ELEFUNTMAN

Mine stopped on Thanksgiving day, went home, unhooked the cable from the distributor, spun the cable by hand with my fingers while wife watched the tach inside, tach works! Good news for me, went to the local corvette shop and they had the distributor parts, new shaft, gear and bushing and all works great.

The distributor is much easier to R&R than the instruments. My car has 106k on it, maybe you will have the same issue, it was all dry and crusty inside the distributor, not very good lubrication from the factory.

D-FRESH3

I replaced my tach cable a few months ago. I was able to lay on my back and remove the cable without pulling the dash. It was very tight, but it worked with a little patience. Give it a try before you pull it.

Dnaper64

Thanks Buns , good to know i didn't cause more problems and understand a little more how these things work

Dnaper64

Finally back at fixing the tach issue:

the tach worked when I put it in a drill in reverse, I just pulled the distributor and pulled the cross gear out , the gears are worn down or missing in one area , I looked in the hole and it looks like the shaft is also worn down in one section, see pictures of both.

question: can I just replace the shaft and cross gear , is it that simple , the car is running great so I don't want to mess with something that is working well. if I can just buy the shaft, can I pull the shaft out and put the new one in along with the cross gear, or are there other parts I just replace

Tampa Jerry

Looks like it's time for a rebuild. You will need a new shaft and cross gear. Since you have to replace the shaft, why not have the entire unit rebuilt with new bearings etc. I would check to see if Lars has time to add you to his schedule. He could check the vacuum can, set the curve. Do a search for his contact information. Jerry

lars

No, you can't just replace the parts. The reason the gears stripped out is because the crossgear has worn itself into the distributor housing thrust surface and bored a counterbore for itself. It then sinks into its own counterbore, which causes it to lock up and strip out. If you replace the gear, it will lock up almost immediately and strip out again. You have to machine a new thrust surface insert and repair the damage to the distributor housing before you can replace the parts.

Also, the metallic debris filings have gone down your mainshaft, and your lower distributor bushing is now completely trashed. The lower bushing needs to be replaced and honed to fit/align with the shaft and upped bushing.

Lars

Dnaper64

Thanks Lars, this may be more than I can do with limited tools and certainly not the experience. do you still rebuild distributors? do you have contact information that I can call or email you direct

thanks

Dana

lars

Yes, I can fix it and set it up right. Just e-mail me for my info package on my services.

Lars
V8FastCars@msn.com

Gary's '66

Go for it Dana! I can guarantee that you won't regret it. He did a terrific job on my distributor and he's VERY reasonably priced. Lars is the best!

Gary