I have a rebuilt 390 V8 which I have installed in a 1955 F100 (rolling chassis at this point). For the past week, I have been working towards starting up the motor for the first time. In doing so, I installed an old distributor (minis the rotor and cap) to assist in pre-oiling the engine as instructed by Steve Christ (How to rebuild your Big-Block Ford book; p. 155). After cranking the motor two times, I attempted to remove the distributor and found it stuck. After some persuasion, the distributor came loose with missing teeth. At this point, I don’t know what to do, but suspect I will have to pull the motor to remove the intake and oil pan to capture the loose particles. I am humbly coming to you, the FE gurus, for help. Any information or guidance is much appreciated.
Well if that aint the ****! I'd think you could manage well enough with a light and magnet. Whatever came off is certainly either laying there on the boss or already on the pan. A magnet from beneath might do the trick. If you can manage to verify all the pieces (visual puzzle) I wouldn't sweat it. I would however question just what went wrong there. Did you break the teeth trying to remove it or ? The housing is free of the shaft so any binding on it wouldn't play havoc with the gear. Hell I snapped one clear into at the shank trying to get it out and the gears were fine. So??????
Thank you for the quick response. I inspected the distributor to determined what exactly happened. What I found was a small square opening in the base of the housing. I predict that as the engine turned, a metal tab within the distributor housing got lodged in the square hole causing the distributor shaft to stop turning. The rotating force initiated from the starter caused the gear to shear off. Just my theory.
I think this is one of those cases where a pict is worth a thousand words. Again, if you can turn up all the pieces move on, if not mhhHHMMmmmm it's my understanding that the gear is made of some serious hard stuff and the pin is designed to shear in said instance but "been wrong before" surely some wiser folk will be chiming in
Chances are the pieces are in the pan and an oil drain, then use a magnet thru the drain hole to get the pieces would be my first try, before doing anything else.
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Bear 45/70
Gimp Racing
Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight he will just kill you.
Next time remove the gear off the dist. shaft and then put a 1/2" drive drill motor on the top of the dist. shaft and oil it up without having to turn the motor over. I keep an old dist. around just for this purpose.
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Bear 45/70
Gimp Racing
Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight he will just kill you.
As suggested, I drained the oil by removing both magnetic drain plugs from my canton double sump oil pan and checked for metal material. I did not find any large chucks of distributor gear or any small metal pieces so I am proceeding to pull the engine to remove the oil pan and intake manifold.
You were advised to use a magnet to slide the pieces out of the pan from wherever they are resting. Jesus..criminey!!! Get a big ass magnet, put it in a sock and start as far back as possible and slowly head for the drain. Works much better when the oil is hot, but hey now...
In my rush to post my progress as I work, I did not explain that I did use a magnet by dragging it in the bottom of the oil pan not finding any pieces (a few very fine pieces). In addition, it was difficult to use the magnet as I have a double sump oil pan which is formed around a Mustang II IFS. I will try to keep you posted on my progress.
Looking at the gear on the distributor, are the missing teeth all next to each other, and the middle ones are worn off closer then the outer ones in kind of a semi-circle. If so, the distributor bound up and the cam took off the teeth.
The thing is, what did it do to the teeth on the cam?
I'd dump a few quarts of oil down the distributor hole, with the oil pan drains open, and see if it washes anything down.
But definitely check the cam gear for damage too.
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- art k. - Moderator for the Superduty, V10, and FE-series forums
'01 F250SD SC SB XLT V10 4x4 auto 3.73 eBay headers and y-pipe
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'74 F250 Highboy FE390 4x4 435NP 205NP deceased! I've been wrong before, I'll be wrong again. Just wait and see.
Well if that aint the ****! I'd think you could manage well enough with a light and magnet. Whatever came off is certainly either laying there on the boss or already on the pan. A magnet from beneath might do the trick. If you can manage to verify all the pieces (visual puzzle) I wouldn't sweat it. I would however question just what went wrong there. Did you break the teeth trying to remove it or ? The housing is free of the shaft so any binding on it wouldn't play havoc with the gear. Hell I snapped one clear into at the shank trying to get it out and the gears were fine. So??????
i see the dirt on that there dist i am guessing from trowing it across the yard
No thats what it looked like when it came out, the engine was seized from being exposed to the elements with an open intake valve on #3. Makes a mess of all kinds of stuff. The base journal of the dizzy was stuck in the block "STUCK IN THE BLOCK" I used a 4lb mallet and a piece of oak 2x4 to drift the fkr out after exhausting myself with a homemade wire sling puller. It aint broke till it's in two pieces!!!
The distributor gear is all chewed off on the lower half. Specifically, half way up the gear from the bottom, all the teeth are chewed off equally. You bring up a good point regarding the cam. I will rotate the assembly to see if I can check out the cam.
The distributor gear is all chewed off on the lower half. Specifically, half way up the gear from the bottom, all the teeth are chewed off equally. You bring up a good point regarding the cam. I will rotate the assembly to see if I can check out the cam.
Are you sure the dizzy was seated ? the gears are suppose to mesh, that doesn't sound like they were.
The cam gears look ok to me (I am a novice). Because of my inexperience, I am going to have my neighbor who is much more mechanically inclined than me take a look at the cam this evening.
On another note, I am concerned that when I rotated the assembly while checking the cam gear that I contaminated my rod bearings. Could this be possible??
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