HEI Distributor Upgrade

F

Friz

New member
I have a 1973 302. I am upgrading it to a 4 bbl carb and a HEI Distributor.
Everything has gone smoothly until I dropped in the HEI Distributor. It does not sit flush on the block. It is maybe 3/16" up. The original sits flush. I did measurements with a caliper and ruler on the shafts of the old and new. The old shaft is about 1/16" longer then the new shaft. The shaft from the bottom of the helical gear is .04" longer on the new shaft then the new. I don't know if this is any critical difference or not. Yes/no?


I do see a difference if you look into the bottom of the shafts up. Both are hexagonal to fit over the oil pump shaft. The oil pump shaft is hexagonal with a pin on top. Hard to see but maybe the pin is 1/2' long. I do not understand it's function.


So I have not tried to turn over the engine with the starter. I could tighten down the new distributor with a longer bolt and turn over the engine but if it is not seated correctly I may snap something.


I am going to turn the engine back and forth a few degrees with a breaker bar. Maybe the new distributor will seat down all the way.


The new HEI is from Amazon and there is no name on it. I may return it and spend more money on a name brand with customer support.


Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks
 

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Possibly you are not engaging the oil pump drive shaft, that would prevent the distributor from seating down on the block. Don't force it! You have the right idea on returning it to Amazon.

If it were my project I wouldn't use the big ugly GM designed HEI distributor in any Ford. I'd probably also ditch the old Mallory and put an original Ford distributor back in
 
Friz- Like craig said, the GM style distributor is big & ugly. You got the right idea - send it back! Personally, I don't put any parts on my beloved old Fords that look like they came from GM. Now, Pertronix makes a distributor for small block Ford's that looks almost identical to a factory made Ford unit. (If you look on the side real close, you can see the Pertronix name on it). As an added bonus, unlike on the Ford dizzy, the vacuum advance is adjustable, which I really like. I put one of these in my Falcon w/a 289 over 10 yrs. ago, and have never looked back. JMHO F F
 
It will fit. Is the drive on the oil pump a slot, or a 6 sided hex? I just changed my Y-block over to an electronic system too.

You will like being able to easily change the springs, and adjust the vacuum advance if needed. Once you get everything tuned you car will run great.
 
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Like others have said, it might not have dropped all the way down. That's pretty normal when you put a distributer in. You usually need to crank the engine until everything finally lines up like the oil pump. It will usually drop down into place while you're cranking it and putting a little pressure from your hand on it. Your distributer gear is already engaged at that point, so you don't need to worry about it, just getting the oil pump shaft to go into the bottom of the distributer. Unless that GM style distributor is too long. Compare the length from where it sits against the block to the end of it. Should be really close to the Mallory. You could also take an oil pump shaft and make sure it goes into the new distributer, but it probably does.
 
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call dcb auto parts--201 456-0391-- i use him in all my builds with ford engines and use hei-- he makes them just what you need and quality includs correct plug wires--give them a call you will be more then pleased
 
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