This is for those who do not have the benefit of years of experience but are figuring it out. I put a Performance DUI Street/Strip Distributor in a 302 and could not get the Distributor to seat to save my life. Everyone said to bump the engine to line the gears up, no good. So after bodily crawling into the engine compartment of the van to look down the distributor shaft hole with a flashlight to see what was holding things up, there is a little hex shaft down there that drives the oil pump that must go inside the Distributor Shaft and it just flops to one side so it does not line up. You physically have to center that little shaft, some say Pack the hole with heavy grease to keep it centered. Then you are in. Why the Distributor Company does not tell you this is a mystery to me, hours of headaches, would like to prevent someone else from going through it.

Thanks
mjac

 

The later model of small block Ford distributors have a slightly longer distributor shaft, so it can slide over the oil pump drive shaft before the distributor gear engages the cam gear. This really eases installation. But I'm not sure what year they did this; maybe 1986, when the EFI distributors came out with the TFI module.

 

This was an aftermarket distributor by Performance Distributors so I do not know what distributor shaft it had compared to that, but if I remember correctly the gears were engaged and the darn thing would not seat down the last 1/2” for anything. I was getting ready to take a hammer to it but thought twice about it when I remembered the thing cost me $400.

Thanks
mjac

 

The factory distributor shafts are machined with a taper into the hex slot for the oil pump drive
That makes them self center, and the rotate and push method does work
I would assume that your aftermarket distributor is not machined with the taper as well as it should have been
No worries, this happens sometimes when you disassemble a distributor to replace the stator
You then just take a tapered die grinder carbide bit to the inside of the shaft and re taper the part going into the hex
Good luck
Using grease is futile IMO, it just moves out of the way has been my experience

 

Hey

Like I said, I don’t know much about it, but when I belly crawled into the van’s engine compartment to look down the distributor shaft hole with a compact flashlight to see what was going on, there was this little hex shaft plopped over to the side of the hole, I don’t see how a micro meter taper would have helped, it was way over to the side, it had to be physically brought back to center. Maybe because it was a worn engine, I don’t know. I couldn’t figure out how to pack it with grease, the thing was way down the distributor shaft hole. I centered it and after a couple of tries the distributor flopped down. I didn’t ask any questions, I was happy.

The Gaskacinch came Monday, $15 for 4 ounces, and my fancy gasket is supposed to come midweek. I am going to take my time, pull the valve covers, inspect the valve train, pull the plugs, spin the motor watching the valve train, do a compression test, pull the manifold, take the rods and lifters out one at a time and inspect them, inspect all of the surfaces, look at the fit and try and put it back together.

Thanks
mjac

 

Marvelous, that will do nicely
Crappy job compression testing a van
have fun
Good luck on the cam and lifter inspection
Probably okay unless it is clacking or ticking

 

You'll love that gaskacinch
Put some thick grease on the threads when you screw the cp back on and it will last a year or more

 

Shoot,I get rambunctious, I may even do a running compression test just to see how it is done and see if I can get anything out of it. No signs right now the valve train is in trouble, not like last time when the engine was popping and I pulled the valve covers and watched the valve train spinning the motor and two lifters were obviously not traveling all the way up, I had rounded off and I mean really rounded off two cam lobes (probably used the wrong oil or got a bad cam from the builder), I still got the cam shaft on top of the dresser cabinet as a reminder. I shouldn’t say this it might jinx me.

Thanks
mjac

 

Never thought of that, it is a sealant so it has limited shelf life, the grease might help it out. It did cost me $15 for 4 ounces. What I didn’t know is that it is also a belt dressing, I have had no luck with the belt dressings I have tried, maybe this is the answer.

Thanks
mjac

 

Back in the day, everything was belt dressing
I use "Door Ease" the bees wax stuff in a tube (on V belts) that squeal
That stuff was designed to lube old door hinges
I learned about that grease on the old Ford stuff (it's no longer made or available)
I have had this can for years and it is still liquid inside
I do still use this Ford stuff if I can't find my Gaskacinch

Somebody decided this stuff was cancer causing and Ford quit making it
One good thing though
Ford made us all read the MSDS sheets on everything we used in the shop before they signed off on our Masters certs
Thank God we all had kids already like for the AC flush