VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1932 distributor

When checking my timing, the 12 degree mark wonders into an out of view leading me to conclude my distributor needs a rebuild. Are there things I might try, and or is there a company members might recommended for rebuilding services? Jim

Hello jim Del,
You could try to borrow another known good distributor to verify that your distributor is good or bad, before rebuilding. Does your distributor's rotor and shaft move much when rotated by hand, indicating slop between cam and distributor gears? How about the bushings in the distributor, is the shaft wobbly or ok? If able, try rotating your engine's crankshaft clockwise and counter clockwise while watching the distributor's rotor for movement, possibly indicating slop in the timing gears. While your engine is running at idle, does it stay at a steady RPM or does it surge higher and lower RPM, following an advance and retard of timing? Let us know those answers, OK? Good Luck.

The 1932 distributor (model 633J) doesn't have bushings.

My problem as it turned out was not exactly the distributor but rather the electrolock connection going into the distributor. There must have been a short which caused the erratic firing and thus the fluctuation of the timing mark. Who'd a thunk it!

Actually, that is a fairly common problem with the 1929-32 Chevrolet electrolocks.