I have a distributor question. How do you go about removing it. It seems you just remove the clamp at the base and it should pull out. Mine seems to be in very tight. Any tips to getting it out without ruining it?

The engine starts and runs, but I want to do two things with it. First I want to work the oil pressure up an figured I would remove the distributor and put the oil pump shaft on my drill and get that oil circulating. Second, I'm going to need to set the timing sometime, so I need to have it loose.

 

Joe, distributors can be a real PIA to remove when they've been unmoved for years. Try a bit of solvent between the base and the block, repeat. Be very careful tapping on it. A strap wrench may help. At least you have the engine where you can get to the distributor easy.
Now is the time to get it loose but the engine has recently run so the need to run the oil pump is no more.

 

Ray, thanks for that input. I hadn't thought about a strap wrench. I ran out and started the solvent treatment. Now for patience.

The reason I was thinking of running the oil pump is because on my short runs (A minute or less) oil hadn't gotten up to the rocker arms yet. It may just take a little more time to get the oil up there. I just want to make sure everything is running smoothly.

 

Joe,
Did you ever remove the rocker shafts and clean the inside of the shaft?

I will tell you that most times these fill up with crud and you will not get oil to the rockers.

Sometimes even the feed passage from the cam bearing that goes up through the head will be blocked as well.

This happens from lack of Maintaining and the poor oils from the 50s and 60s

 

Well I pulled the rocker shafts and cleaned a long time ago (Then my youngest was born and the truck sat for several year.) But I don't remember if I cleaned inside the shaft real well. It wouldn't hurt to remove one and check it out though. Good suggestion. Since the body is off, it is so easy to get to pieces it makes it much easier to do.

It is also something I can do while I'm waiting for money to appear to buy parts.

 

Joe, you do want to see oil to both rockers on that truck while you have easy access to the engine. The oil passages between the block and head run in a "dog leg", about three quarters of an inch. These passages are known to become blocked with coked oil if the engine ever lacked for clean oil. Cam bearings in these engines are known problem areas so far as passing oil to the rockers. They've been known to spin and block the oil passages, especially if the engine has ever overheated. So get the distributor free and do run the pump 'till you have good oil flow to all the rockers. If you've not had the pan down, it may be a good time to drop the pan, clean all out down there. If you can't get good oil flow to the rockers, it is time to consider pulling the heads and cleaning out all the oil passages. Mission creep is so easy at this point but you do need to have good oil flow if you want to drive the truck.
Edit: What bigwinn said about rockers. If they are stopped up, not flowing oil, you may need to knock the end plugs from the shafts t clean.

 

OK I think I have a plan here.
Oh, by the way Ray, I love the quote on your signature.

1. Remove the distributor and spin the oil pump
2. Remove the rocker shaft and make sure it is clean and flowing
3. If I don't get good flow, remove the heads and clean everything up

I cleaned the oil pan and tested out the oil pump before putting it back on. If I remove the heads, (I might anyway just to double check everything) I will spin the oil pump each stage to make sure I'm getting oil up.....well maybe, I don't want to get oil in the cooling system.

I'm not too worried about mission creep at the moment. It's much easier to make sure it's right at this point than to have to get a new engine after everything is back together. It's so easy to get to everything right now.

Now, if I didn't have to go move furniture for my mother in law right now....

 

Joe, if and when you have to pull the heads we'll talk about what the cylinders look like. Mission creep can be very much alive during all this.
Your plan sounds good. Be mindful, an engine that old, that unknown can have real issues with blow by, lots of smoke and oil consumption. Clean up, like you're doing does not fix worn parts. I'm trying to be realistic, not dampen your enthusiasm for the efforts you're putting into the truck. Go ahead, prove me wrong.

 

You are correct Ray, dealing with an engine this old can have major issues. I mean he did park it for some reason. He told me the engine only had about 30,000 miles on a complete rebuild. Because of that, I'm more hopeful. But we shall see.

Whatever happens, I'm learning a lot.

 

Joe, if that engine has only that many miles since a complete rebuild, your close observations along with detailed pictures and we should be able to confirm that. Still, sitting that long, it could still have issues like stuck rings.
I believe my plan would be to get oil to the rockers if possible,
Get it running outside with a cooling system and we'll see how much blow by and smoke the engine has, what kind of compression it has and go from there. All this depending on getting good oil flow to the rockers.

 

Success!!! I was able to loosen the distributor and get it out. Then I ran over to Orschlen's and got an extension for my drill. Once I got the 1/4" bit instead of the 9/16" it started spinning the oil pump. It took a minute, but the oil started flowing nicely up on both rocker shafts. It seemed to be flowing pretty smoothly.

Now, I'm putting the distributor back in and I have one issue. To get it seated back in, the rotor is off one location from where it was when I pulled it out. Is there any trick to that? I can always rotate the spark plug wires if need be. There is no marker on the distributor or cap as to which should be #1.

 

Pull the dizzy back out, rotate the base of the distributor the distance the rotor is off and reinstall. Just do not turn the engine. Some time it takes a few times in and out to get it right. You'll get it right.
Just remember the distributor drive gear causes the rotor to move as the gears mesh.
Edit: Good oil flow at the rockers is very good news.

 

Joe,

I just found your thread. Congrats on your progress so far. Keep up the good work!!

 

Thanks Keith, It's been a big learning experience for me. I'm moving much slower than you though.

 

Well, I hadn't started the engine in a while and when I tried I wasn't getting any spark. After troubleshooting, I discovered my points were never losing ground. (The exact opposite of what I had a few months ago.) I figured my primary wire was not insulated from the distributor body. So, I have removed the primary wire and breaker ground wire to replace. The problem is finding the primary wire.

Here are my wires the primary wire doesn't look too bad, but it's time to replace:


My book shows this:


The wire is listed as 12216 which correlates to C0DF 12216-A in my book, but everywhere I look, that is an 18 inch wire. I'm thinking it should possibly be 7HA 12216-B (Although that is for the older trucks)

The closest I have found is this:
Coil Distributor Wiring

For the insulating washer(Probably my problem), I figure I will just get a plastic washer to replace.
Help! Where can I find that wire?