priming a windsor

[jwinkler]

A "distributor newbie" question - in the process of a Mallory-ectomy/MSD-enhancement surgery, the car's been sitting for quite a while.

I'd like to use a drill to prime the motor before starting it, but have a superstition-based fear of pulling the distributor and putting it back right.

As long as I mark the rotor position relative to the housing, and the shaft housing (?) relative to the block when I pull it out, as long as when I drop it back in I return to those marks, should everything be OK? (And apart from the oil pump shaft being in a different orientation, everything should line up, right?)

Thanks,

JLW

[wilf leek]

Yes - but you may have to "tweak" the position of the oil pump shaft before the distributor drops back in. The oil pump shaft angular position is NOT important in terms of ignition timing.

Don't forget that the drill you use to prime it has to run anticlockwise (i.e. in reverse for a drill). And it needs to be a powerful drill. I burnt them out before now.

It is no disaster if you lose the position of everything. To make things easier, turn the crank until you are at TDC on No1 before you pull the distributor. That way you at least have a reference point in terms of crank position before you start.

Don't forget that the distributor will "turn" as you pull it out, as the gears unmesh. This is normal.

Have fun.

[SCARRY]

One additional comment. Be sure you are on the compression stroke and not exaust. That will let you align the rotor to the numer one post. Othewise you will be 180 Deg out of position.

[stangman393]

If you are going to use a 5/16 socket and extesion to do this make sure you tape the socket to the extension very well. You could guess what can happen. It happened to me and it sucked. Had to drop the oil pan cause it went all the way down.

Jeff