Hello,

I'm in the middle of assembly of my Cleveland and have run into a small snag. From what I can see the oil pump drive for an M block (Melling I-84) is too long (reasonable with the deck height difference) and won't let the distributor drop all the way into its base.
The chain parts stores near my truck don't seem to have complete databases. I tried a Windsor, Melling I-83 (just for kicks) and it was too short. There must be one between these two sizes to fit correctly, does anyone have a Melling or other manufacturer's part #? If not, any idea what I could be doing wrong?
I did grind the M-block pump down to size and ground its head to a point. It seems to fit with almost no slop, so this may have to do in a jam.

As always thanks in advance,

Robert Booth

'78 F-150 Explorer
Arlington, TX

 

not sure what you ground down but the drive shaft is the same length for the m, and c blocks the deck hieght defference is in the cyl area not in the dist area, ie the distance from the cam to the crank is the same and you can tell that because they use the same dist, and they use the same timing chain, I would make sure that the dist gear is not hitting the bottom of the dist hole or that you dont have a burr in the dist shaft that is causing it to not seat all the way

 

Thank you MB, I appreciate the help. I must be doing something goofy. I'll get a new drive and try again! As long as I keep making $5 mistakes, it'll be okay!

Robert

 

I give Summit racing a call and get a hardened one. It's good insurance especially if you use a big pump.