Itinerant Air-Cooled

Ok, im lost. What's the trick to fully seating the distributor?

I can get mine in *most* of the way, but not *ALL* the way.

Is the drive gear sitting too high?





Even with a different distributor it seems to get stuck at the same point:




hammertime?

well, im making progress at least.

if I spin the rotor and purposefully seat it 180* out, instead of pointing to #1 at TDC, it finally squats down the rest of the way.

I pulled it back up a hair, spun it back into the correct position and again it binds and won't push the rest of the way in.

if I can replicate this behavior with two distributors, then perhaps there's something about the gear that's worn.... I suppose I could just turn the motor over 180* and then try installing it again - so that everything's pointing in the right direction.

no hammer the drive gear my be in 180 out. I had a motor like that. runs fine, cylinder #1 line up with #3 on the distibuter

So it fits 180° out but not correctly oriented? Is this the same engine the dizzy came out of? You are aware that the drive dog on the dizzy is off center? I ask because it sounds like if it fits 180° off from where it should the drive gear may have been set up wrong. Happened to me when I built my engine. Luckily with the Mallory and optical only pickup it doesn't matter since there is no vacuum can to get in the way.

the dist. can be put in with the can in front. plug 1 in #3 pos on dist. and work your way around

ok, I found TDC incorrectly. it was on #3 - and I didn't realize it was offset to aid in the process. I just got so worried about installing it 180* out that I (of course) made it harder than it needed to be.