Well the engines back in. The pistons were checked from above with a borescope and are OK. Cylinder walls are ok also. Engine is all but running in car...except for the timing.

They are having a probem with the distributor. They measured it with vaccum connected and it was reading 54 degrees advanced. By adjusting the distributor it would only go down to 32 degrees but it would not idle.

When I drove it in it was idling fine and seemed to run ok except for the clatter of the conrod bearings.

The distributor was clocked one turn by Lars to ease stress on the distributor tach drive when we re-installed it (1/8 a turn).

If they connected up the leads to the stock location then it would be out 360/8 = 45 degrees. Can the engine run with the leads being rotated by 1/8 turn? If so then it explains why it is doing what it is.

ie With the distributor rotated the rotor would point at a different lead then stock as it was 45 degrees out.

I forgot to tell them it was clocked one cylinder. Explains why they thought it was out 45 degrees yet I never experienced any PING. Pretty much verifies that the engien had a bearing clearance issue as the timing was still spot on.

Will let them knowin the morning. I was just about to order a new distributor too!

Pete