Sayfoo

I have ALOT of slop in the bottom end of my distributor. Seems to work alright, but I think I should try to fix it. Saw replacement bushings in a catalog. Has anyone replaced these. Sounds alot cheaper than buying a rebuilt unit of questionable quality.
Also, anyone know who might sell these bushings besides the mail order company's?

lars

Replacement of the bushings is pretty straight forward, but installation of the upper bushing does require a tool to avoid damaging the bushing. The tool and the bushing are sold by Mid America and other vendors. The only tricky thing is getting the upper and lower bushings to align just rght so that the shaft is not in a tight bind. This usually requires knocking the upper bushing around a little to get it into the correct alignment with the lower bushing.

Depending on which way the slop is in your distributor, the bushing may or may not fix it... If you have vertical slop in the shaft (up and down), you need to shim the shaft end play using Moroso part number 26140. If you have lateral play (bushing slop), you need to replace the bushings. Keep in mind, however, that if the bushings are worn out, chances are very good that your mainshaft is scored and trashed as well. If you put new bushings on a scored shaft, the new bushings will self destruct very quickly. Replace the mainshaft if it's scored up in the lower bushing area.

commando57

If the timing mark is not jumping around when viewed with the light
he should be safe, for the time being, right?

Tom454

Depends.

If you have a mechanical Tach Drive, it (cross gear & shaft gear) won't like the slop... either vertical or horiziontal.

You may not be able to see the timing variation.

Excessive endplay allows the distributor main shaft/gear to move up & down relative to the cam gear... causing your timing to vary. Most-times you can see it with a timing light, sometimes you can't.

Sayfoo

Slop is side to side. I think I'll give the bushings a try. Thanks for the info.

clem zahrobsky

after you replace the bushing i would drill the housing for full pressure oiling to help prevent this from happening again. the bottom bushing only gets oil from the hole in the housing above the bushing depending on it to run down the shaft on the cast iron ones and the aluminum housings only get oil splashed up from the bottom. hi pressure oil pumps add to this problem because of the extra load to turn them

norvalwilhelm

After going through a few bushings myself I drilled a 1/8th hole in the area where the distributor passes through the oil gallery. This allows pressurized oil to pass through the hole and lube the bushing. The larger hole and I did drill a second one allows the oil to escape.
Originally I believe the hole was to allow oil to enter the distributor housing and lube the bushing.
I also file a groove about .030 wide and .030 deep to allow oil to lube the distributor gear.

norvalwilhelm

Sorry Clem I didn't see your post until I had already posted.