I am a novice when it comes to distributors so this is probably a stupid ques. I have a 71 tach drive distributor. On the opposite side of where the tach drive gear goes is a small (approx 1/8" id) hole in the housing. Does something go here? Something definitely came out of it today while I was blowing the crud out of the housing with compressed air. Don't know where the darn thing went :confused: Could it have just been a plug of old dried up grease/oil ?

John

 

John,
If you had the tach gear and brass out you might of lost the plastic button that the tach gear rides on. If the gear and brass were in the distributor you probably blew some crud out. ...redvetracr

 

I had the gear out but don't recall seeing a button. I will have to check the new drive gear to see if it comes with one.

 

John:

Lars asked me to post this response to you since he cannot access the CF from work. You can e-mail him at lars.grimsrud@lmco.com.
________________________________________ _
John -
The part that came out of your distributor is the cross gear thrust button,
or what was left of it. Different year distributors used different styles
of buttons - many used a small plastic button that was held in the housing
with a small roll pin that goes in the hole you have noticed. These plastic
buttons tend to get ground to a pulp after a while, so all that's left is
the stub of the roll pin. This is most likely what happened to you: the
button was gone, and what fell out when you blew the crud out was the
remnant part of the pin.

The new cross gear does not come with a thrust button since not all
distributors used one. You can get new brass buttons from Mid America for a
couple of bucks. If you have a lathe, you can make your own - I make my own
buttons out of mild steel so they don't get chewed up. You can then tailor
the thickness of the button to take up the slop in the cross gear.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on this.

Lars
_______________________________

Jeff
'66. Modified L72
"The Silver Beast

 

Jeff, Lars,

Thanks for the info guys! At least I know there is supposed to be a part there. I will check the major suppliers now that I know what to look for.

John :)