The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Distributor part.

I was putting new points and condenser in my 54 cabover and a part broke that I am having a tough time replacing. This part is the little bolt and plastic block that the coil wire connects to on the outside and the points and condenser connect to on the inside of the distributor.
The guys at the auto parts store are baffled and when I went to the junk yard each time i tried to remove one of these from a distributor the plastic piece woulld break. Does anyone know what this part is called and where i can get one ? Bubba won't run without it. Thanks !!!

54cabover,

I think you are refering to a "insulating washer". Between overtightening and age/heat, busted ones are quite common. If you have a electric motor repair shop or electric tool repair center near you, they might have something that would fit. You could make one on your bench grinder out of a piece of phenolic or nylon..anything nonconductive.


Stuart.

Greg,

As I think more about this little piece, I think it is in TWO pieces..the inside piece with a little flange, the screw that goes through it and the outside piece with another little flange. It is split in the middle so it will sandwich together between the distributor housing. The screw that attaches the wire holds the whole thing together! Does this sound right?


Stuart.

Stuart you are exactly correct about the part or parts. 2 plastic pieces that fit together and a small bolt goes through the middle. The plastic is brittle so i need new parts but so far no luck in getting an experienced parts parts guy.

Greg,


If this were ever available, I think it would be an OEM part. I wouldn't expect to BUY this piece anywhere. Good luck.


Stuart.

I think i have those parts NOS, I will check and be back to you.

Why not just but the whole new part, I don't think it would break you and they are not that expensive. A lot easier than looking for one very small part, or maybe you are very cheap!!!!

without the correct nutdriver/spanner you are not gonna get the points in or out the right way and thats why the bakelite "halves" are breaking apart. Regards steve sr

A quality ignition wrench set is a must to reach the small, sometimes double nut fasteners inside the distributor.


Stuart.

The 1954 Chevrolet distributor does not have a nut inside the distributor (I do not know about earlier or later distributors). In fact, the bolt and nut that hold the two bakelite-plastic insulators together (on either side of the distributor body) are a special bolt with no head on the inside of the distributor and the "nut" on the outside of the distributor that tightens the two pieces of plastic together has a round head. The round-headed nut has grooves for a special distributor "nut driver". This head of this round nut barely protrudes beyound the plastic. A normal hex/ignition nut is used to tighten the ignition wire againts the round "nut".

This is probably clear as mud - I will see if I can find the parts in an old distributor and take a photo or two.

I doubt if the bolt, plastic pieces, and/or round nut can be obtained from a parts store (or even a dealer). A used parts dealer is the most likely source.

The special nut-driver for the round nut used to be available from NAPA. Some people cut a slot in a flat scredriver blade to have a tightening tool (described by someone in an old posting on this website). (This is most likely what stevesr is referring-to above)

Tim

Tim,

Tim,
You have described the parts involved with perfect clarity. Thanks ! I have pieced together some parts from a junk yard truck that are similar and am trying to work with that. I am getting fire now and she has started up a few times. Just a little fine tuning !

Before putting this thread to rest, I wanted to solve some of my own questions. Why did I remember the double nuts on the screw holding the primary lead wire...why didn't I remember the slotted screw stevesr mentioned. This all took place 40 years ago, but it bugged me. I just went down and took the distributor out of the 235 engine under the tarp near the shop.

Yes, the bakelite was broken..no, there isn't a nut on the inside of the distributor...yes, there is a slotted nut holding the two halves of the insulating washer together and the complexity of the bakelite pieces and thru-bolt are much more than I remember.

The first time I went into a Snap-on type tool truck (it was a Mac Tool truck) that went from shop to shop selling tools to mechanics..I was the clean-up boy at my cousin's shop and I purchased a neat set of ignition wrenches in a little vinyl pack.

The reason I got them was for the double nutted screw that poked through the distributor and had the primary wire on it...YES, someone before me, probably as they were trying to change the points, encountered that silly slotted screw and didn't have the driver stevesr and tclederman mentioned. They got it unscrewed, dumped it and replaced it with a few flat washers and a couple of nuts....much easier to address when it came time to change the points.

The length of thread sticking beyond the slotted nut on my distributor was almost 5/16"..this held a conventional nut, and of course the
lead wire. All this would have to be removed to gain access to the slotted head nut to change the points and condenser..what a pain.

I had to make it clear in my own mind why I remembered these things as I did...I am too young, I think, to have my memory go south on me.


Stuart.

Stuart,

You were not dreaming. Earlier this evening, after reading what I wrote above, I checked the 1954 Shop Manual and it shows the distributor set-up as you describe - they most likely were using an older photo (they do this in a few places in the 1954 Operator's Manual, too).

After loking at the 1954 Shop Manual, I checked my supply of 1954 distributors and three out of four are as I described and one is as you describe (maybe it had also been converted to eliminate the slotted round-nut and the post that was threaded only on one end).

This discussion shows, once again, that pictures are better than words; and, many things might have been changed at any time over the 50+ years that these trucks have been in service.

Greg (54cabover), if I can find one more spare post/spacers/nuts for the distributor, I will let you know (I took them out of two distributors when I installed Pertronix ignitions and I will have remember where I hid them for safe keeping). I think it is possible that this type of post was used on 235/261 distributors from 1954(?) to 1962 (I found it also on a 1960, 261).

Tim

Tim, I have seen I think three different styles of these silly bolts and bakelite parts in junkyards now. That little slotted devil is tough to work with without the correct tool. The good thing through all of this is that I went out to the pertronix site and bought one of theit ignitors. That will solve the problem once and for all. These 6 volt systems don't turn over all that fast. Seems like everything needs to be right on the money to get these to start reliably. I would have hated to rely on one of these to start on a cold jan morning in 1954.
Although I must say the best starting vehicle i ever owned was a 235 in a 59 half ton but that was 12 volt. Are you satisfied with your pertronix system ?

Greg,

No problems for over 6 years with a 12v Pertronix unit that has been in my '54 pickup with a '60 261 engine.

No problems for over 3 years with a 6v Pertonix unit that has been in my '54 Suburban with a '54 235 engine.

It's the only modification that I made in the Suburban and I am pleased that I did it.

Tim