Incorrect Dist / Oil Pump shaft?

[Harry Walker]

Hello All, I am trying to refreash my 1972 240Z. I had the engine rebuilt by a machine shop and finally

got it back home and in the car. After putting everything else back on I tried to start it. It took me about 3 weeks

to figure out that the distributer was on backwards. Now I know that you cannot put the Z car Dist on backwards

because the shaft has an offset key. But when all else was correct the only thing left was that the rotor was pointing

aft when the No 1 piston was at TDC. I moved all the spark plug wires to opposite points and the engine fired up.

Now the problem is that I have a distributor that is "backwards" but the real problem is that I ran the engine for about

1 minute and had a loud high pitched noise coming from the front of the engine. It may be the oil pump or the shaft

that connects the pump and the dist. I shut the engine down and haven't started it again since I am afraid the shaft

may be the issue and it may be causing internal problems. Does anyone have experience with this issue? Can that

shaft be installed upside down and cause this problem? The shop where I had the work done is 65 miles away (I had

to move since the work was done) and I haven't tried to work with them again yet. This is my baby - I bought it new

in 1972 and it was my daily driver until about 10 years ago when I put it away. Two years ago I started to refreash

it and the body work is done but this issue with the engine is keeping the project at a standstill. Any help would be

greatly appreciated. Thanks

Harry

[John Coffey]

Take the oil pump off the engine and remove the distributor. Remove the shaft and inspect it.

[theblackpearl]

I had the same problem.. the distributor can actually be put in 180 degrees backwards it is just very hard to do and the chances are it bent your oil pump shaft it took me about 20 minutes to replace the shaft and the car fired right up with no missing and double or triple the power.

[jfa.series1]

The FSM is specific about installation of the oil pump to avoid this potential problem - the #1 cylinder must be at TDC prior to installing the pump. This will get the driveshaft for the distributor into the correct position. As recommended above, pull the pump and dizzy to check for damage, then start over with pump install. Don't forget to get your plug wires back into the correct positions.

Jim

[Harry Walker]

Thanks for the info. I will remove and inspect this week.

Harry

[Harry Walker]

Well all is well now. I removed the oil pump and shaft and turned it to the right place on the gear. The distributor is now correct and the engine runs well. Thanks for your help.

Harry