Sonny
It’s all fun til the rabbit gets the gun.
I have a 1970 318 distributor that has about an 1/8” of up and down shaft play. What is too much? Also sounds like the bearings are bad at idle. Sounds like marbles in a shaker.
Yup, side-side is the worst, but I agree it's time to start looking.No bearings inside, only bushings. The shaft is close to .50" so a few thin shims can get it back in spec. Should be a collar with rollpin holding on the shaft. The plastic ones can shatter if you get the rollpin cocked. Check side to side play as well.
Yup, side-side is the worst, but I agree it's time to start looking.
We have had issues with Cardone period. What ever they are doing they are failing at it.I too have had quality problems with Reman Cardone Distributors, in the last few years. They are reman in mexico, poor quality. I am going with rockauto for an Autoline reman dist. It appears Every parts store has Cardone Only. I have had Autoline Reman carbs and they do great work.
From my experience the Cardones usually have a curve in the middle to cover a spread of years and engines. That is why there are no tags/numbers on the cases. Up and down play of 1/8 is not to bad I try for .015 usually and yes those plastic bushings are junk get rid of it if you need to. Do not put one of the big locking collars that have a set screw on they block the oiling to the shaft. Bushing wear side to side I keep at ,002 usually, if it is obvious it is junk and needs to be re bushed, or just change out the distributor usually cheaper, the bushings can get expensive on a common distributor, now say a hemi dual point yes do it!
NOS is what I use, thankfully not often they get pricey.Where do you source your bushings? I had a few picked out at MSC that could work with reaming but nowhere could I find a true rebuild set of distributor bushings.
They do loosen up, I don't worry about it to much you would be surprised how many get sent to me with no bottom plastic bushing and I send it back and get "whats this" But it ran fineI found a NOS rebuild kit (bushings, shims, plastic sleeve) and my machine shop pressed the new bushings and shimmed it to spec. Note that after 5000 miles the up and down play is back but the side to side is fine. The best gauge is put a timing light on it. If the advance is rock solid at idle and at 3000 when the weights are full in then it is fine.