Distributor install & Timing?

[mutator]

I searched this and didn't find much...
My Distributor fell apart so I now have another one that I want to get back in my 1994 lwb 4.2.
If anyone would be awesome enough to out line how I should establish
timing etc. I would happy...really happy.
thanks,
mutator

[p76rangie]

What do you mean "fell apart".
If the rotor button is intact and you have not removed it yet, put a socket on the crank and turn over the motor until the rotor button is pointing at where the number 1 cylinder HT lead would be in the distributor cap. The timing mark should show around 10 BTDC.

Pull out the old distributor and install the new one. When installing the new one make sure that the rotor button lines up with the number 1 cylinder HT lead on the distributor cap. The motor should start in this position, but you will need a timing (strobe) light to set the timing properly.

If you have already removed the old distributor, you have to find the firing stroke for No 1 cylinder. So turn over the crank and line the timing marks up with around 8 to 10 BTDC. You will need to remove the driver's side (LHD) tappet (valve) cover. If both the valves are up on cylinder closest to the front of the car, you have the right spot. You should actually be able to move the tappets on those two valves with your hand. Then just refit the new one as previously stated.

[bartell]

Originally Posted by p76rangie

Pull out the old distributor and install the new one. When installing the new one make sure that the rotor button lines up with the number 1 cylinder HT lead on the distributor cap. The motor should start in this position, but you will need a timing (strobe) light to set the timing properly.

Hi Mutator,

P7rangie did great! (sorta) However, he forgot to mention two important points that could cause pain.

1. The rotor will turn counter-clockwise as you pull the distributor out as it disengages the oil gear. Accordingly, you must start counterclockwise and it will turn clockwise as it re-engages. There will be a fully installed position (let's call it the IP) and a prior to installation position (PIP)

2. P7rangie gave you instructions for re-installing the same distributor or he mistakenly assumed that all the distributor gears and/or their slotted female oil pump gear interfaces (aka oil gear drivers aka thingies) are attached to the distributor shaft with the same orientation. Sadly, that isn't so..unless you are very lucky.

If you are not one of those very luck souls, the oil pump gear and the interface slot will not align and, if so, you will become upset with P7rangie when you try to install with his instructions. Let's try to avoid that.

After you remove the distributor use a flashlight to look down the distributor shaft. You will see the oil pump shaft and the angle of its male top (its PIP). Now, confirm that angle by holding the rotor on the old distributor where it was when you removed it. You will see it is at the same angle (its PIP).

Now, take the new distributor (when its gear and interface are on) and hold ITS rotor at the same happy point on top (upper PIP) and relationship to distributor body. If the slot at the bottom is not now at the same PIP of the old distributor, installing could prove very frustrating.

There is a easy fix. Use a screw driver to reorient the oil pump gear shaft to match with the new angle (PIP) of the distributor's bottom slot. Then install.

http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...RSHAFTORIE.jpg
Image of distributor fitting 2 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

James

[p76rangie]

Originally Posted by bartell

he mistakenly assumed that all the distributor gears and/or their slotted female oil pump gear interfaces (aka oil gear drivers aka thingies) are attached to the distributor shaft with the same orientation. Sadly, that isn't so..unless you are very lucky.

You Idiot!
Where do you get this crap

[bartell]

Originally Posted by p76rangie

You Idiot!

Yes dear. Try to calm yourself.

Originally Posted by p76rangie

Where do you get this crap

Likely by trying it your way decades ago when I didn't know much. If you want, you can also pick it out of Manuals.. or consult with any Rover mechanic who has ever swapped in a new dizzy. The reason you are confused (again) is because you apparently have never done so.

Hands on experience teaches one so much. (You must try it!) You just have to get out more. It will do you a world of good. You can't live in that closet forever.

James

P.S. Keep up the good work! It was wonderful to see you trying to help someone rather than being obtuse.

[p76rangie]

Originally Posted by bartell

Yes dear. Try to calm yourself.



