Distributor Shaft Sleeve

I

izze

Member
I'm rebuilding my distributor. I did a quick test fit of the shaft sleeve. The sleeve slides over the upper shaft without issue, and the pin lines up. The lower shaft also fits into the sleeve with a lot of wiggle room. I'm not sure how to install the lower shaft into the sleeve. And I'm not finding a lot of info on this subject. Shouldn't the lower shaft be pressed into the sleeve? If so, this sleeve is too big.
 
izze - The two-piece shaft is intended to allow you to remove the distributor and leave the lower shaft in the engine. You want just a bit of wiggle so that the lower shaft slips into and out of the sleeve freely. If it's too tight you will have trouble installing the distributor into the engine, and may pull the lower shaft out when you remove the distributor. Of more import is how the notch in the lower shaft fits onto the blade of the upper shaft. That needs to be such that there is no rotational slop, otherwise your timing will not be solid. As long as the lower shaft slips into the sleeve, and you can't rotate the lower shaft relative to the upper shaft, you should be OK. If not, new shafts and new sleeve may be in your future.

I've had the opposite problem - lower shaft (especially modern replacements) fitting too tightly into the sleeve such that the notch won't line up. I've had to turn just a hair off the diameter of the end of the lower shaft to make it fit properly.
 
Okay, great. I assume that there is a smart way to remove the lower shaft from the engine if I ever wanted ti inspect it?
 
J Franklin said:
A magnet might do it, but there isn't much to look at there.
Click to expand...
About the only time I intentionally pull the lower shaft is if I’m stripping the engine and need to remove the oil pump drive assembly.

BTW, if you do pull the lower shaft, be sure to mark top (up) and bottom (down) for when you reinsert it. I think those shafts are machined so that it shouldn’t make a difference, but if the slots are not perfectly parallel you will change the timing.
 
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