| Forum Index -> Performance/Engines/Transmissions -> Distributor drive shaft - spring | | View original topic: Distributor drive shaft - spring | | Dauz | Sun Sep 27, 2015 11:18 am | | Usually when I install a distributor, I rotate it until it drops or seats in the groove. I was putting the top end together on a motor over the weekend and noticed there's a spring in there preventing the "drop." What purpose does this serve and can I just take it out? I'm thinking it's causing the distributor shaft from seating all the way down. Thanks | | | FreeBug | Sun Sep 27, 2015 12:04 pm | | The spring s there to keep the shaft from moving up and down, it should stay set against it's washers, without endplay being an issue. | | | Dauz | Sun Sep 27, 2015 3:26 pm | | So I thought it was the spring interfering. But I took it out and I still can't get the distributor to sit all the way down. I have it at TDC and it's in the notch but it just won't budge. Any ideas? Never had this issue before. | | | Dauz | Sun Sep 27, 2015 3:31 pm | | Nevermind. I've just figured it out.. bone head mistake | | | tasb | Mon Sep 28, 2015 6:53 pm | | So what was the bonehead mistake? There are more than a few of us out here. fwiw, through the years VW experimented with leaving the spring out and putting it back in with leaving the spring in eventually winning out. Or was that in? :lol: | | | Dauz | Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:59 am | | I was thrown off because from one distributor to another distributor from the same manufacturer but different type, #1 TDC was clocked 180 degrees opposite. Meaning the half moon drive shaft was on the other side. Can't tell you why. But the bonehead mistake was assuming and not verifying from the start. In other words, where I thought #1 would be was now at the #3 position. Has anyone run into the same thing before? Curious.... Oh, btw, I put the spring back in. | | | Scott Novak | Tue Sep 29, 2015 11:17 am | | That's no big deal. Remove the retaining spring, pop the pin, rotate the drive dog 180°, pop the pin back in and re-install the retaining spring. I find that I more often need to remove and rotate the distributor drive gear to orient the distributor in the most favorable position. This is especially critical when you have a vacuum canister on the distributor. Scott Novak | | | Glenn | Tue Sep 29, 2015 11:32 am | | The only time you would have to rotate it 180* is when the engine "assembler" didn't correctly index the driveshaft. A stock vacuum distributor should FIT.... it did from the factory. | | | Scott Novak | Tue Sep 29, 2015 11:56 am | | Dual carb linkage can interfere with the vacuum advance canister and sometimes the distributor drive gear needs to be reoriented. I've also noticed a difference in orientation between different Mallory distributors. If I'm not mistaken Type 3 distributors have a different orientation than Type 1 distributors and all that is necessary to interchange them is to reorient the distributor drive gear. Scott Novak | | | Glenn | Tue Sep 29, 2015 12:35 pm | | The only way the vacuum canister will hit a bell crank linkage is if it's facing forward. No stock distributor came from the factory facing that direction, most, if not all faced the read of the car. Yes, Type 3 are 180* but why would you use a Type 3 distributor on a Type 1 engine? Mallory are aftermarket which means they have to be made to fit. Once you start using not stock parts, it's called custom and you will run into issues. | | | Dauz | Tue Sep 29, 2015 1:14 pm | | Figure this, my ordeal took place as I swapped out a Magnaspark distributor for a Magnaspark Digital. So you can see why my expectations were as such. | | | Scott Novak | Tue Sep 29, 2015 3:33 pm | | Glenn wrote: but why would you use a Type 3 distributor on a Type 1 engine? Why not use a type 3 distributor in a type 1 engine? The better question might be, why use a small cap Bosch distributor in any air cooled VW engine, when you can use a large cap distributor with an easily adjustable centrifugal advance curve as well as an adjustable vacuum advance curve that will allow you to use a high energy ignition system and much larger spark plug gaps for improved performance? Scott Novak | | | tasb | Tue Sep 29, 2015 7:50 pm | | The drive dog on the aluminum bodied SVSA distributors are located opposite the DVDA distributors since the DVDA are static installed at 5 ATDC and the SVA distributors are set anywhere from 0 to 7 1/2 to 10 BTDC depending upon the distributor. I wouldn't automatically switch the drive dog orientation unless I was certain about what I was doing. | | | Dauz | Tue Oct 20, 2015 9:31 am | | My timing is spot on now. There were two issues, too much retard (on the distributor and myself), and my fuel pressure was set too high at one point causing the manifold and turbo compressor housing to have puddles of fuel. Matched timing to what the CB dashboard thought it was and it came to life. Never assume.. lesson learned. Now I'm dealing with the low temperature icing in the manifold causing the stumble. Going to bring up some heat via oil lines. Check the new manifold: http://ronlummusracing.com/catalog/engine-shop/ Just wish they had it in 4" to match my massive T60-1 | | Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group |