Likely by trying it your way decades ago when I didn't know much. If you want, you can also pick it out of Manuals.. or consult with any Rover mechanic who has ever swapped in a new dizzy. The reason you are confused (again) is because you apparently have never done so.

Hands on experience teaches one so much. (You must try it!) You just have to get out more. It will do you a world of good. You can't live in that closet forever.

James

P.S. Keep up the good work! It was wonderful to see you trying to help someone rather than being obtuse.

Your an idiot.

The female drive on the bottom of the distributor can only go on one way (two ways actually but they are the mirror reverse of each other and therefore does not make a difference)
Yes the shaft will move a little as you insert it, but I told him to line it up with the distributor cap, so the body of the distributor is just moved to line it up (within reason). If he is too far out he will pull it out and try again. You have not told him where to orientate the body to or how much it is going to turn, so you advice as as much use as a road map for Moscow.
You really need some real world experiences. You are good at quoting things that you have read but you do not know how much real works. Do you!

[bartell]

Originally Posted by p76rangie

Your an idiot.

Yes dear.

By the way, you are hopefully erring in the use of the word "your" above. With that spelling you are suggesting to the forum you are MY idiot. I do not think you an idiot and if you were I would not claim you as my own.

Originally Posted by p76rangie

The female drive on the bottom of the distributor can only go one way

I see you are confused once more. I will try to help again. However, let us try this VERY slowly, step by step, so you don't get lost.

Here we go.

Step One

What do you think that drive is attached to? Do you REALLY believe it is attached to the distributor itself? Or is it attached to the gear you see at the bottom of the distributor?

(You are allowed to stare as long and as hard as you want at the picture of the bottom of the distributor I posted.)

James (an eternal optimist)

[p76rangie]

Originally Posted by bartell

Yes dear.

By the way, you are hopefully erring in the use of the word "your" above. With that spelling you are suggesting to the forum you are MY idiot. I do not think you an idiot and if you were I would not claim you as my own.



I see you are confused once more. I will try to help again. However, let us try this VERY slowly, step by step, so you don't get lost.

Here we go.

Step One

What do you think that drive is attached to? Do you REALLY believe it is attached to the distributor itself? Or is it attached to the gear you see at the bottom of the distributor?

(You are allowed to stare as long and as hard as you want at the picture of the bottom of the distributor I posted.)

James (an eternal optimist)

WTF
YOU'RE an IDIOT

[bartell]

Originally Posted by p76rangie

WTF
YOU'RE an IDIOT

Yes dear! Much better!

However, I have noticed that your answer to my last post is conspicuously absent. Have you seen the light at the end of the tunnel you created and become faint of heart? Not you!

What is the female driver attached to? I KNOW you have figured it out.

Or may be not..you have been slow often and I promised to help. So I will give you a HUGE hint. The female driver is not attached directly to the distributor as you state. It is, instead, attached to the distributor gear (as the picture shows).

Now here is another toughie for you. Is the distributor gear a part of the distributor or attached to IT in some way as well?

Look at the picture again, I KNOW you can get this one right. Be brave.

James

[TerryS]

As near as I am able to determine, the two of you are essentially saying the same thing, apart from some geographical terminology. Symantics aside, why not let it rest?
The distributor drive gear is pinned with a roll pin to the distributor shaft. The drive gear has an even number of teeth, 14 if memory serves, and the roll pin is centered, so that it can be pinned to the shaft in either of two positions 180 degrees apart. No Matter which way.
The oil pump wobble adapter, also roll pinned into the bottom of the drive gear, has a flare to it's female slot, so that the adapter will slip into position, and to a certain degree is self aligning, provided the engine or the oil pump are not rotated when the distributor is out.
On an EFI engine, it's a bit of a pain to remove the rocker cover on the left side, since the plenum is in the way. It helps to have a helper, but if you remove the spark plug for the number one cyl, and put your thumb over the plug hole and have your helper rotate the engine with a socket on the crank bolt, in the direction of rotation, stopping at TDC or thereabouts, you'll feel it building compression and that is the FIRING cycle TDC. Thats the one you want. (If you don't feel it building compression, you're on the exhaust stroke, and need to go another 360 degrees)Now just drop the distributor in with the rotor backed up a few degrees from where it wants to be when fully seated.

