Thread: Timing out by 55 degrees!!!!!

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Thanks guys. I've installed distributors tons of times. I know about lining up the tang with the oil pump drive shaft. Believe me, it's lined up and dropping in properly. I'm gonna go rip the accell out again and compare it to the HEI. I have a theory brewing... I'll post as soon I can with results.

Thanks again!! I appreciate all the help!

HAHAHA accell prolly put the wrong gear on the dist. shaft
just kidding i dont really know. never really heard such a story. interested to hear what u find out.

Yes, interesting for sure... This will be a first for me. Maybe the dist. is actually for another engine!

Ya think it will help if we gang up on him?

HHaaa..Maybe, but if the stinkin dist. dont fit, it dont fit!

Cant wait to hear what this is all about.

Well guys i'm officially stumped. I took out the accell and mesured/compared it with my HEI. They are identical. Same lenghts, same distance from mounting boss to gear, same length gear, same diameter, same # of teeth, same angle on the teeth, same length inner shaft, same length tang etc... So i put it back in thinking maybe it just wasn't clamped down tight. I put a little loctite on the nut, and tightened it really good.

Went for a rip and it ran fine. I pulled onto the highway and rolled into the throttle. At about 4000rpm i could hear the engine start to miss again. Took it home and sure enough, it's jumped again!! I'm thinking now that maybe the housing on the accell is bent or machined wrong. It seems under load the distributor is almost flexing over to the side just enough to make it jump the tooth. I say flexing over to the side because there's no way it moved up.

Needless to say i'm fed up. This weekend the HEI is going back in so i can at least enjoy my car for the few weeks of decent weather that we have left. Thanks again for all the help.

-KevD

What about.... when you have the time of actually putting the distributer into a distributer machine at the local auto electrician shop. Might find out a thing or two.

no no no there is a roll pin that locates the gear it is prolly sheared off or never put in when u gas it and let off the gear is actually moving on the shaft fer real check it out. prolly twisting on the shaft so it is never where u put it

Let's think about this problem.....if it jumps time by
this large amount AND the distributor gear is in some
amount of mesh with the cam gear and the cam gear
is not screwed up, then check the following:

1. Remove the distributor and check the cam gear for
missing teeth. Rotate the engine to see all the teeth.
Since the HEI works OK, the cam gear is likely to be OK
2. As several folks have already said, check the roll pin
that secures the distributor gear. Knock the rol pin out
and put it back in....if you screw it up, roll pins are really
cheap.
3. Since we are working upward, the next position that can
have slippage is the attachment of the spring plate to the
distributor shaft.....is the weld/braze broken? Try rotating
the spring plate while holding the distributor gear fixed.
If the weld is broken, the plate will rotate a bit, maybe just
a bit.
4. Is there anything above the plate that is suspect? Can
the centrifugal advance go far enough to cause the problem?
Does the centrifugal plate stick? Clean the surfaces if it does.

Accel and quality are two different words.

mike in tucson

I am leaning towards the idea of the cam "walking" in the block and loosing gear contact with the distributor.

What's the story on this motor? Decked, shaved, milled? These will change your needed dist height.
Are you using a factory hold down?

FIRST: Need to find out if the housing is moving or if it is actually changing the relationship between the cam/crank and the distributor.

I thought that the HEI was tried, but after re-reading the posts I did not see where he tried another distributor.

Ok, first off, yes there is a roll pin in the gear. I've taken it out (to compare shaft sizes etc..) and put it back in. So that's ruled out. I'm swapping back to the HEI in about 10 minutes so i'll check the cam gear while it's out. (Good lord i hope it's ok). As for the rest of the areas mentioned on the distributor, they're all fine. Everything moves as it should and stays put where it should.. Totally boggles my mind as to why i don't have this prob with the HEI... Maybe the extra weight of the in-cap coil keeps it in place!

The motor was decked but it was awhile ago. I'll have to check and see how much. I know it wasn't alot. Very good point but still doesn't explain why two identically sized distributors act differently...

One last thought...while you have both out, measure the OD of
the drive gear on each.....maybe the Accel gear is the wrong one
and is undersized....but such is a reach but we are reaching, arent
we?

HEI back in. Seems to run good. Haven't gone for a good rip yet though. I'll keep you all posted.

Oh yeah, cam gear is ok. Distributor gears are the exact same OD. Nothing broken, bent (visibly) or in pieces....

Wish me luck!!

If that was my dist., I'd put it in a vise and twist the gear in one direction and the rotor mount the other. The slipping has to be inside the distributor. No way the gear is slipping on the cam gear if they're the right ones.