VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 lessons learned from a greenhorn

Hello Everyone,

I thought I’d share with you my lessons learned-

It all started almost three years ago when I had originally taken out the distributor to free up what I thought was a stuck vacuum advance. The distributor was an absolute bear to take out! When I was finally able to pull the distributor out (by sitting on the fender and both feet on the engine) the O-ring slipped off the shaft, so I put it back on- in the upper slot, not the lower slot. I cleaned up the vacuum advance (which now miraculously worked, not thinking that the o-ring was pinched) and reinstalled everything, not realizing that the oil pump was not engaging the distributor shaft, thereby leading to the lack of lubrication, and subsequent burn out of bearing #4!

Last week I got the engine running, and thought I was home free. I had religiously cleaned out my engine block of as much bearing material as possible (of course there is bound to be more floating around, was planning on doing another oil change soon). I installed the new connecting rod and piston, buttoned everything up, and fired her up. I was surprised at how easily it started! Once the engine was running I went to see what the oil pressure was--- 0 psi! I cut off the engine and pushed the car back into the garage.
The only thing I hadn’t done is replace the oil pump, but I had already checked the oil pump with a screwdriver shaft on my cordless drill. I called a parts supplier and asked if there was any way that the distributor can engage the drive gear on the camshaft and not the oil pump and I was told that it was not possible. The mystery continued. Went to take a hot shower and was hit by a Eureka moment- maybe I installed the o-ring incorrectly!

So I tested my theory by taking the o-ring off the distributor and lining up the slot on the oil pump shaft and viola- when I cranked the engine oil flowed! So in my case the distributor can in fact engage the camshaft gear and not necessarily the oil pump! Now I hope all the other bearings are all right!

Today I fired up the engine (after installing distributor 180 degrees wrong). It ran pretty good, adjusted the valves, still missing here and there, the idle isn’t smooth, but I’ll be asking about that later! Today I’m basking in the glory of getting the girl running after 3 years!

Thanks again for everyone’s help, I wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise!

Steve

Your problem began when the O ring was installed on the dist. housing......there should be NO "O" ring there.

Chev Nut is correct....NO "O" ring was used on the distributor housing. The grooves on the distributor are oil grooves, not grooves for an "O" ring.

Hello,

Hello, sort of leads to my next question- why the #@$% was there an o-ring there in the first place? I suppose I can ask the same person who installed the rocker arm assembly oil line too close to a pushrod- wore the oil line through! (I had the engine rebuilt when I bought the car) Live and learn!

Steve

The oil groves and drain hole are to allow the oil that gets uo that high to drain back. The general idea of the distributor having a fixed breaker plate the the vacuum advance touring the complete distributor is rather odd to say the least. Many egines used a gasket or something to seal the dist. to the block. I would suspect that some well meaning person thought some type of seal was necessary. With the dist. being that tight in the block the vacuum advance would not have been able to rotate the dist..