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.
Distributor shaft play (up and down)
- Thread starter Sonny
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Factory service manual says .003-.017. You need a new distributor.
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.
oldbee
Well-Known Member
Yup, side-side is the worst, but I agree it's time to start looking.
Yea. I have yet to replace the bushings in one as they need to be oversized and reamed to spec. Halifax rebuilds them so I would get him to do it if it is original to the car.
mopar73dge
Well-Known Member
ooh I had one of those they are not too good a quality, I hope yours is good. Mine had a bent shaft the reluctor hit the pick up coil, I returned it an purchased a brand new from advance auto for around 90.00 it was a very good quality perfect. had it in now for over 3000 miles.
gary h
Well-Known Member
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.
Nacho-RT74
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up and down play is not something to worry since is easy to solve with shims ( which actually already should got ) the real problem is side to side, which needs a bushing replacing job ( not hard to do ). This side to side play uses to be worst on Big Block due the dist position... Small blocks are harder to get worn
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We have had issues with Cardone period. What ever they are doing they are failing at it.
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!
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.
NOS is what I use, thankfully not often they get pricey.
JimKueneman
Well-Known Member
I 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.
Bad distributor ground probably or if it is at speed "point float" weak points pressure. all it can be.
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 fine
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