and was wondering two things,

Is it important to align the pinion's teeth to the same spot as the old one was in? If the orginal has the imaginary centeline of the rotor coming down and touching the botom of a gear tooth, should I put the new one in at the exact same location? Or will I be able to compenstate for this with the adjustment withing the distributors adjustment range (slot and bolt)

And to those of you who have done this before; did you use a drill press or a mill and had the dist. clamped firmly to the table? This is the only way I can imagine of doing it to locate the hole, slide the spacers and new pinion on then to drill it thru acuurately.

I'm sure I am missing something here(not uncommon for me), so please let me know how you have done this. Thanks in advance....

Get it close; that's all that's needed.
Yep!
Nope. Didn't have those tools available to me the last time I needed to put on a new pinion, so I worked with a bench vise and a handheld electric drill. Use the tip of a hot soldering iron (or a flame-heated darning needle or paperclip) to create a pilot hole. Once you've got the first hole drilled, the second one's a piece of cake; all you have to do is make sure not to throw a big side load on the drill bit, which would wallow-out the shaft pin hole.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Doesn't the pinion have an offset pin? I mean the pin that you use to hold the pinion to the low end of the distributor shaft.

I don't remember well but I think that it is offset, and the pinions usually come with the holes already drilled, so there is only one way to attach it to the shaft.

Or maybe you have your replacement pinions without any pin holes on them ..

_________________
Martin Zappettini
1974 Dodge Polara RT 318cu.
1965 Valiant III Coronado Slant Six 6-Pack (soon!!)

No.
No, see here. There's one hole predrilled in the pinion, but it is not a pin hole. Perhaps a different pinion is supplied in Argentina...?

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Ok one more question (hopefully) I have read and reread the FSM for this car and I think that I also need to put a 0.007" feeler gauge between the spacer washers and the pinion before I drill the hole to give it a very slight axial play. Can anyone confirm ? Car is 1974 model; this is per factory service manual. Thanks..

Howdy Dan, I've encountered slightly offset pin holes (about .020") that don't measure out to be worn or belled on a couple (not all) shafts I have. Could these be simply sloppy jig drilling or perhaps a trial change at some point?
On reflection it also occurs to me that if the factory supplied replacement gears undrilled perhaps that was a reason?

Slanty, the '62 FSM calls for a feeler as well. Likely both to cover the disparate heat expansions of pot metal & steel and to allow oil flow.

_________________
Sex, drags, and rock & roll.
Dick, 225% crazy.
Hobby (cars, that is) Photos link

Confirmed!

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Good question...donno! But it could easily be yet another reason why new pinions don't come predrilled.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

i will tell you what i have found. i have 2-3 points style dizzys. they all have the hole drilled in the middle of the shaft. i pulled a dizzy out of a lean burn truck and it had the gear and shaft drilled off center. so that that had to be the last run of dizzys from Ma mopar. then the aftermarket people used the off center spec. to make replacments. so we find on the shelves a mix of old spec. (in the center drilled plastic gears) and new spec (off center drilled) so i just used the one hole in the gear then drilled it through out the other side. it did require that i moved the bolt on the bottom of the dissy to get the advance i wanted. Just what i think has happened.

_________________
65cuda 360, 71 Duster 416 11.84@110mph , 72 dart 440, 72 dart /6, , 71 Dart /6 2000 Kota, 73 Imperal,
Legendary Dealer

Don't believe so, no. NONE of the replacement nylon distributor pinions, no matter whose package they come in, are drilled for the pin! They all have one hole, which is in no case appropriately located for the pin.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I can go with that. i havn't used a replacement gear yet. i pulled that one off the lean burn dizzy and used it. i was thinking i could use the whole dizzy for a change over till i read up on here and found out i couldn't.

there was a page on here a while back where i thought people said they were finding gears some with the center drilled hole and some with the off center hole.
Dan this is a great site for the Slant Six guys. hats off to you.

_________________
65cuda 360, 71 Duster 416 11.84@110mph , 72 dart 440, 72 dart /6, , 71 Dart /6 2000 Kota, 73 Imperal,
Legendary Dealer