Guys I need some help.

I have an issue with my 400 and believe it's the distributor or the timing
chain.

The engine just stopped running out of the blue the other day.
It won't start, backfires occasionally.

I checked the rotor while cranking the engine, it's not moving.
I think it could be a sheared roll pin of the cam gear.

Anyone have any tips/tricks...pitfalls to avoid before I change this out?

I have a reman unit ready to go.

Thanks in advance!

 

Thanks for the help.

I haven't R&R'd a distributor before..if the pin is sheared, will the cam gear slide off the shaft when I remove the old dist?

 

OK, just took the old one out.

The roll pin was sheared, gear fell off but I managed to fish it out.

I'll post a pic in a few...that old dist was toast.

Thanks again!

 

Bend a coat hanger? Sweetness.

 

Nope, used a set of super long needle nose pliers.

Like playing "The Claw" at the arcade..lol.

 

The culprit...

 

Yessir that thing is done. Heck, a good magnet would do the trick too I bet. I loves me my magnetic retrieval tool. Mechanical fingers is pretty handy dingus too. Whatever works.

Check that there aren't any pieces of roll pin down inside the oil pump?

 

Ok, here's where I am now...

I have a question about getting my timing squared away.


When I replaced the distributor, I tried to get it back in as close as I
could to where I took it out. Earlier tonight I tried to start the truck, it acted like the battery was dead, it would crank a couple of times and that was it.

I thought what the heck? I took my multi-meter and checked the battery, 12.7V.
Hrmm. I thought, maybe I really zonked the re-install of the dist.

I decided to get the breaker bar out and crank the engine to tdc/0 and see where the rotor was pointing.

I found it was pointing somewhere around #7 on the rotor cap...whoops.

I decided to take the dist out, re-align the rotor shaft to #6 and "re-stab" it. I tightend
everything back up and tried to start it again...much better...it almost started..a slight
"woosh" sound at the carb.

From there I decided to breaker bar the engine back to tdc/0 and check where the rotor was.
I was pointing really close to the #1 position on the cap.

I loosened up the dist and tried to turn the body so I could align the previous #1 mark with
where the rotor was pointing now...(before I removed the old dist I marked both #1 and #6 on the plastic dist body)..I ran out of room turning the dist. The vac advance was
hitting the bolt for the water neck.

That's where I had to stop for tonight. What can I do from here to get things lined up and
"hopefully" get the truck started? Am I missing something really obvious?

Thanks!