Josiah- Wow, thanks. I was afraid nobody would take the time to measure this. So judging by your block, a typical distance from block deck to oil pump casting is about 3 1/16". I assume this should be about constant independent of year.
On your dist gear, where is the wear on the teeth? Is it centered on the teeth, or moved up or down from center? My HEI gear shows wear above the centerline of the gear.
I plan on checking this in my '54 block, and my '60 block (in car) to compare the results. I'll also measure from clamp to bottom of gear on stock dist, and retaining ring to bottom of gear on HEI and see where that comes in.
I can only assume that my '60 block will have a smaller measurement than your block or my '54 block. I'll post all the results for comparison.
Tony- What is the shaft diameter on the 230-292 dist shafts? The stock 235 dist has a bigger shaft diameter than the mini HEI. The stock dist shaft fits much closer in the stock 235 oil pump casting. I'm worried that using a clamp with a mini HEI could allow deflection of the distributor. The shaft could wobble around while trying to turn the oil pump, causing other problems like strange gear wear or further contact between distributor parts and pump.
muchos grassy-[censored]
chip
