John Z. brought up a point some time ago that if you need a 90 degree connector for the tach drive, then you don't have the distributor installed right.
I seriously suspect that my distributor is not installed right and I am looking for some good pictures. I am in the middle of installing the brackets for my ignition shielding and have noticed that the vaccum advance is pointing toward the firewall instead of the passenger fender. This equates to about a 90 degree difference.
If the vacuum advance is pointed in the proper direction, it appears the the tach drive connector is pointed even further back toward the firewall than it is now.
What I think I need to do scares me to death. I think I need to bring the #1 cylinder to the top, take out the distributor and install it so the vacuum advance points in the right direction and the #1 cylinder is on the rotor, and rewire the cap accordingly.....
Am I nuts thinking that way? I would also like to say that I did not put it in this way...

 

You're not nuts. You have it all figured out.

Check your gear for the dimple/rotor alignment while you have it out.

 

yeah, I'd say that's a sign that your distributor is installed just a few teeth off, prolly to accomadate the drive gear being installed 180 deg out.

 

I hate to sound dumb, but what is the dimple/rotor alignment?
Also, does anyone have a good picture of the driver's side bracket area as the throttle linkage goes thru the sheilding? I am curious how the oil tube to the gauge, the throttle linkage, and the tach drive look in their proper position.
Gracias.

 

There is a dimple in the bottom gear of the distributor. It should be on the same side as the "hot" end of the rotor. If the gear has been removed and installed 180 out, the dimple will be on the opposite side of the distributor from where the rotor points.

I bet JohnZ has a picture somewhere...

 

Without a picture I can't tell for sure, but an alternative would be to take the cap off, loosen the dist. hold down and pivot it to the proper position if there is enough movement without hitting anything. Bring the mark to TDC and then begin to reposition the spark plug wire in the cap to the correct firing order beginning with #1 from the position of the rotor. Keep moving around until all the wires are repostioned, then start it up and set the timing. Don't worry about the dimple thing unless you think the distributor was overhauled at some point in time. If it ran ok before you made this change, then don't worry about it.

 

That does make sense to me. I feel that my plug wires are orientated in the correct position (#1 is in the right front). The #4 wire is near the vacuum advance right now. That tells me that the vacuum advance is 2 positions off from the proper plug wire location.

 

This may make sense but if you blindly follow this, I suspect you'll be back with more questions.

It's a long story but it's been hashed out here and there somewhere around a million times. In lieu of somebody posting a picture, consult a Chevy service manual and heed the above on the distributor gear. There's only ONE RIGHT WAY for a distributor to be installed in a SB C-2. ONE WAY for the rotor tip/cap contact, tach cable, vacuum advance and correct spark plug wire indexing. That is unless your aftermarket cam gear is not indexed correctly. On passenger car engines of the period, you can cheat if many different ways.

 

Send me an email, and I'll send you a picture of the installed distributor with the wires marked coming out of the cap.

(I think I got this from John Z.)

 

Check out this post that I started.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...post1559707211

Yes, you will need to re-orient your distributor and get the canister in the right position. It may take some trial and error, but it does work. In the end everything should line up and you can get the shielding on.

 

This diagram might help. It's actually the instructions for replacing the standard distributor with the T.I. distributor after the timing has been set.

 

Purple,
I did see that picture and have it saved so I will be using it. Thanks.
It sure seems that once you put the vacuum advance in that position, it really pushes the tach gear to the firewall causing the cable to be a tight fit.
Thanks for everyones help. I tried to search, but apparently I couldn't find the exact match.

 

I just went through this with mine. The PO had it all screwed up so here is what I did.

Removed the number one plug, and grounded the coil wire.

With my thumb over the plug hole, bumped the motor on the starter (with a remote) until the pointer was at TDC, and I could feel the air pressure against my thumb (compression stroke).

I then printed the attached diagram to fit a full page, and placed each plug wire on the cap accordingly. Number one is traditionally just left of the disty window when you are looking from the front of the car.

I then removed the disty and reinstalled it with the can in the correct position (pointing at about the number six spark plug), and the rotor pointing just ahead of the number one plug terminal on the cap when the disty was all the way down.

You want to be sure you can rotate the distributor base far enough counterclockwise to get the advance you need (rotor turns clockwise) without hitting the intake runner.

Don't tighten the disty all the way down, and try starting the car as you slowly rotate the disty.

Once it's running OK, hook up your timing lite, block the vacuum line, and set you initial timing with about 10 deg of advance.

You may have to remove and install the disty a couple of times to get the can in the right place. If you have trouble getting the disty to drop all the way down, just bump the starter while gently pushing down on it.

Good luck,

Paul

 

Wish me luck, I hope to do it this afternoon!