Good afternoon! While working on my '52 recently, I noticed the distributor body was rotated 180* putting the grease cup (or lack thereof) facing the block instead of facing away. There was no grease cup in the distributor; the hole had been plugged with a pipe plug. Wanting to correct this, I got a hold of a grease cup and spring, but no bushing. I bought some acetal copolymer rods to make a bushing, but when I look down the hole on the distributor body where the grease cup screws in, it looks like the distributor shaft bushing in the housing has rotated a bit, and is partially obscuring the hole. This may be a dumb question, but am I right in assuming the only way to fix that is to completely tear down the distributor and have the bushing pressed out and pressed back in to correctly align the holes? Thanks in advance!
Not sure on a 216, but the 235’s I had were a spring loaded top that kept the cap down. Every time I changed the oil, I’d put a few drops of oil in it and the generator cap as well. Meaning if it’s for oil, it’ll wick through. Check a manual to verify.
From what I understand, there's a bakelite bushing with a spring in the grease cup hole that's designed to reduce any shaft wobble. I have the spring and was going to make a new bushing, but since the main shaft bushing is clocked incorrectly, the hole in the main shaft bushing and the grease cup hole in the housing aren't aligned. Looking down the hole in the housing, about half the hole is obscured so the bakelite bushing would never make contact with the main shaft. I feel like my only option is to tear down the distributor and refit the main shaft bushing in the correct orientation, or just insert the grease cup with no spring and no bakelite bushing so at least the shaft can be lubricated.
I've not heard of the spring and bakelite bushing. I'm looking at a Motor's manual and the only thing shown there is the grease cup.
How much play does the shaft have now? Side to side should be pretty minimal. You are correct that the spring and rub block are to hold the shaft steady. Be sure the shaft doesn't have a wear ring and make sure the bushing isn't worn oblong from the shaft opposite of the spring and rub block. New distributor bushings are a pain to get out, if yours has turned, probably best to pull it and check things over. New bushings might be available, I never checked on the older distributors, drilling the hole after installing would be easier than trying to align it if you have a choice in my opinion.
The shaft has no discernable side to side movement. The engine was rebuilt when the truck was restored but unfortunately, the gentleman who did the rebuild has since passed, so I don't know how much was done to the distributor. The gear is secured to the main shaft with a roll pin which isn't factory, so I assume it was fully rebuilt at some point. Seems unlikely to me that the bushing would turn once installed (anything is possible), so I'm assuming it was just pressed in incorrectly. I've completed a few searches and haven't seen any options for replacement bushings. I guess I need to tear it down to the housing and find a machine shop that can remove and hopefully save the bushing and reinstall correctly. If it's not one thing, it's something else, right? Unless someone knows where to source a replacement main shaft bushing...
The first shot is out of the 48/51 Chevy truck service manual pfd. The second one is a snagged off the net photo of a 216 that is/was for sale. The orientation of the distributor is real close to the same as the image from the manual. The rusty one out of a 51 1-1/2 ton I bought a few years ago shows that they put it in the engine a tooth or so off compared to the others but the grease cup is in easy reach.
If the hole is only there to let some lube through, and you can't get it out easily, I would grease up a 1/16'' or so drill bit and drill a new hole through the bush.(after removing the shaft of course).
Pulling bushings is a pain, I would look into just drilling it and adding the spring and rub block. On late model distributors, I rebuilt quite a few and I don't think I have been able to get a top bushing out yet thats usable. Your luck may be better then mine or tools !
Mine was installed so that the points terminal was on the block side of the distributor. The engine is in time, so I'm just going to realign the distributor housing when I reinstall.
Yep, I think drilling may be the easiest option. It would have to be done in a drill press, though. With the existing hole in the bushing partially revealed, I don't trust my hands to keep a drill steady enough to not nick the threads for the grease cup. Or maybe a carbide burr in a Dremel could work.
Alright! Got her all fixed up! What a PITA! I completely tore down the distributor and then used a burr bit on my Dremel to grind away enough of the top busing so that my newly made rub block would fit. I used 1/4" acetal copolymer rod to make a rub block, cutting off a piece about 3/16" of inch long. Cleaned up the distributor and painted the body, put it all back together and installed in the truck. Somehow managed to engage the oil pump on the first stab, too. Got the static timing set and the truck fired up. Set the timing on the BB and then tweaked the carb mixture and she's running without me having to feather the gas for the first time in a few months. Idle is a tiny bit rougher than I'd like, but I need to get some miles on her and then I can see how the idle is. All this just so I could add the missing grease cup back to the distributor. Sheesh! I appreciate everyone's input and suggestions to help me get this fixed!
The Jalopy Journal
