Distributor Install tips please!

B

Big_Guys_baby

Senior Member
Sent the distributor off to Bubba's off of my '46 Ford Biz coupe. She was running sparks on only three cylinders and had big time power loss as you could imagine. When I pulled it off, it looked like the rotor had nearly sawed through three of the terminals and one side of points were not even opening.

Just got it back and ready (as soon as my new gaskets come) to pop her back in. Anyone have some pro-tips or suggestions for things I should consider as I reinstall it? This is my first time taking the distributor out and putting back in, not sure if it is possible to install wrong (180 off).

Thanks!

Jeff
 
Kinda hard to install wrong , however i get them almost every week where someone has done it .
Hold the rotor with one and while installing the distributor , should feel the difference between correct or not . Make sure it fits correctly then carefully tighten er up.
Should run fine after seeing your old one ...
 
It is difficult to go 180 off, but I have heard from people who managed!
Look at the shaft and at the front of the cam...drive tab and slot are slightly offset. Once you figure out what's where you can set distributor to close to right and get it right in. You can also just hold it in there and rotate it with your fingers by pushing on the rotor tip...it will snap into the groove then easily slide back with bolt holes aligned if you got it right.
Timing is set in the casing, so you do not need to worry about that.
Proper gasket is a tight fit around back of distrib and will hang in place easily while you assemble things.
 
I usually have two temporally studs to put in ,really helps to align up things and hold the dist in place while getting the tang to line up then loosely install a bolt then remove the stud-s and install the other bolts.
 
It's easier to turn the distributor shaft to line up its connection to the end of the cam shaft if you put the rotor on the end of it.
 
if your using the rabbit ears get a flat crab cap & roter & cap clips much ezer to work with. if its a car that you want judged then stay with the rabbit ears
 
As Don says. the easiest way is to install a couple of studs in the cover, if you don't have any studs cut the heads off a couple of old bolts, slip the dist over the studs and turn the rotor with your fingers and it will slip right into the right place. Walt
 
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