my distributor wont go back in
 

im trying to get my distributor back into the block and ive been able to get it in 3 or 4 different times before but not now. im trying to fire my car for the first time since taking the engine apart and it was back firing out the carb so i turned the distributor 180 degrees around but now the distributor wont go in all the way. it goes in all but a 1/4 inch. the gear engages but it just wont sit down. i tried to hammer it in but it wont go. any ideas?

Don't hammer it. It is not lining up with the oil pump driveshaft. Look down the hole and you'll see it, it's about 1/4" wide and has a hex head like a bolt. It's either sitting off to one side or not properly oriented with the distributor. Tape a socket on the end of a long extension (tape it on good so it can't come off) and try to turn it little bits at a time until the distributor seats.

Also, when you get it in to the point it wont go any more, try rotating the crank slightly and it will engage and drop in. Don't hit it with a hammer, you will break the housing.

well i tried both those sugestions. still isnt dropping in. is the driveshaft from the oil pump supposed to move around freely? i mean it goes back and forth to both side and doesnt sit in the middle. is it supposed to be tight in there or just wobble around? cuz mines wobbling and i dont think thats good

Wobbling is totally normal. Press down on the distributor (stay away from the center shaft!) and hit the starter. It'll drop right down, unless you had the oil shaft out and installed it upside down. The top end is pointed.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/RS/SR/...91550110_L.jpg

ive got the pointed end on the top. i know that much. and i tried the starter trick about 8 times but it didnt drop. ill keep trying all the ways to get it in

i want to get the car fired for the first time but i cant try it with the distributor 1/4 inch out because if the oil pump isnt engaged with the distributor will it not pump oil?

Right. Pull the distributor out and check it with another shaft. Could be the hex hole in the bottom is buggered and the shaft can't go in.

sometimes i need to let a motor spin over a quite a few times, make sure you got the correct o-ring on it, that its not to big. one thing i suggest.... put the cap on. put it in as far as it will go down. have someone spin the motor over, and u push hard down on it. it will pop in if its all correct.......dont forget there is 2 different size shafts/dizzys

i got it in after turn the motor over a few times and then just leaned on it and it went in. its backfiring out the exhaust now and not starting so i gotta get a timing light

Your probably 180 degrees out now. You'll have to pull it again and reinstall.

That's what she said!!! But the best solution would be to take a hammer and bash it until it goes in.....I guarantee that it will work....I am a mustang mechanic and this happens all the time.Sometime pieces dont fit and you need to show 'em whos boss

do you even know what a distributor is?

YEAH!!! That is the place where i get my beer!! If the cans dont open i hit em with a hammer.....

you clearly don't, otherwise you would never recommend that he hits it with a hammer.

*The distributor handles several jobs. Its first job is to distribute the high voltage from the coil to the correct cylinder. This is done by the cap and rotor. The coil is connected to the rotor, which spins inside the cap. The rotor spins past a series of contacts, one contact per cylinder. As the tip of the rotor passes each contact, a high-voltage pulse comes from the coil. The pulse arcs across the small gap between the rotor and the contact (they don't actually touch) and then continues down the spark-plug wire to the spark plug on the appropriate cylinder. When you do a tune-up, one of the things you replace on your engine is the cap and rotor -- these eventually wear out because of the arcing. Also, the spark-plug wires eventually wear out and lose some of their electrical insulation. This can be the cause of some very mysterious engine problems.

congrats, you are now a google master

Let me break this down......cylinder=beer bottle, coil=handle on case, cap=cap on bottle

Stop trolling the forum.

Yeah, You have to make sure the rotor is pointing to cylinder 1 when the crank is at TDC.

knuckles:
when you have the distributor 180 degrees out you _don't_ have to pull it again. just swap all plugwires on the cap with the exact opposite one. job done.
make sure you have the firing order correctly (distributor turns anticlockwise)
if it backfires you might just be too far advanced or retarted.
Try turning the distributor while someone starts the engine.
if it goes whoooop whoooop instead of whopwhopwhop it's usually too far advanced

You...hit...it...with...a...hammer???????? DOH!!!

Next time save the hammer for that little punk YungStanger67 and apply a little more finess to your fragile engine components.

yeah i knew i could do that and as soon as it wouldn't go back in i was thinking great, i should have just done it that way. but keeping the wires in the right order just keeps it simple for me since 1 is marked on the top of the cap and that was i wont get all confused. i turned it to TDC when i put the distributor in but i thought maybe i was off because it was shooting gas out the carb at first. so i turned it 180 from that. and now its backfiring hard. so im turning it 180 back.

it back fired hard and wouldn't fire (start) at all. and i was jumping it from the solenoid with the key in the on position so i could turn the distributor. my dad just dropped off his timing light so that will help me tremendously.

haha let me clarify, i didnt HIT it with a hammer, i took a soft mallet and "hit" (notice the lower case) the top of center shaft without the rotor on to see if it would fall in place and was just a tight fit

i thought at first wow, alot of people want to help me with this little problem? but then i realized the 16 year old pennslytucky native was spamming

hitting distributors with a hammer is scary ****, but instead of moving the cables around in some distributors you can turn the rotor by 180 degrees (pertronix has two screws to hold the rotor and you can turn by 180) ... anyway lessons learned, aye ?
the timing light will help finetuning, but for the initial setting it's quite worthless as the timing mark will be way off the marks if it's not even running, you have to get it at least so-so running before you can fool with timing light. start from scratch:
- verify TDC: remove spark plug #1, place finger over hole to block it (or shove a rag to block hole, not into the cylinder), turn engine manually until you feel pressure. That's just before #1 TDC.
- align the distributor so that the rotor points just next to #1 spark plug. as it turns anticlockwise the rotor should be off by a tad in clockwise direction. you can drop the distributor there and adjust with turning. best thing might be a little mark on intake or somewhere were the rotor is pointing to, then you have it easier to see with the cap on while turning.
- verify the firing order. start with #1, go anticlockwise. If you changed cam, you might have changed firing order

make sure you have all tools, rags, fingers out, sparkplugs back in and boots back on. this should be good enough for starting it while turning the distributor a few degrees in either direction