This past weekend I recurved my distributor, while doing so I noticed that it didn't spin very easily, but thought nothing of it. This morning I went to start my car and it wouldn't start, after work I found that nearly half the teeth are gone. The distributor is an EI unit from an early '70s mopar.

1) Is there a preferred gear? Anything I should stay away from?
2) I'm assuming the distributor should spin fairly easily so I guess a full rebuild is in order. Any special lubrication I need to do while it apart?

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'66 Dodge Dart

If you're going to do it right, clean the whole thing out...use your solvent tank or a can of break clean and a fistful of rags...

The unit when assembled right should turn easily at the twist of a wrist...if it binds up you need to find out what it is (bent shaft, misplaced bushing, no grease, forgot to set the gap between the teeth and pick up correctly, one reluctor tooth is a little longer than the others?).

1) There aren't many choices here either a "Help!" gear or one from NAPA will work.
2) I use regular grease and sometime lithium grease depending, and use them where moving parts are likely to rub on each other (counter weights under the governor, near the pickup plate rubbing blocks on the main mouting plate, the vacc advance arm under the pickup plate...

Make sure that after your are all done that you check to make sure that the gap between your pick up and the reluctor teeth are set at .08 and done with a brass feeler gauge(non magnetic)...if your set came with a .010 you can use that instead (been running that gap for more than a decade in mine. I've seen "emergency" gaps set with business cards and paper but advise against it for the real deal.)...

Good Luck,

-D.Idiot

Careful — don't be fooled. The new pinion will come with a hole drilled in it. You cannot use that hole. See here.

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

Thanks guys! I noticed that as soon as I cleaned off the old grease from the shaft the shaft freed up nicely. The old grease felt very sticky and hard (which is what the shaft felt like before) so I guess that was it.

Thanks for the heads up on the pinion hole Dan. I checked the FSM and the instructions for drilling the hole are interesting. Any tips for getting the hole drilled right, specifically, how will I know that my pinion hole is going to line up with the holes on my shaft while maintaining the correct thrust-to-pinion gap?

EDIT: I assume I'll need to clean out the pieces that broke off and I'm guessing that means dropping the oil pan, correct? I need my car for work, any chance that can wait till the weekend?

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'66 Dodge Dart

Don't worry about cleaning out the chips; they'll sit harmlessly in the sludge at the bottom of the oil pan. Leave 'em there til next time the oil pan has to come off.

Don't worry about the exact, precise rotative position of the new gear; there's ample adjustability in the distributor hold-down to compensate for the new gear being slightly this way or that way relative to the original gear. Follow instructions in the linked thread.

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

Thanks Dan, but I'm mostly concerned with drilling the hole too low or too high, causing too much or too little end play. I guess one way to solve this, the way suggested by the FSM, is to just drill through the pinion and shaft together... It just doesn't seem like a great idea.

The approach I think I will use is to measure from the bottom of the housing to the center of the hole using a caliper. Then mark the pinion, set it in a vise (very lightly?) and drill away. The hardest part will be trying to get both holes right on the money... wish I had a drill press.

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'66 Dodge Dart

Use this method to measure but I would check the hole distance by putting 2 distributor gear washers on the shaft to give you a little wiggle room and clearance...Mark the hole like you plan above, but drill only one side...install on the shaft and line it up with the shaft hole and drill it all the way through...remove drill and gear, remove one of the 2 washers, reinstall and align gear, install pin.

-D.Idiot

Thanks for the confidence boost and peptalks! Got my gear from NAPA today (they apparently didn't order it the first time ), drilled the hole, and installed the gear... with 1 slight problem.

So in my excitement to get my car going again I measured distance from the bottom of the dizzy housing to the close and far end of the hole, averaged these and got the place I needed to drill. I measured with the thrust washer on the shaft so all I had to do was subtract the 0.007" gap from the measurement and mark that on the gear. But I subtracted 0.07" Luckily, the wear on my distributor gear showed that it could use some extra shimming and the addition of the old thrust washer gave me a perfect 0.007" gap. The car is back on the road!

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'66 Dodge Dart