Distributor orientation??
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 579
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From: South Central Pa
Distributor orientation??
I think this was covered in a previous post, but, I tried something yesterday which did not work. The distributor orientation on my '62 has always been approximately 1 tooth clockwise further than it should be. Consequently, the vacuum can prohibits the coil from being mounted in its normal location. My thought was that, if I scribed lines on everything, pulled the distributor, used a long bladed screwdriver to turn the oil pump drive counter clockwise to the equivalent of 1 tooth, reinstall the distributor with all scribe marks aligning, and the orientation of the distributor cap now being in line with the carb and the vacuum can now away from the coil hardware, the problem would be solved. Wrong!!! When the engine was started, it acted as though the exhaust valves were still closed when plug firing occured, causing exhaust to be blown out the crankcase ventilation tube. I put it back to its original location and all was well. Experts, why the heck, didn't this work? What am I missing here?
Thanks!
Karl :banghead:
Thanks!
Karl :banghead:
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 38,897
Likes: 1,926
From: Washington Michigan
Re: Distributor orientation?? (kcust62)
The objective here is to have the vacuum can nipple pointing at the rear inboard valve cover bolt with the engine at #1 TDC and the rotor tip aligned with the #1 plug wire tower, which is the one immediately clockwise from the adjustment window as viewed from the top. Set the engine at #1 TDC (both valves closed on #1 cylinder), make sure the wires are properly indexed in the cap with #1 wire in the #1 tower, and install the distributor so the rotor tip is pointing at the point on the housing that corresponds with the base of the #1 tower on the cap. While the distributor is out, make sure the drive gear is installed correctly - the "dimple" needs to point in the same direction as the rotor tip, or the upper housing will be 14 degrees out of whack vs. its design position. When you're done, it should look like this, and you'll have adequate range of movement to set the timing correctly without the vacuum advance can hitting either the plug wire support bracket or an intake manifold runner:
:cheers:
:cheers:
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 579
Likes: 10
From: South Central Pa
Re: Distributor orientation?? (JohnZ)
John,
The orientation looked the same as your photo after reinstall and I checked the "dimple" before installing and it appeared to be pointing in the same direction as the rotor. I didn't, however, verify the plug wire locations in the cap. Just assumed they were correct. It runs good when everything looks out of whack, but, like poopie when it looks correct. Anyway, thanks for the tip and I'll have to double check everything I did.
Karl
The orientation looked the same as your photo after reinstall and I checked the "dimple" before installing and it appeared to be pointing in the same direction as the rotor. I didn't, however, verify the plug wire locations in the cap. Just assumed they were correct. It runs good when everything looks out of whack, but, like poopie when it looks correct. Anyway, thanks for the tip and I'll have to double check everything I did.
Karl
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 38,897
Likes: 1,926
From: Washington Michigan
Re: Distributor orientation?? (kcust62)
Check the wire indexing in the cap - a previous owner may have re-indexed them incorrectly to compensate for an incorrectly-installed distributor instead of pulling it and doing it right; I see this all the time. :thumbs:
Intermediate
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 48
Likes: 0
From: Ambler PA
Re: Distributor orientation?? (JohnZ)
The prior owner of my 327/365 did something similar. The distributor appeared to be randomly dropped in with #1 at TDC. Then placed the #1 wire where the rotor would line up and finished the firing order from there. I checked a few other cars to see where the VA can belonged, took the distributor out, put #1 at TDC and rewired from there.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 8,897
Likes: 1,357
From: Santa Ana CA
Re: Distributor orientation?? (kcust62)
When I wanted to "re-clock" my distributor (for the same problem), I pulled the pin and rotated the base 180 degrees and replaced the pin. This put the vac advance in just the right spot.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,620
Likes: 0
From: 20 forward gears to shift through in MD
Re: Distributor orientation?? (toddalin)
When I wanted to "re-clock" my distributor (for the same problem), I pulled the pin and rotated the base 180 degrees and replaced the pin. This put the vac advance in just the right spot.
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Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 579
Likes: 10
From: South Central Pa
Re: Distributor orientation?? (toddalin)
When I wanted to "re-clock" my distributor (for the same problem), I pulled the pin and rotated the base 180 degrees and replaced the pin. This put the vac advance in just the right spot.