I have a 351W roller that I was going to start for the first time yesterday. My builder gathered all the parts and put the entire engine together.
Pulled the Dist out to prime the engine and noticed a couple things that made me question if I have the right dist. The Dist is a proform
Proform Parts 66983B - Proform Street/Strip HEI Distributors - Overview - SummitRacing.com
1. Does not have a bronze gear. I think rollers are suppose to have bronze gears.
2. When putting the dist back in and after it was fully seated to the block, there was about a 1/8 of an inch play side to side(retainer not tightened). Not turning, but side to side movement. I checked the diameter of dist by the top and bottom seals and it is 1 1/2 inches exactly. I check a 302 dist and it has the same diameter at the seals. I have a friends 351W dist and his top seal diameter is a bit larger, maybe 1 and 5/8 or 9/16 inches. The shaft lengths are the same on both 351 distributors. My friends dist is from a non roller motor.
Please let me know you thoughts on the dist I currently have. I am worried it will move around under power and cause major issues.