Distributor gear installation

This dimension can vary, but. Using the bearing surface depth in step 1, add half of the free play measured in step 2. This will give you the maximum dimension to which the gear should be pressed on. In this case 4. Note in the photo below, the shaft is held to the right, or distributor base to the left so that it is at it's maximum length. To verify a proper press fit, install the distributor in the block, tighten it down and set a dial indicator to indicate the distributor shaft.

Adjust the dial to zero. Lift the shaft to the end of it's end play and note the dial reading. Ideally it will read. This indicates that the distributor gear is riding on it's mating surface in the block and that is is not in bind. When proper end play is verified, remove the distributor and install the roll pin through the gear and shaft. Prep for Installing the distributor gear. After the gear is installed, the press fit alone should be enough to hold the gear in place, but it is recommended to insert a Roll Pin through the gear and shaft as a safety measure.

With a new distributor and a new gear, this is a simple operation, but if replacing the gear, you will be drilling a second hole through the shaft. This is not uncommon, but it does unnecessarily weaken the shaft. A better method involves a little preparation before installing the gear that will prevent the need to drill a second hole in the shaft. There must be slack for the shaft and slack for the advance mechanism.

I have only ever seen one block out of the range published by Ford and it was only a few thousandths. I recall it was a '70 CJ in a Torino.

Re: ford v8 distributor gear installation question Post by blykins » Thu Jul 23, am Get ready for a lot of percentages I pretty much exclusively use MSD distributors and I have never had issues with gears installed to their spec. You probably won't be able to reuse the existing hole in the shaft. Lykins Motorsports brent lykinsmotorsports. Re: ford v8 distributor gear installation question Post by DaveMcLain » Thu Jul 23, pm blykins wrote: Get ready for a lot of percentages Re: ford v8 distributor gear installation question Post by blykins » Thu Jul 23, pm Well I guess I can say I've never been in the spot where I've needed to replace gears again.

Note that the catalog uses " inches and the one uses ' feet. I would suggest checking the clearance regardless of who the manufacturer is.

A similar discussion came up with respect to Mopar gears. I went out and purchased an NOS distributor from the s and found that Factory Authorized Rebuilders were not following the Factory Service Manual procedures from years prior. I was at least expecting the gears to be the same dimensionally so that was a surprise.

I like that idea of a jig. Re: ford v8 distributor gear installation question Post by Tuner » Thu Jul 23, pm blykins wrote: Get ready for a lot of percentages Re: ford v8 distributor gear installation question Post by Kevin Johnson » Thu Jul 23, pm These were Nylon gears and the parts from the s were more precision made. I had the impression of copies of copies with the quality degrading over time.

Re: ford v8 distributor gear installation question Post by R. Great info, that fixture is very cool. Some quick notes, just stuck on another job now so I cannot jump over to the Ford until later today. This particular one is an FE, a From what info I got from the customer, the engine was done miles ago, and I pulled the distributor when I felt a BUNCH of backlash as I was going to alter the curve.

This is an MSD ready to run distributor. Engine has a roller cam, and bronze gear. The gear is worn down to razor sharp teeth. He is gathering some info on what oil pump is in the engine, etc I also have a Cleveland here, that I ordered in the crane iron gear for that engine has a billet roller cam. It is a fresh build, but crane says in their literature that you should not run their gear on a cam that has had another gear ran on it before Another note, I see that the ford and MSD instructions actually are telling you different techniques as far as pushing or pulling the shaft when taking the measurement.

Seems from a quick gander that with the. Anyways, this gear now is at 3.