Distributor Help

[fastd]

Finally got it.

Thanks for all your help.

Special thanks to Jeff G 78. Jeff was very generous with his time and patience.

In summary, the only think unusual about my set up was that the distributor shaft small moon was towards the back, not the front; not sure why that is, but I flipped the oil shaft and it started right up. That, among other things caused me time and confusion. All that other stuff about 1:35 was my own non-sense.

Best regards.

[Captain Obvious]

Glad you got it figured out. Distributors can be a pain.

I was gonna ask about the 1:15 vs 1:35 thing... :laugh:

[Jeff G 78]

I'm glad it worked out Phil. BTW, in case you missed the memo, the first rule of this site is that we want to see pics of your car.

[fastd]

OK; here are the pix.

I bought it while on a vacation trip to San Francisco; this is what it looks like off the truck.

Had one in 1988 and this one is almost the identical twin to my old one (expect my old one had a black vinyl top).

Car was in pretty good shape when I got it; needed a lot of little things; most electrical that I have cleaned up over time.

[Zed Head]

Finally got it.

Thanks for all your help.

Special thanks to Jeff G 78. Jeff was very generous with his time and patience.

In summary, the only think unusual about my set up was that the distributor shaft small moon was towards the back, not the front; not sure why that is, but I flipped the oil shaft and it started right up. That, among other things caused me time and confusion. All that other stuff about 1:35 was my own non-sense.

Best regards.

So, you're saying that either, somehow, the distributor shaft was forced in to the wrong orientation in the beginning or you forced it in to the wrong orientation to make it work. As designed it will only install one way, since the aligning slot and its counterpart are offset to one side. You would have to put some effort in to get it jammed in the wrong way, I assume. When you say that you flipped the "oil shaft" do you mean the distributor drive shaft? Or did you remove and reinstall the oil pump?

Just trying to clarify for future reference.

[Jeff G 78]

Great looking car Phil.

Zed, he had to drop the pump and reorient it. He was 180° out.

[fastd]

I dropped the oil pump and re-inserted the oil shaft at 11:25 but with the small moon towards the back (rather than the front as it seems most cars are). It then matched up with the distributor that had the small moon towards the back.

I am still curious as to why the distributor shaft is "backwards" (unless I am just confusing myself).

I don't recall how it was before I pulled it although I doubt anything was jammed (don't think that is possible without breaking something); this was all before my education is Z dizzy's.

[Zed Head]

All of the work to get things oriented mainly just affects where the distributor rotor points, therefore which spark plug gets the spark when it is initiated.

It is odd that what you describe seems backward from what the FSM describes. But there are many adjustments and ways to mix and match parts. The guys that know a lot would just look at where the rotor is pointing at TDC on compression, set that as #1 and go from there. You might be non-stock, but all that really matters is that you can set and measure timing.

Added a picture just for fun.

[Captain Obvious]

If you've got the problems sorted out, it's academic, but... Here's what the distributor drive tang should look like at TDC.

You're saying that yours is different than this?

[fastd]

that looks like 12:30 to me not 11:25. i was thinking about trying this position because the least amount of advance i can get is about 12-14 degrees.

[Captain Obvious]

that looks like 12:30 to me not 11:25. i was thinking about trying this position because the least amount of advance i can get is about 12-14 degrees.

Yeah, I'm not sure if it's a trick due to camera angle, but I agree.

Here's another pic showing the same. This one is from Blue from the Atlantic Z Car Club (www.atlanticz.ca):

Blue's looks a lot more 11:30-ish than mine, but all I can say is that my car runs well, my timing is correct, and I've got more than enough adjustability fore and aft from where it belongs. So maybe mine is off one tooth, but I can still get it timed? Maybe it's a camera angle issue?

Biggest issue to check is that the factory service manuals says that when at TDC#1, you should have the smaller bow shape should be placed toward the front of the car. That's what you have now, right?

[fastd]

No; mine doesn't look like that; mine has the small moon towards the back.

The picture is from the bottom of my distributor; you see that the small moon is towards the back; so in order to match that up, I flipped the oil pump shaft so that it would match the dizzy.

I didn't take a picture of the oil pump shaft after I flipped it; let me know if you would like a picture of it; I'll pull it for you.