I'm just about ready to remove my distributor (70 350/300hp) ... I'm planning on shipping it to Lars per my emails to him. I've read the Forum threads and Lars Tech Paper, but still have a few questions. I knew that I needed to mark both the rotor and distributor housing positions before removal, so I did that before I looked at the Forum info. Now that I've done both ... here's what I have.

The rotor is pointing at the #4 position. Do I need to get it pointed at #1 prior to distributor removal, or is it okay where it is now?

If I need to move it, how is that done?

Also, I've removed the distributor cap, holddown bolt, and coil connections, but the distributor is not loose. I don't want to force it, so what should I do to get it moving upward?

Thanks.

 

Lars took care of the distributor on my '69 last year. Great job, very professional to deal with, and he supplies great instructions.


Just leave your distributor pointed where it is, mark everything, and just put it back in the same way so everything lines up. No need to try and get it rotated to #1 position before removing.

If the hold-down clamp is out of the way, the distributor will basically just lift right now. You'll see the rotor shift slightly as it pulls up and out. Just put your hands under the base and pull up slowly and steadily. Give a little wiggle if you need to. It'll probably come right out.

Good luck!

 

As long as you have marked the rotor to the housing and the housing to the intake as long as you don't turn the engine at all with it out, you can drop the distributor right back on your marks. As far as the dist. not coming loose, I had the same problem until a buddy put a open end wrench on the base and broke it loose. I felt like an idiot for not even realizing you could do that.

 

the seal might be holding it, just give it a turn as stated above. When you go to install it, get a light and see which way the oil pump is facing so you can match it up once it's ready to drop in again.

 

The car is not moving until the distributor is back in place.

With your help it took me less than a minute to get it out ... and the best part is I didn't have to wonder if I was going to break something.

My best regards to all of you. Thanks soooo much!

Joe

 

Pull the + battery cable so there is no chance of the engine being turned. Also, scribe a mark on the intake manifold at the base of the dizzy shaft and transfer that mark to the adjacent area of the [shaft] housing. Then, when you remove the dizzy [it won't offer any resistance], the rotor will turn a bit (for the helical gear movement as you pull it out). Note where the rotor is pointing after it disengages the drive gear {pull it straight out}; that is where you will want to set the rotor when reinstalling it. Once you have installed the dizzy and lined it up with the intake scribe mark, the rotor should again point to #4 location.

 

Thanks ... I really like the details ... and my battery is not going back in the car until after the distributor is reinstalled.

 

To make things easy for re-installation, here's what I recommend you do:

With the distriobutor cap in place, make note which "tower" is the #1 plug wire tower. Take a black felt marker and place a mark on the distributor housing, just below the cap, where the #1 tower is located.

Next, remove the cap. With the cap removed, "bump" the engine over with the starter until the rotor gets close to pointing to the mark you just placed on the distributor. As the rotor gets close to the mark, take a look at your harmonic balancer: You want to "bump" the engine with the starter until your timing marks line up at about 10 to 15 degrees before TDC. At this position, the rotor should be pointing very close to the mark you placed on the distributor body. If you go too far and blow right by the 10-15 degree position, just crank the engine over and do it again until you hit it right: The timing marks should be in the range noted with the rotor pointed towards the mark you placed on the housing.

I would not recommend pulling the distributor in the #4 position unless you've done this operation a lot and you're very familiar with re-installation - you're going to have to get the engine to the #1 position for installation, and it's a lot tougher to do that after you've pulled the distributor out.

Remove the tach drive cable. Remove the primary wire attached to the coil. Remove the hold-down clamp. Wiggle the distributor back and forth while pulling on it - oil gum from years of use may keep the distributor from wanting to come out. Just keep wiggling and pulling until it comes out. You can even spray a little WD40 down the distributor shaft to loosen up some of the gunk if you need to.

If you leave the engine in this position (disconnect your battery to keep anyone from hitting the starter...), my installation instructions will guide you through the re-installation step-by-step with photos. If you want a copy of the install instructions before you pull things apart, just drop me an e-mail for the "How to Install Your Distributor Paper."
V8FastCars@msn.com
Lars

 

to reinstall, rotate crank with socket wrench clockwise until on #1 compression stroke, very simple to do once you buy the compression guage setup at your local Harbor Freight or Summit racing. Drop distributor in making sure you offset gear enough to put the rotor about #1 firing position when in. If pump doesn't line up with dist., have someone bump engine over while you apply downward pressure on dist, it will eventually drop onto pump shaft and not disturb where you initially put rotor to dist. Start engine, should fire right up, ad then set timing. If carb wheezes abd backfires, crank is not in #1 firing position but #6, so start over and get #1 compression. GOOD LUCK.................B

 

I realize everyone has their method that works best for them and allow me to say I respect everyone's individual methods. But why all of the scribing and marking? Why use the time that was spent marking and scribing and simply get the number 1 cylinder on TDC on the compression stroke?

If a person follows through with getting the number 1 cylinder at TDC on the compression stroke it then becomes feasible to stand back, close your eyes and drop the distributor in without looking. The only things to consider are where you want your vacuum advance and where you want your number 1 spark-plug wire to go. You must remember that where ever the rotor points when the distributor is installed is where the number 1 spark-plug wire goes. I usually consult with the AIM for the vacuum advance and number 1 spark plug wire locations. You may have to turn the oil pump drive shaft a little to get things lined up, but to me it's much more straight forward to do it this way versus all of the marking, scribing etc.

Incidentally, if you rotate your engine until you've reached your specified timing spec., say 8 degrees BTDC on the compression stroke, you may save yourself some time when it comes to setting your igntion timing.

 

I think that's what I just said in my post above - put the engine at TDC firing position on #1 (about 12 degrees BTDC), and then re-install the distributor in the correct factory orientation - you're right: You can do this with your eyes closed if you just put the engine at the #1 firing position as noted in my post. There is never a need to "bump the engine with the starter" to get the distributor to go in...
Lars