How to remove a distributor?

[TR3driver]

I'm not betting. Once saw a dizzy on a running engine where some prevous mechanic had dropped the nut from the point post into the works. It had mangled the point cam until it sat crooked on the shaft. Having Jeff check it out (and presumably supply a correct cap & rotor) seems like a prudent precaution to me.

Not that I'd do it myself, you understand

 

[Tinster]

Well I tend to agree it ain't the dizzy. But I am the dude sitting
on the side of the road broke down- not you guys.

Thanks for all the input!! The dizzy is pulled and boxed
for shipment to Jeff. Jeff will determine the cause of the
grinded up dizzy cap.

My replacement cap with ancient, 35+ year old Lucas rotor,
ran well and produced no metal flakes or power inside the dizzy cap.

Ready to go for final judgement to Jeff.

 

[DrEntropy]

I'm in on your side Doc! Doc & I are betting 20 that the diz is OK.

Geez, Len!! I think we're lookin' at a "non gameing" crowd.


...let's go stir up th' MG guys. They'll bet on ANYTHING! :wink:

 

[Tinster]

My money says the dizzy cap was out of spec!!

A new cap with a 35 year old Lucas rotor makes it
3 hours up into the mountains with no difficulties?

Gotta be the cap or the "new rotor.

Jeff will tell us.


d

 

[DrEntropy]

WE told ya. It was a "mismatch". Most likely the rotor. I'd be ready to clean the damaged cap and slap it in place with the 35 year old rotor and drive it the length of that rock you live on.

...and back again.

 

[Andrew Mace]

My replacement cap with ancient, 35+ year old Lucas rotor, ran well and produced no metal flakes or power inside the dizzy cap.

I've probably mentioned this before, but I pulled a possibly 30-year-old rotor out of my Herald to get a friend's MGA running after one of those bad new rotors failed and left him stranded. He eventually replaced that with another new rotor and gave the old one back to me. (Meanwhile, I'd borrowed an even older Lucas rotor out of another car; Herald ran fine.) Sure enough, last summer, my buddy got stranded again by that "new" rotor (apparently yet another one of them!), and again I rescued him with an ancient Lucas rotor. This time, though, the story seems to have ended yet better thanks to Peter Caldwell, who sold me what so far seem to be very good quality rotors (and quite inexpensive)!

My point: NEVER let that old Lucas rotor out of your sight again! It might well be the only spare part you ever need to carry!

 

[rlandrum]

Ok... I'm gonna ask the stupid questions now...

Why not fix the 180 degree dog? I'm guessing that right now with the crank at zero that the rotor points 180 degrees away from the number one cylinder. It should technically function fine (assuming number 1 plug wire is near the rotor), but it certainly feels wrong.

 

[angelfj1]

They do, John.

Wouldn't like to think I told my Aircraft Ignition System students something wrong!

John: I that why you never hear from them???

 

[DNK]

Ok... I'm gonna ask the stupid questions now...

Why not fix the 180 degree dog? I'm guessing that right now with the crank at zero that the rotor points 180 degrees away from the number one cylinder. It should technically function fine (assuming number 1 plug wire is near the rotor), but it certainly feels wrong.

I'd like to know how that happened?

 

[Tinster]

Ok... I'm gonna ask the stupid questions now...

Why not fix the 180 degree dog? I'm guessing that right now with the crank at zero that the rotor points 180 degrees away from the number one cylinder. It should technically function fine (assuming number 1 plug wire is near the rotor), but it certainly feels wrong.

[color:#990000] Why? Because I know it is 180 degrees wrong and I've not a
clue on God's green earth how to turn the dizzy dog 180* without tearing the
engine down to pieces. WAY above my skill level as a TR6 non-mechanic owner.[/color

d]

 

[Twosheds]

They do, John.

Wouldn't like to think I told my Aircraft Ignition System students something wrong!

John: I that why you never hear from them???

Frank! You cut me to the quick.

 

[DrEntropy]

Ok... I'm gonna ask the stupid questions now...

Why not fix the 180 degree dog? I'm guessing that right now with the crank at zero that the rotor points 180 degrees away from the number one cylinder. It should technically function fine (assuming number 1 plug wire is near the rotor), but it certainly feels wrong.

