HEI Distributor Questions

[TomsCobra]

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.

[olddog]

I just dropped my Mallory distributor into my 5.0 block engine yesterday. The distributor has an O-ring just under the flange that sits on the block (clamp goes over it). The distributor housing is slightly smaller than the block, but the O-ring makes a tight seal. No wobble or looseness at all.

As for the gear, some roller cams use a steel gear. You just have to make sure the gear is what the cam calls for.

[Rick Parker]

Are you saying the bore in the block is considerably larger than the distributor housing ?
Any way to measure the OEM distributor and replacement and compare diameters?

[Texasdoc]

I had that distributor in my 351W for a while. Ran fine. I ended up replacing it with an MSD with separate coil while chasing a gremlin.

[TomsCobra]

Yes, the bore is up to a 1/8 inch off as compared to the dist.