First off you all have been awesome helping me with my truck. Now my neighbor and I are going to replace the distributor and rotor. Is there an easy way to get this done? Here’s my truck…
Larry

 

The short answer is to remove the cap with the wires still attached by flipping off the two metal clips.

Swap out the new rotor. I put put a tiny dab of dialectic grease on the center top contact/button to lube the contacts. That said, in some circles, dialectic grease has no business in the cap.

Put the new cap on and clip it in place.

Transfer the plug wires ONE AT A TIME starting from one of the clips and working around the circle.

Now, the long part...

Crank the engine, and it should fire right off. If it doesn't, the wires are likely one installed plus or minus one of where they should be. If that is the case, move them all one clockwise (why clockwise, why not). If it still doesn't start, move them all one counterclockwise (where you originally had them). Try cranking again to be sure the first non start wasn't a fluke. Then move them all one counterclockwise one more spot. If all you did was change cap and roter, it will start.

 

Are you replacing the whole distributor or just the cap?

 

Ford's official instructions:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...tor-rotor.html

Note they said to put the dielectric compound at the tip only, and not the center contact.

 

Sounds easy enough thank u

 

Here is what I’m replacing…

 

Thank you…I’ll grab some dialectic grease today

 

Which engine do you have ?
Notice a lot of us have that info in our "signatures" in every post.

You can do that from the "edit signature" in the menu. Click on the arrow next to your name in the upper right corner.

 

I’ll do that now thank u. 1985 F350 with a 460

 

Hi, I'm replying to an earlier thread from December in hopes that some of you will see it. I have a recently purchased 1972 F100 302 and doing a basic tune up, etc as well as other parts. I went to replace the distributor cap and rotor - currently it has a red top and white/grey base. Replacement cap + rotor are nothing fancy - WVE stock replacement. After removing the existing cap I could not get the new one to line up with the base so that the closing tabs would be in the correct position. It was catching on the edge and I believe it was hitting the condenser screw below. Anyone had this issue? It seems like it should be a simple install ... thanks.

 

First welcome to FTE

Second you posted this in the wrong truck year area as our trucks dont have points & condenser.

Note the cap only fits the dist. base one way. Look at the bottom of the cap and you should see a notch.
Now look at the dist. base and it should also have a tab to fit the notch.
I also dont think the points & cond. can be installed right and stick out the side.
Do you have uni set points or point & cond. 2 parts?
If lining up the cap notch / tab dose not get it to fit right post up a picture or 2 of what you got so we can see what you are talking about.
Dave ----