[color:#990000] Why? Because I know it is 180 degrees wrong and I've not a
clue on God's green earth how to turn the dizzy dog 180* without tearing the
engine down to pieces. WAY above my skill level as a TR6 non-mechanic owner.[/color

d]

I thought you'd recently received a shop manual!?!? It explains that drive gear and how it SHOULD be installed in fairly simple terms. It is CERTAINLY un-necessary to "tear the engine down to pieces" to put it into "book" configuration. Not that it's necessary to do so: If you recall, there was an EXTENSIVE thread a while back regarding this issue. In that tretise it was illustrated there is no compelling need to put the drive gear into the "book" position other than convention. All that matters is that the #1 pot have fire at 12* BTDC and the firing order be correct. The drive gear can be inserted at 90* to where it is now! All the engine needs is to be timed at #1 firing with enough "lead" to light off on time and the firing order to be right.

It's actually a "non issue" where that gear sits. It's just "easier" if everyone has the same reference point to start from.

It's really an overview, an understanding of the systems rather than a getting lost in the minutiae.

Don't "feel".

*GROK* the CAR.

Be one with the horse.

Know yer arse from yer elbow.

 

[DNK]

[

Know yer arse from yer elbow.

I helps keep the skid marks off your shirt sleeve

 

[DrEntropy]

I helps keep the skid marks off your shirt sleeve

And yer brow from lookin' all gooey, too.

 

[swift6]

FWIW, you don't actually need to do any of that stuff. Remove the cap and make a mark on something to show you the rotor position. Then don't turn the engine while the dizzy is out. Reinstall it with the rotor in the same place.

Since Jeff may clean or replace your distributor, make your mark on something else. But usually, you can just make the mark on the dizzy body.

Dale, I agree with Randall 100% here. While there is nothing wrong with doing any of the other stuff, none of it is imperative to get Amos up and running immediately upon the return of your distributor. Don't worry about your drive dog being 180 out. As long as you know its 180 out and you don't try to get your spark plug wires to match one of your Island mates, you don't really have to worry about it.

 

[DrEntropy]

umm, I think I said that Shawn. I just used more words. And a reference to a previous thread where it was all hashed to death.


"...th' wheels go 'round an' 'round..."

All together now:

"One-five-six and three-two-four..."


<think: "Chicago"> :smirk:

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Dale -

When you called me, and I had you place the suspect rotor on the dizzy shaft, you did say that it was not a tight fit, didn't you? You could turn the rotor side to side without moving the shaft, right? You said that the tab inside the center of the rotor was noticeably smaller than the slot in the dizzy shaft.

End of story - the rotor wobbled all over the place, and was held in only by the center of the dizzy cap. That's what ate up the perimeter posts, and probably explains the circular groove in the rotor, too.

I'll be very surprised if Jeff discovers anything otherwise...

 

[Moseso]

My money says the dizzy cap was out of spec!!

A new cap with a 35 year old Lucas rotor makes it
3 hours up into the mountains with no difficulties?

Gotta be the cap or the "new rotor.

Jeff will tell us.


d

Wait a minute!!!! You replaced the rotor and the car "makes it 3 hours up into the mountains with no difficulties." WHAT DO YOU WANT??? The car "makes it
3 hours up into the mountains with no difficulties!!" Leave everything just as it is now -- and don't put any more bad rotors in it. Jeff is a nice guy, and all, but he doesn't need your money on this one. Nor Fedex (or UPS, or whatever). Trust yourself. The problem is solved.

 

[Moseso]

I'm in on your side Doc! Doc & I are betting 20 that the diz is OK.

Geez, Len!! I think we're lookin' at a "non gameing" crowd.


...let's go stir up th' MG guys. They'll bet on ANYTHING! :wink:

I would, Doc, but I don't know enough about MGs to bet against 'em. Sounds like a losing proposition... I'm only willing to put 10 "Flebs" (was that it?) on a sure thing, like this one.

 

[Tinster]

Doc, a section of my career is failure diagnostics.
I need to know why the new rotors eat up brand new dizzy caps
but 35 year old rotors run just fine in new dizzy caps.

A quirk of mine. I always ask " WHY? ".

The dizzy is already packed to go off to Jeff.
And besides, I owe it to Tony to let him know:
bad dizzy or bad dizzy cap or bad dizzy rotors.

Tony does not want to be sending off products that might not
be made to standards.

later gator - I'm going sunrise tarpon fishing today.

d