Tach drive distributor repair kit
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Mar 2018
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Tach drive distributor repair kit
I’ve got ‘73 tach drive distributor. If I spin the cable the tach moves, if I spin the rotor the tach doesn’t move. I’ve read on here that others have bought cross gear repair kits and the quality hasn’t been great or that they’ve had to modify parts. Is there a kit that somebody has bought that didn’t need modifications? If so, where did you buy it?
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
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From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
It's not a matter of kit quality. It's a matter of repairing the distributor housing itself. The crossgear and mainshaft strip out and fail when the housing thrust surface gets hogged out and damaged. You have to do a proper machine repair of the housing and install a new thrust surface before installing any bolt-in parts. 
Lars
Lars
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2006
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It's not a matter of kit quality. It's a matter of repairing the distributor housing itself. The crossgear and mainshaft strip out and fail when the housing thrust surface gets hogged out and damaged. You have to do a proper machine repair of the housing and install a new thrust surface before installing any bolt-in parts.
Lars
Lars
Race Director
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 18,126
Likes: 174
From: WI
It's not a matter of kit quality. It's a matter of repairing the distributor housing itself. The crossgear and mainshaft strip out and fail when the housing thrust surface gets hogged out and damaged. You have to do a proper machine repair of the housing and install a new thrust surface before installing any bolt-in parts.
Lars
Lars
shouldn`t a `73 distributor have a factory installed plastic button?
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 16
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I haven’t gotten into the distributor yet. Is the plastic button better? I’ve read that there’s a few different styles of these distributors. Is the ‘73 distributor good or worse then the earlier version?
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 14,380
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From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
If your distributor has the hole for the nylon thrust button, and if there is no damage to the distributor housing cast iron surface, you can use the plastic thrust button available from Long Island Corvette:
https://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb...Z5Z5Z50000370a
These work well, but only if the housing surface is undamaged.
Lars
https://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb...Z5Z5Z50000370a
These work well, but only if the housing surface is undamaged.
Lars
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,837
Likes: 1,028
If your distributor has the hole for the nylon thrust button, and if there is no damage to the distributor housing cast iron surface, you can use the plastic thrust button available from Long Island Corvette:
https://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb...Z5Z5Z50000370a
These work well, but only if the housing surface is undamaged.
Lars
https://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb...Z5Z5Z50000370a
These work well, but only if the housing surface is undamaged.
Lars
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 14,380
Likes: 6,391
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
Those original nylon buttons are the best. GM finally got the thrust surface thing figured out in the last couple of years of tach drive distributors. Buy every one of those you can find!
Lars
Lars
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