Is there a Trick to getting the Clip off the Shaft to get the Cam off?  That little bent Clip is being difficult. Snap Ring Pliers aren't getting it off. Suggestions?

  

I have always been able to get it with needle nose pliers.  Sometimes it's easy and sometimes  it fights.

Retaining ring pliers might work better.  Those are for clips without holes.


Lawrenceville, GA

Thanks. I got it apart. Any Tips on Lubrication Spots when I re-assemble it? This is the 1957 Style with Ball Bearing Point Plate and Kidney Shape Weights.

  

DO not loos the clip,hard to replace,when installing i use a pease of tubing to push the clip on.good luck l

I don't know the official lubrication points.  I would assume anything that pivots, rotates, or slides.


Lawrenceville, GA

On this subject, how difficult is it to get & replace the top bushing in these distributors?  Mine is showing noticeable deviation running with a Dwell meter connected.. Thanks


Paul

I think Macs has the Bushings. Any Machine Shop should be able to press Bushings and burnish to fit Shaft. The Ones on the Distributor I have are good.

  

The bushing itself is the easy part, it can be driven out and a new one pressed home with common hand tools. A few passes with a dingle ball hone will work very well to ream it out.

The problem you may find though, if the distributor has excessive sideplay or runout, the distributor shaft itself though made of harder steel, is most likely worn well beyond spec. Replacing the bushing alone is unlikely to get a good outcome. I thought maybe it might be "good enough", but a test fit with an original shaft showed the slop was still substantial. Check yours with a micrometer to be sure, but I think you'll probably find the same.

Replacement distributor shafts are available too, but these are not supplied drilled. In that sense each distributor is a "custom" one off, locating the distributor gear on the shaft has to be positioned accurately within 0.005", I don't have a drill press, and machine shops in my area unfortunately are going the way of the dodo. I called around to a couple repair places and nobody even wanted to mess with it. That's right, drilling a hole or two wasn't something they were willing to take on.

So this whole distributor rebuilding business can quickly get more complicated than it might seem at first. You can bet the "remanufactured" versions don't bother with any of this stuff, attention to detail is not part of their business model.