This distributor is a C3TF (truck) it has just the single bushing. I drove the spring or roll pin out of the upper part of the shaft that secures the springs and weights, seeing if it can be broken down further but it wouldn't budge. Trying some penetrating oil.

The bushing # is (I think) B8HQ-12120-A one thing, Dennis Carpenter buys a lot of obsolete inventory from dealerships or whatever. They have these, I guess, (and tbirdhq.com does too) ; DC keeps a lot of NOS parts that are not listed on their website. They show up on RearCounter though. The bushing itself should cross to a common part any supply house should have. The spec for wear is max ID of 0.4690"; shaft is 0.4675"; distributor body has an oil passageway into the bushing area. But the bushing itself, it doesn't look like oilite? I dunno. Always thought oilite was the brass colored stuff.

Cleaned the breaker plate up. It has the three nylon buttons, but not the plastic dingus on the bottom, nor the stop. It looks like it's all there though.

That must be an error in the shop manual, see those all the time. When revisions and corrections are made the dealers get a service bulletin, we don't..
Yes the bushing goes down to a lip, if my old camera will cooperate today I'll try to take a picture of the housing my friend and I cut in half.
Were did you find the new bushing?
MACs listing for many parts are screwy at best...
I'm only guessing but I would think the 60-64 would be the same, and I only say that because I have a 59 that is different. The plate that the springs attach to is three pieces riveted together, of course I can't guarantee that is 100% original. Also it doesn't use the 3 little nylon buttons for the breaker plate to slide on, it has brass screws..

OK, ran a 1/2-13 coarse tap into the worn bushing and used a bolt to drive it out. It doesn't look like bronze but it takes threads nice. Easey Peasey. It looks to me there's a step in the distributor housing to set the bushing height, figured there had to be.

There is a typo (I think) in the '64 Shop manual, they specify .002" clearance when locating the collar (on a new shaft), the endplay spec is 0.022" - 0.032", and in later manuals for the same task on say a 302 or whatever, they use 0.022", this confused me for a while, but that's pretty easy to do.

The manual says that the distributor shaft and distributor gear are replaced as an assembly, e.g. one part should not be replaced without replacing the other. This deal is in keeping with many of my projects, a simple $7.00 points replacement ends up costing 200 bucks and about 12 hours of labor and scouring the intertubes for parts. Since I have two cores I might build another one up and keep it as a spare in case the Pertronix dies, or sell it and recoup some costs.

The distributor shaft is listed as B7A-12175-A , I see on eBay Mac's has this part available, as two different application/ vendor part #s under the same Ford part number. Both are listed for 1960-1962 ?? Seems to me the 14 tooth gear and shaft should work fine from 59-64?

60-29513-1
60-29513-2

For example:


Distributor Shaft & Cam Assembly - 292 & 312 V8 - Mercury

Part Number: 60-29513-1

Brand: Dennis Carpenter

Distributor Shaft & Cam Assembly - 292 & 312 V8 - Mercury

Can anyone shed some light on correct part numbers and availability? Is this another unicorn part??

It does appear that the business end where the reluctor rides and springs attach, this has a roll pin as well. So I guess parts could be swapped if required. I just want the shaft and bushing and everything on the same sheet of music. New gear, shaft, bushing should run true.

One of the cores the shaft is bent at the oil pump side. How the hell does that even happen? I don't know the history of that distributor, maybe the oil pump locked up somewhere back in time?

Good find, never thought to look at the Bird sites. It looks like the right one. Good luck and let us know when you receive it..
They list it as 57-59, Whats funny is I don't think Tbirds had Y blocks after 57, they all had FE or 430 Lincoln engines and it maybe the same part used in an FE???

Yeah, first question right outta the box, they asked me what year T-Bird I had. (I have an F100) for a second I wondered if maybe, they might not sell it to me. Better tell 'em I have a '57!

They should have 4 left. http://www.tbirdhq.com type in 12210 and it should pop. $50 bucks, they have some other Y related stuff too.

If anybody needs the flyweights, DC supposedly has 250 on hand. Nobody else does, except for a single lonely weight on the 'bay.

We'll see what shows up, went ahead ordered one, along with some other goodies. They call it a '57 anyway.

The difference back then, everything wasn't worn out! Thanks to everyone who responded, since it crosses to '64 IRL, even on a tach drive strib should be golden.

Thank you for confirming that.
Ted, I would grab that 59 piece, I own three Ford V8's, Y, FE, 302 and in all my travels to different sites and suppliers I have never seen that part for sale..

Greetings to all: I installed a cam from a 64 distributor into my 57 tach drive distributor for reasons 57Ranchero stated.. It fit and works as advertised. I'm also running Pertronix 2. Hope this helps, JEFF.................


64F100 57FAIRLANE500

Ted,
It's just my personal choice, I like more initial timing, I use 12 + the 24 mechanical for a total of 36.
B9AF-12210-A That appears to be a 59 part number and would only have 24 degrees. Don't be surprised if later ones have a different number and still could be the same part, Ford was notorious for changing numbers..
I have never got this technical on a dist in the past, I miss the good old days when you just put in a new set of points, condenser, cap and rotor and drove it...

Yeah that's what I have now, it's marked 13L but it's pretty trashed. 24, 26 deg. at the crank, that doesn't matter too much does it? Just add in a little more or less initial timing?

The part they have, the full Ford # is B9AF-12210-A ; if it's the same as 289/302 it seems like it would be a commonly available part??

If I do a goolag search it just gets one hit at rearcounter.com and nobody has any. Images search just shows a bunch of houses. "Here's a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head" basically.

Found a pic of what they are selling and it looks right. I mic'd the other old distributor shaft laying around and they seem to hold up pretty good. I believe with a new oilite bushing installed, some new weights &c etc. it will hold spec even when running points. The trick will be to sneak up on bushing height in the housing exactly the same. It sits a little proud of the base. Don't want to have to drill new holes in the shaft for the collar or gear, don't have a drill press.

Spent an hour looking for the other old distributor cam, and couldn't find it, though the special brass vacuum advance carburetor fitting DID turn up, so I got that going for me, which is nice.