The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Great Deal,not so great, on reman Distibutor

Too good to be true, and I should know better. Big online Auto Parts supplier sent me an email touting supplier closeouts for the 1954 3600 Truck. One item was for a Cardone reconditioned distributor greatly discounted over regular price. Boom, purchase made. Received distributor and anxiously opended the box to find a "brand new" aluminum housing distibutor "made in China". Long story short, I got my money back and they advised it ws an error on the website and told me to keep the distributor.

Question for the forum - has anyone in our community installed one of these ? The part number on the side is S1609 , on the box 30-1609. Supposedly for a 216 or 235.

No, there is nothing known wrong with my stock distributor, and no, I cannot justify buying it in the first space. I have several similar items stored away. It's an illness.

say what you want BUT China does make some decent stuff! i bought an HEI dist. for my 270 GMC from a US distributor and when running the whole distributor wobbles.
Jay D.

Ron,

One way to find out ... Then you could write up a review to educate the rest of us on what you determined. It could actually be very helpful.

Just sayin'
John

The first BIG mistake I see is the rubber O ring on the groove in the housing. That groove needs to be empty, as the O ring will restrict the movement of the vacuum advance. It's only there to keep crankcase oil from migrating up the housing due to splash and leaking to the outside. The housing is also aluminum- - - -bad juju, as it will wear quickly from the constant motion of the housing responding to every change in ported vacuum to adjust the timing. There's a good reason the OEM distributor housing was cast iron. I'm a little bit crippled, but I think I could outrun anyone who wanted to GIVE me that distributor!

Edit: To make that one work with some degree of longevity, I'd turn the housing diameter down some, and press a brass sleeve bushing over it, instead of letting the aluminum ride directly against the block.
Jerry

Ron - I just saw your post and there was a click in my brain as we recently had a fellow Bolter post about a RockAuto Dizzy closeout that looked pretty good.

Dang it, turns out it's the same item as you've identified. The picture rockauto displays in their webpage definitely does not represent the item you received. Sad to hear they are not using a more accurate description and picture to show what they are selling.

I was actually considering dropping some $$$ and ordering one, based on the idea it was actually a refurbed original. Glad my brain killed that idea as I'd have ended up doing what you did by sending it right back.

I'm going to post a reply in that thread pointing here to alert fellow Bolters of the potential problem they will encounter.

Thanks for reporting your findings!

I'm sure glad HotRod is around to bring very important, but sometimes forgotten details to the discussion. Yeah, the whole distributor does rotate and now that he's reminded me I can certainly see the issue with an aluminum housing. Thanks Jerry, looks like I have a new museum piece....

I can fix it, if you're interested.
Jerry