Distributor engagement

[deerio]

Hey all, I took out my distributor to replace everything and now it's time to put it back in. Unfortunately, it won't seem to slide in the remaining 1/8"... I put a bit of oil on the coupling thinking it would help it slide in but I had no luck. Any ideas?

Here is what it looked likes inside at the moment after I gave it a quick cleaning:



Is it still just too dirty? Or is it something else?

-Dario

[waynosworld]

Spin the rotor till it drops?

[Li'l Truckie]

No you should be good . You should be able to insert the distributor and then rotate the rotor a little to the left or right to get it to seat properly. Might check to see if the assembly plate, fixing is on properly with the bolt head to the left and the nut to the right side.

Your distributor drive cog is in the correct position for #1 TDC and the cog retainer is in place and screwed down tight....so a little confused as to why your distributor will not properly seat.

Did you give it a little tap?

Andy

[deerio]

Wayne, the rotor is in the right spot as I can feel it hang up in that area. It just won't completely slide in.

Andy, yup I tried to give it a little nudge with a rubber mallet but no luck.

[waynosworld]

The slot that it drops in is ever so slightly offset, spin the rotor/shaft around all the way till it drops in, it will possibly catch slightly when 180 out, just spin it around all the way once and see if it drops.

[Li'l Truckie]

Did you check the pin on the bottom of the distributor? I wonder if this is peeking out?

Ahhhh.... Where is your vacuum? Is this hanging up / hitting the drain c***?

Also check your distributor cap clips and make sure the are up and not hanging down.

I'm looking at the Distributor (Hitachi) 22100-07200 in my parts manual

Andy

[deerio]

Wayne, I'll give it a try 180deg like you mentioned, but that would make the rotor point away from #1 cylinder wouldn't it?

Andy, the vacuum has lots of room and isn't hanging up on anything, and the cap clips are out of the way as well.

I'll give it another go in the morning, time to head into work!

[waynosworld]

Wayne, I'll give it a try 180deg like you mentioned, but that would make the rotor point away from #1 cylinder wouldn't it?

Andy, the vacuum has lots of room and isn't hanging up on anything, and the cap clips are out of the way as well.

I'll give it another go in the morning, time to head into work!

I'm not there to see it, so i just cover all the bases.

[deerio]

Weeeeeell Wayne you're right, I turned the rotor 180deg and it slides right in perfectly without any effort whatsoever. But this means that it's facing away from the #1 cylinder. This is how it looks like:




Is there a reason why it won't slide in the other way?

Also, I'm pretty sure I put the motor in #1 TDC before I took out the distributor. The intake valve just closed and the timing mark just approached the TDC mark. So shouldn't the rotor be facing the #1 cylinder? Unfortunately I can't remember if the rotor was pointing to it when I removed the distributor. I'm pretty sure it was, but I can't remember.

[waynosworld]

Well the dist. was likely 180 out, or the cap actually goes on the opposite way than you thought.
And it will not slide in both ways because if you look at the bottom of the dist. it is ever so slightly offset, like the first photo you posted of the dist. hole, that drive is slightly offset.

[waynosworld]

I just noticed something else, my vacuum advance outlet points back towards the firewall, while yours is pointed almost straight up, was your engine running with it that way before you tore it apart to rebuild it?

[deerio]

Well that sucks. I got it running briefly by installing the cap 180degs so that the wires come out facing the firewall. But it was very rough and clearly not timed properly.

Am I correct in guessing that my other option is to install the cap the correct way but wire it so the the #1 plug goes to the back where the rotor is facing?

However, when I took out the distributor, the cap was installed and wired properly with #1 wire facing the #1 plug. Does this mean I was actually at TDC on the exhaust stroke?

[deerio]

Wayne, my vacuum was facing up when I took the distributor out... And really, before I took out the distributor to change the burned out points, it was running the best it ever did.

[waynosworld]

You can have it pointed where ever you want #1 to be, the rotor just has to be pointed at #1 plug wire at TDC, these trucks are so old that many folks have made lots of changes over the years, I would just get it running for now, then change it to where stock would be when you know for sure where stock is.

[waynosworld]

Here is the direction my dist. wires are pointed, towards the front, this is a RHD truck, so the steering column is right there.

[deerio]

Well, I changed the plug wire orientation but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to try it out...

Quick question: regarding the vacuum line that goes into the distributor vacuum, is it supposed to be flared? Mine doesn't seem to be and the tube nut that is supposed to hold it in place can just come off the line.

[waynosworld]

It's hard to get a clear photo this close, but I believe it's supposed to have a collar on the line like in this photo.

[deerio]

Definitely not how mine looks like on the distributor vacuum side. I think my carburetor side looks like that. But the distributor side for mine has a female nut instead of male.

[waynosworld]

It's the same collar on both ends, it was just easier for me to get a photo of the other end.

[deerio]

Well it was running... I rewired the cap so that it matched with where the rotor was pointing when at #1 TDC on the compression stroke.

It sounded like crap initially but clearly lots of I burned fuel so after that all went away it was running smoothly like before. For 5 minutes... Then nothing.

It stopped running in the same fashion that it did prior to what prompted me to rebuilt the distributor. But since everything is brand new, what could possibly be wrong?

[waynosworld]

How hot is the coil when it quits?

[deerio]

Not very... Warm to touch I think?

[waynosworld]

Next time you get it running, when it quits check how hot it is.
Was the bowl still full of fuel?

[deerio]

Yep fuel bowl is full... What're you thinking regarding the coil?

[waynosworld]

When the coil gets to hot, the engine quits, no spark.

[difrangia]

Check that wire in the distributor again.

[deerio]

Hi Steve, which wire are you thinking about? The one from the points to the condenser wire? Or are you talking about a plug wire on the cap?

[deerio]

Well I just figured out why my rotor was 180deg out when I placed it back in... The old rotor had the locating tab on the same side as the point/tip. The replacement rotor had the tab opposite of the point/tip... This caused me to have to rewire the cap accordingly.

So just for future reference: the location of the tab matters (preferably on the same side!)

[deerio]

Oh and it still won't start... The coil is obviously cool since it's been left overnight. The wiring seems right. I'm getting good spark. The carb float bowl is full. Battery is charged up. IM LOST.

[waynosworld]

320 distributors drive me nuts, I have had more issues with the two 320 positive ground distributors I have than I with all the distributors in all the cars I have ever owned.
If you have spark to the plugs, and your sure it is timed correctly and not 180 degrees out, then maybe it is flooded. When I have flooded mine in the past, I remove the plugs and clean them, then I light off each cylinder to burn the fuel in them off, I then put it back together and try again to start it.
I had an issue with my U320, the coil wire was resting on the steering column(RHD), I would try to start it, but I couldn't get it to hit consistently, sometimes it would try to start, but it would not run, then one night I hit the remote starter while looking down at the dist. side of the engine, and I seen the coil wire arcing to the column shaft(grounding ), once I fixed that issue it would start most of the time until another dist. issue showed it's ugly head.
It's a good thing you figured out the rotor issue, make sure that the rotors are the same height when installed, it would suck if the new one was shorter and not making the connection to the center of the dist. cap although you say you have spark to the plugs, just throwing that out there.