Two Piece Distributor Shaft

bluzrocker

bluzrocker

Member
After my Distributor Bushing dried up and froze the upper portion of the two piece shaft while at idle, the engine slowed down and died.

When cranking the engine, the rotor didn't turn and there was a loud "thunk" at every cycle.

After removing and inspecting the distributor, the bottom portion of the upper shaft where it mates with the top portion of the lower shaft, was distorted and there was no sign of the lower half of the shaft down in the hole

Taking a chance, cranking the engine revealed no more "thunk" sound. When checking with a spare one piece distributor shaft, it fit perfect with no "play."

Question; Where did the lower half of the distributor shaft end up and how risky is it to crank the engine with the shaft lost somewhere deep down in the engine?
 
uhh very risky , my guess is its somehow in the valve chamber. Not sure how that could have happened if you have the spring present but maybe it got mangled in the breaking process. i would pull the valve cover - any sign of broken spring or missing pieces fish around in the valve chamber and if nothing found drop the pan to find the missing pieces...

worst is somehow it gets in the oil pan and smacked by the crank punching it out of the block or pan OR just as bad broken pieces clog the oil holes for the main bearings in the valve chamber.
 
First take off the side cover to the valve chamber....it shouldn't have gone any further than that...
 
I think you have a one piece dist. shaft and maybe don't realize it. There is no way for the bottom section on the two piece type to get into the the valve chamber, it is too long. The original setup was, the dist/oil pump drive that ran off the cam, then a short intermediate shaft that ran up past the roof of the valve chamber that connected via tang and slot to the short shaft on the Distributor.

From the sound of things, you will need a new drive gear, correct middle shaft and rebuilt distributor.
While you are sorting things out it would be a good time to ether open or buy repair manuals that cover the engine etc.
 
Thanks for your input. The two piece shaft replaced the long one from my old distributor. When I removed the new distributor and placed it next to the old one they were not even close. The bottom half of the two piece is still in the engine...
 
I'll bet you won't forget to keep the distributor oiled now. :eek:

I'd be pulling the side cover and check things out. It has to be in there. I've seen a two piece shaft so rusted at the coupling that it seemed like a one piece shaft.

Be sure to grease the shafts and mounting area in the head so keep rust to a minimum.

Pictures would help us see what's happening.:)
 
A seizure in the valve train or distributor can strip the fiber timing gear. Thats one reason why they were used,, a sort of protective device / shear
 
If the short intermediate shaft did break, the spring that holds the drive in place would have to be pushed out of place for the pieces to fall into the valve chamber. As said above the cover has to come off to clean and check all the parts, including the drive. You may or may not need to pull the timing gear cover to check for condition of its teeth if you have a fiber gear installed.
 
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