I measured 4 different 235 oil pumps to see if I could spot a problem. I measured from the center of the mounting hole in the pump to the top of the oil pump casting. I measured my old '54 pump, a '57 pump, my damaged '60 pump, and my new '60 pump. All of them were consistently around .630". Depth from top of casting to bottom of drive tang slot, diameter of driveshaft hole, pump body OD" etc was nearly the same for all pumps.
I measured the dimensions of the HEI vs the stock distributor, and all dimensions were very close. I then installed the HEI in the block, and the distributor gear was crammed down on the oil pump casting with not much endplay. I rotated the engine with the starter, and the distributor gear started to "shine up" the top of the oil pump.
Haven't checked to see what the stock point distributor from my '54 235 does when I install it and do the same test. I've never run this engine with this point distributor either. The '60 engine's original distributor was lost long ago.
I would like to eliminate a dimension of the engine block as a source of the problem. I need as many of you as possible to pull your 235 distributor, and measure from the distributor mounting surface of the block, down to the top of the oil pump casting as installed in the engine. If that dimension of my block is too small, it could cram the distributor down against the oil pump casting.
My latest theory:
The original points type distributor has a movable clamp that holds it in. I'm thinking that my block could be out of tolerance. It was not a problem in the past because the mounting height of the distributor could be adjusted by moving the clamp up or down on the distributor shaft to provide some end-play between gear and pump casting. The mini HEI assumes a certian block dimension there, and could cram the gear down on the top of the oil pump if the block is out of tolerance.
thanks guys
Chiphead
