The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Distributor rotated now out of time

Guess I'm due. Bragged recently how the ol stock '51 had several thousand miles of relatively trouble free driving under it's belt over the past year or so. Well today the streak ended.

I changed the condenser and it wouldn't start. Choked it a bit more, crank again, no good. When I checked under the hood I noticed the distributor was not where it should be. It'd rotated clockwise about 90 degrees. Shoot.

Looks like One more thing to do that'll help fill the day. And it's going to be a few days till I can dive in to see what's what. I'll check for shaft rotation, see if I can loosen the clamp and retime (that'd be too easy) and then as required work my way toward pulling the distributor.

I'm reminded once again of what a wise old lady once told me "Ron, if you didn't have all that ---- stuff, you wouldn't have to work on it". Truer words never spoken.

RonR

RonR,
I find the distributor clamp difficult to tighten, at least to my satisfaction. It takes a standard blade screwdriver tucked behind the distributor against the block. My COE started losing power and upon inspection the distributor had rotated and was not timed properly. Because most of my trucks reside at 6250 ft elevation, I use the vacuum method to time them, so it didn't take long to correct the situation. If I were you, I would rotate the distributor back to where you think it should be and see if it won't start and when it does use your timing light or vacuum gauge and fine tune it. Good luck,
Kent

Unless the drive came up and off the cam gear, a simple rotation will do it.
The idle vacuum method generally works, but on occasion that advance position (produces highest vacuum) will knock slightly under load; listen for it.

Take your number one plug out. rotate the motor with a remote starter button or the key or foot button until you feel compression out of the no. 1 plug hole. The pull the rest of the plugs and try rotating the motor using the fan belt and balancer until the bb in the flywheel meets the pointer. Sneak up on this. That is TDC, or pretty close to TDC, for No. 1 cylinder.

Trace the no. 1 plug wire to the cap and put a vertical chalk mark directly under the plug tower on the body of the distributor. Remove the cap. The rotor needs to be pointing to the chalk mark. If its not, loosen the clamp screw, not the bolt on the octane selector plate, rotate the distributor body until the rotor is pointing at the chalk mark, tighten the clamp screw. This is going to put you pretty close, if not exactly on, tdc and you should be able to start the motor from this point (assuming nothing else is preventing the motor from starting). Once started, you can use a timing light or vacuum guage, which ever your preferred method, and dial it in.

Been a busy day. Just got in the house with time to post a update. Warning, If you ever replace the condenser hold down screw make sure the replacement isn't longer than the original. If it is, it may contact the advance plate or parts thereof (did). Then it gets interesting. The distributor may rotate (did) until something (fine timing adjustment knob) hits something else (side of the block) and stops the distributors rotation.

Yep, that's what happened. As I finished lunch and was headed back to the shop on a different mission, I actually imagined the exact possibility above. Popped the distributor cap, and unscrewed the now bent and difficult to remove screw. Luckily it did back out. I'll likely look at the advance plate tomorrow and see if there's any carnage. Hopefully the springs and counter weights are still in place.

If a dab of luck is around it may be as simple as just doing the ol find TDC, time close enough to crank, then break out the timing light, set timing and get on with life. We'll see.

Dragsix, Great Tutorial!

Thanks all the comments.

RonR

I aim to please, lol! Many thanks for the complement.

Took a chance today and Lady Luck was generous. I needed to move the '51 this morning so using a engine photo for reference, set the distributor back to it's proper place. Truck cranked right up, no odd noises or hints all wasn't well. I will open the distributor up and look at the advance components for good measure.

RonR

It is possible to place the clamp at the wrong height on the distributor which will cause the distributor gear to barely engage with the camshaft gear. Once you drive it this way, force exhibited by the camshaft can force the the distributor up slightly, disengaging the gears from each other allowing it to jump out of time.
This happened to me one time. I was as lucky as you. No harm done except pride. On a side note, the the end of the distributor shaft remained engaged with the oil pump the entire time prior to the jumping of timing.

Carl, Don't take this as a personal affront....but I've always said it's better to be lucky than smart. Of course my engineer friend has a different twist on that old saw. Better to be lucky and smart. One can only wish.

RonR