distributor alignment

[effvee]

Good morning, I have put on hold a friends 1835 engine for going on 6 months now. When we first put it together, the splining of the distributor was hell. Since then, we took the engine apart due to #3&4 cylinders stumbling.

I am now trying to get this project done, but I am again having the timing of the distributor problem. Question, with the distributor drive out of the engine, is there supposed to be excessive endplay? I dont have the flywheel on yet, that's next but again this timing of #1 to the distributor alignment mark is way off. Suggestions please, when I asked this question before, the response was "whether the drive gear was in or not the end play should not be excessive" . With that said and there is excessive play, can it be due to the thrust bearing? I have had nothing but bad luck in helping this person.

[owdlvr]

What's the measurement of "excessive end play"?

[effvee]

Originally Posted by owdlvr

What's the measurement of "excessive end play"?

Good morning, without the flywheel or distributor drive installed, approx .250. I am aware that the flywheel must be installed and torque to the correct settings. I believe we added .005 shims for end play from our dail readings. But things seem to only start to be less play only when the distributor drive is installed. Also, the timing mark on the pulley at TDC; per specs I cannot install the drive gear in its referenced position. Man this engine is driving me crazy

[effvee]

Hi, I found out what is was. After you install the crankshaft and cam. It is better to next install the distributor drive gear. But what escaped me was the bottom shimms to the distributor drive gear. Actually we were going to do the same problem all over again. This time I noticed that the shimms were contacting the crankshaft gear. I noticed when I was disassembling the engine. The shim was damaged, so after cleaning up the engine, I noted that the shimms needed to be installed,before the drive gear. All of the other times we had installed the drive,with shimms, big mistake. I could not align the drive like the book called for. Just as soon as I installed the shims before the drive, it was easy to aling and install.