100% sure I put it the star back on the same way. Took before pictures of everything to refer back to. Pin and star is in same position as before.

I did have to manhandle just about everything under the cap to get the old pickup off and new one in. I bent up that skinny metal thing (name? Goes to vacuum advance?) pretty good bc I had to get that round plate at the bottom (name?) out to straighten it out. I couldn’t get the round inner piece (name?) that goes in the middle of the pickup and attaches to the round plate mounted and had to beat it up good to get it in.

at the end of the day I did get everything back in and straightened out as much as I could. It runs but like I said the cap needs to be turned slightly and that wire is in the way

 

The actual distributor won’t budge so I know that didn’t move in the process. However I’m thinking if I have to loosen it to move it I might replace the whole thing since I beat up the inside anyway.

any suggestions on replacement brand?

 

I would buy one locally so when you have issues you can take it back and talk to with them. Lot's of bad parts out there now. I like to use my local guys for things like this. I prefer NAPA, as the same guys still work there some 10 years since I've been using them.

Here, $52.00

https://www.napaonline.com/en/search...tor&referer=v2

 

My guess is you have mixed up different brand parts together that won't work together very well. That grey adapter piece below looks like a OEM style piece while the top is MSD. What if you ordered a new OEM style adapter and a OEM style top cap? Is the distributor a OEM style or is it MSD? If it's MSD, what if you ordered a adapter from MSD, so all parts were MSD. I wonder if that would straighten it out? On the distributor being stuck, that is a common problem and can be a big can of worms. If you can avoid it till later I would.

Most likely when you pull the distributor, the oil pump shaft is going to be stuck in the distributor till about halfway up and then fall out into the oil pan. Another project then ensues.

 

The distributor is oem as far as I know. It’s not stuck as I haven’t tried to loosen it yet. Was just saying it’s tight and it didn’t move during the process. The MSD cap fits great and have never had an issue with it until now. Again, I suspect I beat up the guts under the cap and it’s somehow throwing off the timing.

 

Thanks to everyone’s help the 84 is purring like a kitten. Went ahead and picked up a remanufactured distributor from napa and installed it with no problem. I watched a few videos on youtube, took a bunch of before pictures, and paid close attention to the orientation of the old one, the cap, and rotor. I think I just beat up all the guts under the old cap and rather than swapping parts and risking bending something again I figured I’d just install it and see what happens. Once installed it was stalling out and had to adjust the idle on the carb and now everything is great.

 

Doesn't it feel good when things work like they supposed too..

 

New issue, new thread. Thanks