The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Distributer wobbles in '69 Chev 250c.i. P.U.

I just noticed this this morning, really looks wierd. On my '69 Chev 1/2T 250 6cyl. P.U. when the engine is running the whole distributor is like wobbleing in the hole in the block where the distributor goes in the hole. The hold down clamp seems tight and the engine starts and runs ok, maybe a bit ratty idle on cold start-up but soon smooths out as the engine warms up. Never saw this before, but never ever particularly looked for such a thing before. I pulled the distributor cap off and tried wiggling the shaft to see if maybe the distributor bushings are shot but doesn't seem like hardly any play. Maybe there's something fatigued out in the hold down clamp? I really dunno. Anybody know what it's doing? Thanks, Harry

The dist shaft is probably bent.

hope it's not the bushing at the bottom. you could always take the dist out and put a dial indicator on it to check. if it wobbles that bad you could prob just tell with the eye. good luck.

I don't know if you found your problem, but it sounds like what I ran into with an HEI dist in my 292. I already had an HEI in the engine, but I ran across a couple at the wrecking yard and grabbed them.
I can't post a picture because of the photo image police, so you'll have the click the link.
The one on the right is an external coil unit out of a '75 Nova 250, but unfortunately it has the flex joint shaft and I will probably never use it. The second from the right was out of a mid-size Buick with a 250. Next is a stock 250-292 distributor. The last one is a Corvair dist, which is close to the same, but with a longer shaft.
Distributors
The last image is the shaft of the Buick unit that is .025" smaller, below the gear. With the gear in place, you can not see the difference. I had put it in my 292 and it wobbled, just as you described. As you can see from the first image, you can't tell the difference for looking.
250 shaft

Well thank you, all. What it was, was, I finally loosened the spring type distributor hold down clamp and a piece of the collar thingey that the hold down clamp presses on fell on the ground, it had broken off. For some reason the casting just sort of fractured off but you couldn't see it because one of the arms of the hold down clamp was still holding it in place, sorta. Anyway, I went to the junk yard and found a distributor out of a '71 Nova and swapped points, etc. and put it in, timed it by ear and it does fine so far, without doing the hootchie-cootchie. Starts a bit better now and warm up idle is a heck of a lot better. Still wonder why the collar thing broke in the first place, but will keep my eye on it. Again, thank you all.