Stabbing dizzies - any tips?

65fback

65fback

Well-known member
I'm about to go RTFM, but I figure I might as well post here as well.

I'm going about installing the DSII setup i recently got. I don't think the dizzy is going all the way in, but like a fool I didn't close enough to see just how far the old distributor was in. Is the second collar supposed to seat itself at the top of the hole, or is it supposed to slide in? I don't have a caliper so I can't make a measurement. Based on the grunginess around 3/4 of the top of the collar past the rubber grommet I'm guessing yes.

Are there any tips for getting the dizzy all the way in. I've tried wiggling. I've tried repositioning the dizzy this way and that several times. No joy. It just doesn't seem to want to make it all the way in.
 
stabbing dizzies, use a good knife, like a K-bar :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

it sounds to me like the distributor is hanging up on the oil pump shaft. try this;

when you have the distributor in as far as you can get it, have someone tap the engine over while you push down on the distributor housing. done right the distributor should drop straight in all the way down on the first or second bump.

and tell the person turning the key, you mean a bump or a tap, not crank the thing like you are starting the engine. you just want a quick on the off with the key.
 
Yeah, that's what I gathered after reading some more online. The shop manual was, shall we say, less than useful, on this subject matter.

Would bumping the starter get my timing out of whack? Could I do this rocking the crankshaft with a breaker bar? If so, is it imperative I only rock in one direction? First time stabber, and I've never rebuilt an engine before. Most I've done is lifting heads and replacing water pumps, so I'm in the dark.
 
65fback":317yeg9p said:
Yeah, that's what I gathered after reading some more online. The shop manual was, shall we say, less than useful, on this subject matter.

Would bumping the starter get my timing out of whack? Could I do this rocking the crankshaft with a breaker bar? If so, is it imperative I only rock in one direction? First time stabber, and I've never rebuilt an engine before. Most I've done is lifting heads and replacing water pumps, so I'm in the dark.
Click to expand...

no, bumping the starter will not get your timing out of wack, unless you do it with the distributor out of the engine. once the drive gear engages, you are good to go. the oil pump drive shaft is the last thing to engage.
 
I've had this headache a time or two also!
You can also try using a CLEAN socket the correct size of the shaft and spin it a teeny bit. Seems to me I've done that before successfully. Has to be a pretty narrow- walled socket for that to work though (diameter of the socket has to be smaller than the diameter of the dizzy shaft).
Good luck!
 
Thanks for the tips. I'll be heading back out to try to get that dizzy in after breakfast. I'd like to have the car back running again after breakfast. As good as the car has been running it's got to run better with this. It's a '66 block with the correct dizzy (read: it wants an SCV). The carb is a Holley with no SCV. Vacuum is coming off the manifold. Somehow it works and I've never thought it bogs anywhere.
 
Got it on. Thanks for the tips. I used the breaker bar to rotate the crankshaft. I couldn't get wife to blip the starter for me. Wiring it up now.
 
Yep. I'm planning on sending the dizzy off to get recurved at some point. I think that's a ways down the road, though.

On to my next first time - pulling the ignition switch so I can get to the friendly pink wire to clip.
 
"...couldn't get wife to blip the starter..."
no ride for her till July 4th then...
:eek:

How's it run NOW?
 
Not there yet. This was my first time installing a distributor. The restraining plate fell off before I could reconnoiter how it was positioned. I had it under the top lip of the distributor shaft. Thought it wedged into the side. Darn thing wasn't tightening its grip on the distributor. :banghead: Took me until today figuring out if I flipped that plate and rested it on TOP of that lip it would do a better job. :mrgreen:

I've got one more wire to run and then need to double check the wires. I've already re-gapped the spark plugs. Hopefully I'll have it running this weekend.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top