63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

[Steve D.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

Good news_ see this link https://youtu.be/xDPHqGH0fk8

Charles gets the detective trophy for his suggestion on Friday to check the vertical alignment of the oil pump extension shaft in case the plastic sleeve had allowed it to move off center. I had checked, but it looked ok. Later, I went back to that thought and jacked up the driver side a bit to see if it made a difference, and it did. Jacking up one side caused the shaft to leaned enough to center for the distributor shaft to slip over it. I had been convinced that the end of the distributor shaft was not getting far enough past the cam gear to be able to contact the oil pump shaft; but that was not the case. I dabbed some paint on top of the oil pump shaft and then set the distributor in until it bottomed out on the cam gear, or so I thought. But when I pulled the distributor, there was a spot of paint on the bottom of the distributor shaft; proof that it was actually bottoming out on the oil pump shaft, not the cam gear.

To check the condition of the plastic sleeve, can I pull the oil pump extension shaft and sleeve out through the distributor hole, or do I have to pull the pan and pump?

[Steve D.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

Rich

I tried tugging on the shaft, but it was in place, just leaning. I did get a new pair of 20" needle nose pliers out of the deal, though.

[Charles D.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

Steve pull the shaft out from the top if all of the plastic lock comes out you should be able to install new collar on shaft first then align to pump and snap it in.If plastic pieces are in the oil pan I would drop the pan.

[Richard M.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

Rich

I tried tugging on the shaft, but it was in place, just leaning. I did get a new pair of 20" needle nose pliers out of the deal, though.

Steve, I'm glad you figured it out. I suspect if you gave the shaft a wiggle with the pliers you may have noticed it was off center. The edge of the shaft must have been hanging up on the distributor gear bottom face and couldn't find the bevel at the bottom of the gear. I bet it was very close, but couldn't go in easily, as you've witnessed.

BTW, I like to use the shafts with the steel collars. I never liked the plastic down there.

Rich
p.s. Those long pliers will come in handy for many other tasks.

[Steve D.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

Rich

I am going to get rid of the plastic. Thanks for all of your input on this.

Steve

[Mark E.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

To clarify, are we saying the fit of the plastic collar is too loose, causing the shaft to tilt to one side?

[Steve D.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

That is my assumption at this point. Something changed to cause the shaft to tilt, and the plastic sleeve is the likely suspect. The sleeve is new, but perhaps it cracked. I plan to drop the pan this evening and take a look.

[Mark E.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

The good news is that removing the oil pan on these cars is often easier than changing spark plugs. Keep us posted.

[Steve D.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

https://youtu.be/AsBQoZan-Z8

Hopefully this is the last installment for this problem. I dropped the pan and pulled the oil pump to check what I thought might be a problem with the plastic sleeve that secures the extension shaft to the oil pump. I found that the shaft had a metal sleeve, not plastic, but more importantly I discovered that the oil pump was not torqued down. I put the ratchet on the bolt and had made a couple of strokes before it dawned on me that the bolt was not torqued down, so I don't know whether the pump was actually loose or not. As the clip shows, the metal sleeve on the shaft allows the shaft to wobble considerably. To check for cause and effect, I tightened the pump with the existing rod installed, but still could not get the distributor to drop. I installed an extension rod with a firmly attached sleeve and the distributor drops "normally". I don't have the answer to what changed to keep the other shaft from getting in the correct position, but I am claiming victory and moving on. Back to the original problem of why the engine dies at idle after warm up.

I am actually glad this problem came up, because if it hadn't, I would have eventually had to start a very sad thread about the havoc caused by a run-away oil pump.

[Duke W.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

https://youtu.be/AsBQoZan-Z8

I tightened the pump with the existing rod installed, but still could not get the distributor to drop. I installed an extension rod with a firmly attached sleeve and the distributor drops "normally".

It's not at all clear to me what you did other than "tightening" (I hope you used a torque wrench and tightened it to spec.) the oil pump mount bolt.

Did you replace the intermediate oil pump drive shaft?... the bushing that attaches it to the oil pump drive shaft? What do you mean by "rod" and "extension rod"?

The oil pump has a "drive shaft" that extends a few inches above the pump housing. Above that is the "oil pump intermediate drive shaft" that attaches to the oil pump drive shaft with a retainer bushing, and the flat on the bottom of the distributor shaft engages a notch at the top of the intermediate drive shaft.

Duke

[Steve D.]

Re: 63_Distributor won't drop unless bumped

Click on the link to the video clip.

The line that you quoted refers to my trying to figure out if the pump was loose enough to have been contributing to the shaft misalignment, not the final assembly.