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Distributor assembly

T

Tom H

Platinum Level Sponsor
I'm helping Vlad get his Alpine running and having an issue possibly with the dist. With nice weather finally here , Vlad tried to start his car for first time in a while and it would not start. Seemed to be ignition problem. We disassembled the dist and found one of the springs on the centrifugal advance was off at one end. But in reassembling the dist it seems that the cam plate assembly can be re-installed in either of two orientations, one of which, of course, would put the dizzy 180 deg out of position. Is this right? or did we miss something? In reading the WSM the reassembly instructions say nothing about how to determine correct orientation. How can this be? There are clear descriptions on how to assure that the oil pump shaft is oriented correctly, and how to correctly install the distributor, but now it seems it's a pure 50/50 shot to get the dizzy 180 deg out, if you pull the Cam plate out.

Tom
 
R

RootesRacer

Donation Time
I dont have an SV manual but the SI to SIV (WSM124 Fig. 19) shows pretty clearly the relationship between the points (mounts to the plate) and the area where the wire exits the dizzy casting and cap.

Even still, since the points closure per cycle is even, if you screwed it up (assuming the points wires are long enough to do this), the engine would still run fine. The points dont know or care about the dizzy plate being 180 out, only the rotor and cap would have cared about that.


Edit: also it looks like the vacuum advance detail would preclude the cam plate from being mis-installed since if the plates take off pin would be on the wrong side of the plate to connect to the vacuum advance.
 
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T

Tom H

Platinum Level Sponsor
Rootes, Yes, the breaker plate is not a problem. But the CAM plate is the problem, or what the WSM calls the "action plate". That has the centrifugal weights and springs and the cam , along with the notch that aligns the rotor . And if it is installed 180 out, then the rotor is 180 out also.

Tom

Edit: I just read the beginning of the WSM section on repairing the distributor. It DOES say to note the orientation of the offset drive dog relative to the rotor position and assure that you reassemble the same way. So there's my answer! But I am amazed that there is no description of the correct orientation. I guess if I had the distributor out of the engine, I could rotate the drive dog to the position that is required for installation at #1 firing TDC and then orient the cam and notch for proper rotor position.
 
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RootesRacer

Donation Time
Tom H said:
Rootes, Yes, the breaker plate is not a problem. But the CAM plate is the problem, or what the WSM calls the "action plate". That has the centrifugal weights and springs and the cam , along with the notch that aligns the rotor . And if it is installed 180 out, then the rotor is 180 out also.

Tom
Click to expand...

Gotcha.

OK then, the dizzy shaft keys off the pump dog, the WSM shows it points a particular way with 45 to 47 degree angle (noting the key is offset).
Based on that, and knowing where #1 cap terminal should be, put it together so the rotor points to #1 when at #1 TDC.
This assumes that the pump was clocked correctly when installed.
 
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