Trick to Installing a Distributor - HELP!!!

[Lambrewski]

After a complete rebuild, I'm ready to start-up and can't get the distributor to fit onto the oil pump fitting.....is there a trick to this?? We tried turing the oil pump fitting in small incrememtns for HOURS, with no luck - it's like the distributor shaft is hitting the top of it, but won't slip on. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[OldGrayGhost]

I always look down on the hole and see where the oil pump is postion wise. Then I position the dizzy accordingly straight up above the hole. Then twist the dizzy a bit to the left, as it drops down it will engage the camshaft and turn the dizzy back right, and engage the oil pump drive, it may take a few times.

[oddfire]

ok, here goes.
1. First find TDC on the compression stroke on cyl #1, Thats the first one on the drivers side. Pull the coil wire, pull plug #1, put your thumb over the hole and have someone "bump" the motor a little at a time till you feel the compression.
2. Now look at your timing marks, they should be lined up at 0. If not, use a breaker bar and large socket on the balancer pully nut to move the marks till they align at 0.
3. Now drop in your distributor, making sure it engages the oil pump shaft. You can stick a screwdiver in the dist hole to move the shaft if needed.
4. The terminal that the rotor is now pointing at on the dist cap is now cylinder #1.
5. Starting at #1, and going around clockwise on the distributor, put your plug wires on in the following order.
1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2
5. Replace plug and coil wire. Tighten down distributor
6. Fire up the motor and let it warm up, then time for optimun performance. Mine is set at 14 BTDC.
Good luck.......................phil

[ October 05, 2003, 08:54 PM: Message edited by: oddfire ]

[OldGrayGhost]

Bear in mind that #1 terminal on the dizzy can be anywhere you want it to be. As long as your #1 piston is all the way up on your compression stroke your good. That being said if you drop the dizzy in and it goes all the way in , whichever terminal it points at on the dizzy cap is your new #1.mark it on the cap and wire it up in the correct order from there. That is if you are fed up with it and get it seated all the way in and it's nowhere near where the factory location for #1 terminal is. Your engine rotating assembly must be at top dead center of the compression stroke though.

[KYJ10]

I had the same problem after my rebuild. Im assuming your using new cam and dizzy gears? Mine felt like it was hitting, but it was just real tight. When I knew I was in the right position, I had to tap it down to get the gears to mesh. Some other people had this problem also. So far, I haven't had any problems with them. I know it feels like it had reached the end, but it should slide down whith some moderate pressure, when it's lined up. Dennis

[IronDog]

I've had the same trouble - getting the distributor shaft to engage in the oil pump shaft. The '91 shop manual says to bump the motor over while pushing down on the distributor. That sounded kind of crude but worked fine. You can also drop the oil pump cover, remove the pump gears, install the distributor and then re-install the pump gears, rotating the pump gears while pushing them up into the housing until the shafts engage. One other thing, I once found a new pump shaft with the "tangs" on the end of the shaft splayed too far open just enough to make engagement impossible. Don't know if the gear set came that way, or if I spread it open by using a screw driver bit in a drill to prime the pump.

[popeye44]

Just since ya'll didn't mention it.. I have a set of tools "various for various amc stuff" explicitly designed to pump up the engine before you start it the first time.. it can be used on the end of a drill to slip into that slot "so could a cut off screwdriver" and turned to prime the engine with oil.. I would suggest this it may save some head/heartache later.

good luck.. I had my dizzy out and back in about 12 times with no real trouble.. the trouble was with my wiring schematic and my noggin :D
O yea.. a shout out to tehachapi. land of four seasons and all that :D ..

[ October 06, 2003, 12:14 PM: Message edited by: popeye44 ]

[91waggy]

I had the same problem too on a brand new amc 360. What we ended up doing is pulling the oil pump out and put the distributor in and then the oil pump. Don’t know why it worked this way tried forever to get it in the normal way.