Thread: Distributer Question

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29streetrod, that's a great looking coupe in your icon! I have been busy lately with my '29 fendered roadster, but for me there is nothing (non-biological) with a better looking rear than the '29 coupe/roadster. I am just installing a straight across stainless bumper to protect the 'glass fenders. I'll try to get one of those small spare tire rims redrilled for the 8" Maverick rear end bolt pattern and carry a small spare in the rumble seat. This thread got my attention since there is more than a little Irish genetic material in my body, but it is complicated by being from the Northern Ireland County Down area and I note there are Shilladys in Scotland as well as Belfast, so maybe they could row across the channel! In my teaching career I always thought that my tendency to story telling came from the Irish part of the family but the math ability came from my very exacting mother who was descended from Bavarian German stock. You know we cannot control where we came from and all we can do is make the best of it but here we are in the U.S.A. where there is a lot of opportunity for almost anyone! Anyway I enjoy just looking at my candy-apple-maroon rumble lid while I work on the rest of the machine, what a classic shape! I bought a stock HEI unit for my 350 but the engine has not been fired up yet. With a very mild Crane street cam, I am not expecting to go over 5000 rpm so from what is said above the HEI should be OK for my engine.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Thanks Don, my car also has the 8" rear from a Maverick (1972 if I remember correctly) I hope you post some pictures of your '29 when it is completed as I would guess I am not the only one who would like to see it. My grandfather (married my Irish grandmother) was born in Germany and came over early in the century before WW1 but we could not find any records in the Ellis Island data base like we were for my Grandma.

29streetrod, That is interesting about the Maverick rear. I got the one with the five bolt hubs from a car with a 302 so maybe it is a little stronger than the four bolt model? I should have bought the 302 while I was there because the car only had 68,000 miles on it but I was already committed to the sbc and R700 by the time I got the rear. In fact I see very few examples of sbf in Brookville repro frames. I know they are out there but all the aftermarket stuff is set up for sbc drivelines and I have enough problems so I took the easy way (?). My Dad collected a pretty complete family tree from both sides of the family way back into the 1700s but the main Irish name came over during the potato famine. The story goes that my great great great grandparents sold every little thing they had to buy steamship tickets for their five children. Three of them got off the boat in Philadelphia and the other two went on to Australia, so I have some unknown cousins down under but I have no knowledge of them. The grandparents were then on the street with nothing and are assumed to have perished there after sacrificing everything for their children. I recently saw a history of the potato famine on the history channel and only then learned that the potatoes in the field not only rotted but created quite a smell to go with the problem of no food, what a disaster! The hot weather has slowed down my bolt together project but I got my Caravan seat set up on a frame of 1 1/2" angle iron and it is now bolted in right through the frame to the seat belt harnesses with 3/8" stainless bolts which are rated at over grade 8. Back to the HEI distributor, I have a potential worry because I ran the dummy shaft with a drill several times to keep the block lubed but I get oil out of the back of the block somewhere. I don't know if it is coming up around the oiler shaft or whether the engine shop forgot to put a plug in the back oil gallery. I think (hope) it is only from around the shaft since it is not a fountain of oil and hopefully the HEI shaft will seal it, but I won't know until I fire up the engine. I have an engine crane ready in case I have to pull the engine right away but I really don't want to do that. Back to the Maverick rear, in your case you have the neat fenderless look but my tires just come to the edge of the Model A fender. The tread is completely under the fender but the shoulder of the tire is just flush with the edge of the fender. I think my rear wheels are 8" wide and that is probably too wide. That is just info for folks who use an 8" rear in a Model A just to avoid narrowing a 9" rear. I have kept the coil-over shocks in the highest hole because I like the jacked-up look and because it gives the most clearance over the tires. Sometime post some more pictures of your coupe, it really has the "right look"!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don, you can do whatever you want , but if I was building a car and found I might have a oil leak, I'd fix that before I went any further. you should be able to see if its coming out of the dist. hole. turning the oil pump with the drill is a better way to check for leaks, because with the motor running it might sling oil all over that pretty new stuff. just a thought.

lt1s10, Yeah, that is why I have been working mostly in the rear and leaving the front alone for a while, but I have to settle that problem before putting the radiator and hood braces on. I'll try the drill thing again and look for the source of the oil. In addition I still have a brake fluid leak from one of the joints in the stainless line to the left front wheel and I need to get that solved as well before I install the radiator and other front end stuff. Let me ask you a question. The HEI shaft has a seal, right? Whereas the drill set up is just a shaft so maybe it is just that there is no seal to prevent the oil comming up the distributor hole? Then there is adjustment of the kickdown cable, installation of the alternator wiring, etc. so there is still a lot of fun left before I can install the hood. While I have your expert attention, can you comment on the merit of a steel fuel line from the tank to the fuel pump. In addition, what is the merit of running the fuel line along the INSIDE of the cockpit floor compared to drilling a hole in the rear floor and running the fuel line under the floor but next to the battery cable along the frame. On the one hand it looks like it might be good to keep the fuel line away from the starter cable but on the other hand maybe it is not optimum to put the fuel line inside the car? I am sick and tired of messing with stainless tubing so at this point I favor just using a steel fuel line. Comments?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

[quote=Don Shillady]lt1s10, Yeah, that is why I have been working mostly in the rear and leaving the front alone for a while, but I have to settle that problem before putting the radiator and hood braces on. I'll try the drill thing again and look for the source of the oil. In addition I still have a brake fluid leak from one of the joints in the stainless line to the left front wheel and I need to get that solved as well before I install the radiator and other front end stuff. Let me ask you a question. The HEI shaft has a seal, right? Whereas the drill set up is just a shaft so maybe it is just that there is no seal to prevent the oil comming up the distributor hole? Then there is adjustment of the kickdown cable, installation of the alternator wiring, etc. so there is still a lot of fun left before I can install the hood. While I have your expert attention, can you comment on the merit of a steel fuel line from the tank to the fuel pump. In addition, what is the merit of running the fuel line along the INSIDE of the cockpit floor compared to drilling a hole in the rear floor and running the fuel line under the floor but next to the battery cable along the frame. On the one hand it looks like it might be good to keep the fuel line away from the starter cable but on the other hand maybe it is not optimum to put the fuel line inside the car? I am sick and tired of messing with stainless tubing so at this point I favor just using a steel fuel line. Comments?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder[/quote

the dist. has a seal on it, but if you're running the pump with a drill then there is nothing to keep the oil from slinging out the top of the intake. don't spin the pump up so hi, and you should see any oil that would come out the top of the intake, or maybe put a rag around it. the store bought tool would have a bushing at the intake.

I wouldn't ever under no cond. run a fuel line inside the car, and as far away from any bat. wires as I could get them. I like the idea of using SS braided lines for the fuel, but I wouldn't have a problem with a reg. steel line.

Thanks lt1s10!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder