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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / 1937 Distributor Concerns

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Posted By Discussion Topic: 1937 Distributor Concerns -- page: 1 2     BIRUDY 05-30-2025 @ 11:47 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 60 Joined: Jun 2022 Using a K R Wilson dwell machine. Managed to get the dwell set to 22.5 degrees , setting the driver side points as procedure dictates. Next step rotating the wheel to see if the "firing line mark " is consistent through full rotations. The first 5 firing points are where they should be but the next (last) 3 are ahead of the zero mark (where they should be)(1'st photo) Could/would this indicate that the drive shaft is bent? out of true? ( Vanpelt has NOS on this item) Will also replace both bushings. How much "rotational play" can I expect to be normal where the cam (that opens the points as it rotates) mounts to the base plate above the advance weights? I can rotate it about 10 to 15 degrees in housing (just a visual guess).. wiggle play in housing is not excessive. (4,th photo) Any advice is appreciated Thanks Rudy 40 Coupe 05-31-2025 @ 4:46 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1801 Joined: Oct 2009 The cam should not rotate at all on it's mounting. Do make sure the small bearings for the advance curve rotate they usually seize from dried oil. Try some dry lubricant on them. BIRUDY 05-31-2025 @ 6:15 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 60 Joined: Jun 2022 Thanks, the bearings have been cleaned and rotate easily. The cam, when installed on the drive shaft is secure in it's position. The concern I had was the slight rotational movement (play) I have, where it is attached to the mounting plate that holds the arms for the automatic advance weights and bearings... actually the 1'st photo in the group of 4 photos.. Hope this give clarity to my question/explanation. hueyhoolihan 05-31-2025 @ 4:30 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 5 Joined: Nov 2024 don't know if this is what you're referring to or not, but... having recently installed new points in my diver's helmet style 1941 distributor, i found it difficult to set the gap(s) with the distributor shaft removed from the distributor housing. a necessity AFAIK. and i felt that because the distributor shaft was not secured within the distributor housing (and couldn't be if one wanted to adjust the gap) it was practically impossible to guarantee precision. in fact i couldn't even determine with any certainty if the surfaces where the points make contact were even parallel to one another. carcrazy 05-31-2025 @ 5:44 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1978 Joined: Oct 2009 The best way to insure that this type of distributor is set up properly is to send it out to a professional. There are several outfits listed in the V-8 Times capable of properly accomplishing this difficult job. When I drive across the country in my old Fords, I carry a spare, completely setup unit in the car. It is a relatively easy task to change the entire distributor while you are on the road away from the tools and equipment required to properly service it. Once set up correctly, these early distributors are essentially bulletproof for 15K to 20K miles. BIRUDY 05-31-2025 @ 6:00 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 60 Joined: Jun 2022 When I adjusted the point gap, the drive shaft was in place as that is the only way to be able to use the K R Wilson setup machine. I took the distributor all apart to see if there if any of the pieces were defective, out of tolerance etc. As I previously stated the firing point marks on the device were not where they should be for the last 3 spots. Regardless, will source a new driveshaft and bushings to see if that corrects the problem. Thanks for you reply BIRUDY 05-31-2025 @ 6:04 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 60 Joined: Jun 2022 Appreciate the sound advice and will plan on carrying spares. I will give the K R Wilson another chance when I replace the drive shaft and bushings. I was pleased with its operation and feel the new parts will rectify the anomaly. Thx Rudy 40 Coupe 06-01-2025 @ 4:50 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1801 Joined: Oct 2009 When you look at the rear of the cam mounting plate, you should see where the cam and the plate are staked together. The cam should not be loose on it's mounting! The mounting plate and the cam rotate together. BIRUDY 06-01-2025 @ 11:42 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 60 Joined: Jun 2022 Thank you.. there is a little play at this connection.. more rotational play than than wobble in the opening it fits and is attached. It looks like where the tabs that are "bent" to pinch the housing are loose.. Will see if I can gently but firmly tap them to ensure they are positioned to remain tight and cam neck is firmly affixed to the plate.. Worst case is repair by JB Weld lol.... have not seen this part this part for sale anywhere NOS or otherwise. Thx Rudy RAK402A 06-01-2025 @ 6:53 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 13 Joined: Apr 2025 BIRUDY, I did four of these a year or so ago. I had a great many people tell me that I could never do this myself-that I had to send it out to someone with a Sun machine. I dug into it and kept researching it. I finally found a video from Mart's Garage (link below) that shows how to do it. While I am sure it could be done better by a true professional on a Sun machine, the KR Wilso V-126 does a nice job AND was the Ford approved method up until the Stroboscope became available around 1938. I have actually had better results doing this myself than I got from a person with a good reputation for doing these on a Sun machine locally (I actually watched him do it)-this was at least 20 years ago. The car idles and runs more smoothly and accelerates more smoothly than the ones done by the guy with the Sun machine or the ones I got from the antique Ford places 30 years ago). When I took a couple of these apart, I found mismatched points, mismatched advance plates and shafts, bent fixed points (the fixed and moving points did not contact each other squarely or were displaced vertically), missing parts, bent advance springs (people used to do this to try to adjust the advance curve), etc. I am surprised that any of these ran (some of them fairly well). It is very important for every part of the distributor be in very good shape. I take them completely apart, clean them, and re-assemble them. You can usually get entire distributors cheap from ebay so you can mix and match parts (the distributor shaft and the advance plates should match). I discarded several shafts that appeared to be slightly bent-enough to make it impossible to set the timing. Worn cams will cause problems too. Modern/repro points can drive you absolutely crazy, by the way, as both of the major brands (at least that I have tried) have the fold/bend in one of the fixed points displaced slightly. The rollers on the advance should mover very freely, there should be no slop in the system at all. I learned how to do this from Mart's Garage on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dnNbT8KV9HQ?si=T7kc5w0K3snM4_bN When I finally started doing mine, I found, as you have, that sometimes the light will go out very slightly before of very slightly after the firing point (F). It always did it in the same place as I turned the wheel. I actually contacted Mart about this-he told me that a small amount of variance is normal (and you can see it in one of his videos where he uses the Churchill Timing Fixture. If it means anything, when I used to watch the guy with the Sun machine set up my distributors, the timing did the very same thing. This is detailed, fiddly work, but it is very enjoyable (one of my other hobbies is R/C helicopters which are even more detailed and fiddly) I am, by no means, and expert at doing this-I am a very determined amateur. I am not selling a service and don't do this for other people, just for the enjoyment of doing it. Remember that Ford, Repair Garages, and individuals timed these successfully on the V-126 for a very long time. There is no reason why you cannot do it also. If I did decide to send one out to be done, I would send it to Skip Haney, by the way (where I get my coils re-built). He is a decent honorable guy and a fountain of knowledge. Don't let anyone discourage you!

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