[p76rangie]

Originally Posted by bartell

2. P7rangie gave you instructions for re-installing the same distributor or he mistakenly assumed that all the distributor gears and/or their slotted female oil pump gear interfaces (aka oil gear drivers aka thingies) are attached to the distributor shaft with the same orientation. Sadly, that isn't so..unless you are very lucky.

You idiot!!
The reason I did not answer your last statement was that I could not understand what you were talking about. As per you original statement above, you were talking about the orientation to the "Shaft". Which I commented that it was up to your usual standard as being WRONG. You then come back with some statement about if being fixed to the body of the distributor. WTF was the only response I could come up with.
But as you refuse to listen to me, maybe you will listen to Terry.

[TerryS]

Originally Posted by p76rangie

But as you refuse to listen to me, maybe you will listen to Terry.

HEY! Don't confuse me with an expert. I've just built a few of these, and been deep within many others. I'm just a whore, and will side with the highest bidder.

[bartell]

Originally Posted by TerryS

As near as I am able to determine, the two of you are essentially saying the same thing,

The distributor drive gear is pinned with a roll pin to the distributor shaft. The drive gear has an even number of teeth, 14 if memory serves, and the roll pin is centered, so that it can be pinned to the shaft in either of two positions 180 degrees apart. No Matter which way.

H Terry,

Thank you for intervening.

In fact, the roll pin holes for the distributor gears can and are often in different orientations to the top of the shaft (aka where rotor is pointing). That means the driver for the oil pump gear on a second distributor will not necessarily match the orientation of the oil pump gear on the first distributor. It is a small matter that can make the installation of a new distributor hellish if p76rangie's instructions are followed blindly.

The solution is the easy one I mentioned..simply check the orientations of the driver (s) after removing the old dizzy and before installing the new one. If the female driver slot (with the rotor/dizzy relatoinship in the place you want them) and the oil pump gear shaft no longer match, make it so by turning the oil pump gear shaft.

Many manuals mention it (off hand you can check one of the Haynes. [from memory]), but any Rover old timer knows of it from their first bad experience with this. The fact that P76rangie doesn't know or understand it does not mean that others will not suffer if they adopt his lack of awareness.

A good forum has inbuilt protections against mistakes like his in that there are others about who can correct the inevitable mistakes ANYONE makes. A reasonable person, no matter how knowledgeable or experienced, is made more comfortable in any forum with people out there to correct them when they err for any reason.

But P76rangie is different. He doesn't care whether he is right, only that he is not disputed in any way. He rages and throws tantrums with ANYONE who tries to correct him. His manner scares your forum's safety net away and THAT makes him VERY dangerous amongst your flock.

On the other hand, I am enjoying P76rangie immensely. I see you allow him a wide license with his kindergarden abuse but I have been circumspect at all times with him. So PLEASE (!) let me have my fun. He is the ultimate straight man. Remember, he HAS assured the forum that he feels himself "brilliant and doesn't give a 'f--k' about anyone"..so he is immune and only benefits can result for everyone else. For the sake of the others, you do NOT want this guy around without some sort of leash.

James

[bartell]

Originally Posted by TerryS

HEY! Don't confuse me with an expert. I've just built a few of these, and been deep within many others. I'm just a whore, and will side with the highest bidder.

I like that! You and I have a lot in common. The "idiot" and the "whore"!



James

[bartell]

Originally Posted by p76rangie

You idiot!!
The reason I did not answer your last statement was that I could not understand what you were talking about.

Yes dear. Calm yourself. I am sure there are laxatives available in Oz. Try some

James