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Have a question regarding the distributor orientation on a 1971 454 corvette.
Presently the tach drive is point directly to the rear and there is no tach drive cable connected (it came that way)
I put in a new tach drive cable which comes out of the firewall on the drivers side, and then bends right toward the distributor. In looking the cable location and the orientation of the distributor, it seems to connect, the cable would need to make a very sharp (too sharp) bend forward to tie into the distributor
My question - was there originally an 90 degree gear box attached to the distributor, or is the distributor oriented incorrectly??
It is pretty easy to rotate the distributor such that the tach drive points to the driver side and then relocate the wires, but I would like to know the correct solution.
Have a question regarding the distributor orientation on a 1971 454 corvette.
Presently the tach drive is point directly to the rear and there is no tach drive cable connected (it came that way)
I put in a new tach drive cable which comes out of the firewall on the drivers side, and then bends right toward the distributor. In looking the cable location and the orientation of the distributor, it seems to connect, the cable would need to make a very sharp (too sharp) bend forward to tie into the distributor
My question - was there originally an 90 degree gear box attached to the distributor, or is the distributor oriented incorrectly??
It is pretty easy to rotate the distributor such that the tach drive points to the driver side and then relocate the wires, but I would like to know the correct solution.
Thanks,
Aaron
They never used the 90 degree adapters. Typically just indexed the unit to get the angle better. Interesting enough there was a service bulletin for the small blocks which they used for the BB as well but it didn't actual say for the BB
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
The Service Bulletin for the re-clocking of the distributor was eventually updated to show applicability for all Corvettes (BB & SB) from 1968 through 1974. The OP's BB distributor should be clocked as shown above. This can be done without removing the distributor - you simply loosen it, rotate it 45 degrees, and move all the plug wires over 1 tower from their original location. Then re-check and set timing. That's how the mod was done by the dealers. For a complete paper on distributor installation and orientation, just e-mail me a request for the info.
Lars
I've just never come across any other document (the actual service bulletin) other than that one from 67. One of those tribal knowledge things I guess
M
Have a question regarding the distributor orientation on a 1971 454 corvette.
Presently the tach drive is point directly to the rear and there is no tach drive cable connected (it came that way)
I put in a new tach drive cable which comes out of the firewall on the drivers side, and then bends right toward the distributor. In looking the cable location and the orientation of the distributor, it seems to connect, the cable would need to make a very sharp (too sharp) bend forward to tie into the distributor
My question - was there originally an 90 degree gear box attached to the distributor, or is the distributor oriented incorrectly??
It is pretty easy to rotate the distributor such that the tach drive points to the driver side and then relocate the wires, but I would like to know the correct solution.
Because the 90-degree adapter adds a bunch of torque required to turn the adapter with the cable, which results in the distributor crossgear eating itself into the wall of the distributor housing, locking up and stripping out the mainshaft with the crossgear, along with destruction of the housing thrust surface. Other than that, the 90-degree drives work great.
Lars
On mine (small block, but '69 with tach drive), I just oriented the distributor so the tach cable routes smoothly and the DUI cap writing lines up straight. Then set my #1 plug conveniently. See arrow in pic.....
In the for what it's worth department, the plug wires fit better when the distributor is indexed the same way as in the pic of the chassis service manual page, left hand illustration. If you aren't using factory shielding on the distributor it matters less.
Distributor orientation
