding once I settle in at the new house. This may speed up my planned AEM conversion. I've got the Infinity system on my race car and love it.

[kjchristopher]

Anybody familiar with the differences between a 1978 distributor and a 1982 distributor? Is it just the vacuum can?

My particular 1982 is a 3.2 short stroke (Mahle pistons/cylinders) with 964 cams, FYI. And I don't use the retard function on the distributor.

[Gordo2]

I previously had worn bushings in my '83 distributor. You could grab the rotor and feel the shaft wobble inside of the housing.

At some point the wobbling rotor ate away at the contact points inside of the distributor cap and finally broke the metal contact off of the rotor - the vehicle died and wouldn't start.

I was about 2 miles from my home when it happened. I ran home and grabbed a used / old rotor and cap (no clue why I held onto the crap), slapped it in and drove it home.

I ended up driving the vehicle another ~3k miles before I got around to fixing the distributor bushings (its not like the bushings went bad all of a sudden...).

Link to bushing replacement if you decide to DIY 83 SC Ignition Distributor Bushing Replacement

Bottom line - the engine will run for quite a while with worn dizzy bushings, and a replacement cap and rotor can get you out of a bind and avoid a tow.

Meanwhile, I wouldn't drive it too much with known worn out bushings - if the shaft wears into the dizzy housing, I think the whole dizzy becomes scrap at that point.

Food for thought in case anyone else ever finds themselves stranded due to the worn bushings and destroyed cap & rotor.

Good luck, Gordo