SBC distributor problem: was driving my'34, got on it real hard (16 year old mind in a 70 year old body) all of a sudden lots of backfiring then nothing. Turns out the cap was cracked (front of cap) and the contact on the rotor had been bent sideways. In 50+ years of driving I have never had this happen. I'll replace the cap and rotor today but I am curious about the possible cause, any thoughts appreciated. HAPPY NEW YEAR from Western PA.
It happens........... just make sure you have clearance at the firewall and the wires have some slack in them. While you're working on it you might check "endplay" on the shaft. They sell shim kits. You just knock out the pin on the gear and shim it up. This will also fix timing flutter at high rpm. (Oh, the 'dot' on the gear points to the rotor location. If you line it up the pump drive will be in the correct spot when you replace the distributor.) When you take it apart, just remember where the slot in the top is in relation to the dot.
Well, as a 16 year old I saw this quite a bit in my 57 chevy wagon. 327/4speed plus marginal motor mounts meant when it banged a gear really hard(on the strip of course) the cap would just touch the firewall and lean over just far enough for the rotor to hit it. Always knocked the tab loose on the rotor and really f'd up the timing.
I had an almost new rotor several years ago that had the tip move sideways, it seems to have been made wrong. But yeah, the first thing to look for is the engine moving around
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