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Hoosier Hurricane
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Group: Moderators
Last Active: 27 minutes ago
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Panel driver asked if anyone had the shaft pull out with the distributor. My answer is yes, but not on a Y Block. In '63 I worked at a Lincoln/Mercury dealership. The service manager insisted during a tune-up we pull the distributor and put it on the distributor machine to install the points. I pulled the distributor up on the first FE I ever tuned, and heard a muffled "clunk" as the shaft dropped into the pan. I couldn't retrieve it with a magnet, so I surmised it couldn't get through the screen in the pump pickup, I got a new shaft and sent the car out. Needless to say, I never pulled an FE distributor for a tune-up again. By the way, I always put a 5/8" washer on the oil pump end of a Y shaft.
John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"
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55 GLASS TOP
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 2 Years Ago
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Boy this subject has become a real monster..........
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paul2748
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As long as the washer is between the block and the oil pump, you are ok. Ideally, the washer should be up enough so the shaft will not pull out of the oil pump Joe-JDC (3/1/2020)
OK, I am confused now. I always install the star washer next to the block under the distributor mounting end of the intermediate shaft, not next to the oil pump end. Joe-JDC
54 Victoria 312; 48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ
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blocky
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Group: Forum Members
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boy i am loving this so much! how much fun can you have with a drive shaft?? lots and lots by the look of it. cheers!
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55 GLASS TOP
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Group: Forum Members
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It just goes to show you it’s the little things in life that count
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57RancheroJim
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Joe-JDC (3/1/2020)
Folks, you are messing up with the pictures. That star washer fits under the block side of the crankcase to keep the shaft in the oil pump, not allowing it to come up with a distributor when it is removed from the topside. That picture is with a stock shaft. On the ARP or whoever's performance shaft, the star washer is installed at the top, and installs before the oil pump to keep the shaft in place. The star washer goes on the pointed end which is rounded to allow the distributor shaft to center the shaft when you drop it in place. The squared off end is installed in the oil pump. There is no star washer on the oil pump end of the ARP performance shaft. I just opened up an ARP package, and per their instructions: "Push the retaining clip(star washer) onto the pointed end of the shaft. Then insert the shaft into the pump with the clip facing up towards the distributor. Pump drive shaft also has a mark showing which end is installed up towards the distributor." Joe-JDC Read again what Ted and I posted. The ARP shafts are WRONG and always have been., They have the washer on the wrong end and the wrong diameter. Washer goes on the oil pump end.
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Florida_Phil
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Group: Forum Members
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When I rebuilt my TBird engine, I used an ARP oil pump drive shaft. The shaft did not use a washer and none was included. The shaft was thicker in the middle than the hole in the block below the distributor, which prevented the shaft from coming out with the distributor. On prereassembly, I found the oil pump would not bolt down all the way. The ARP oil pump shaft was was too long and was preventing the oil pump from seating all the way. I ground the oil pump end of shaft slightly for proper clearance. As I recall it took about .020" to get it right. My motor has been running for about two years now. I have had the distributor out numerous times without a problem.
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Ted
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Group: Administrators
Last Active: Last Week
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How did something so simple suddenly turn into rocket science? I’m in the same camp as John on distributor shafts coming out with the distributors. In that same vein of thought, I’ve pulled down several Ford engines with distributor shafts laying loose in the oil pans. It’s doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out why those shafts are sitting there. I’ve even pulled down a couple of engines that had miniature flashlights laying in the oil pans along with the distributor drives. One was a 351W while the other was a FE. Those mechanics must have been having really bad days to have also dropped the lights into the engines while trying to fish out the distributor drives. And before you ask, the batteries were long dead in those flashlights. The Ford Y and the LYB engines are the only Ford OHV V8’s that requires the ‘star’ washer to be installed at the bottom of the shaft rather than at its top. The Ford FE, M-E-L, SBF, and BBF engines do have the ‘star’ washers installed at the top of the intermediate shafts but that is simply due to those engine designs having oil pumps that are internal to the engines rather than being externally mounted. As a point of clarification, the distributor end of the shaft is the top and the oil pump end is the bottom of the shaft. As per the original design, the star washer for the Ford Y is 5/8” diameter. What is adding confusion to this issue are the ½” diameter washers used on the ARP intermediate shafts supplied for the Ford Y. Those are the wrong diameter washers and are installed on the wrong end or top of the shaft by ARP. I typically just remove the ½” diameter washers from the ARP shafts and install the correct 5/8” washer on the oil pump end of the shaft. That solves the issue with the ARP intermediate oil pump drive shafts. Because there is minimal hex shaft exposed at the top of the ARP oil drive, the potential is there for the shaft itself to be in a bind with the washer installed at the top because the star washer cannot be low enough on the shaft to clear the bottom of the distributor gear boss in the block. Said another way, the washer is rubbing on the bottom side of the distributor gar boss in the block which creates a new set of problems. While the later model Ford V8’s that use the top fitted ½” washer can be fitted successfully into the engines from the bottom with the washer being directly under the distributor gear boss in the block, the 5/8” diameter washer on the Ford Y intermediate shafts will only fit in the block cavity at the bottom of the block; the larger diameter washer does helps to retain that shaft in place and prevent it from falling out of the top of the block. For the Ford Y, installing the star washer on the oil pump end of the shaft does keep the shaft engaged in the oil pump as the 5/8” diameter of the star washer is larger than the oil pump shaft hole in the block. The only point to having the washer on the shaft is to keep the shaft in place during engine assembly and when the distributor is being pulled for service work. Once the engine is up and running, the washer on the intermediate shaft serves no purpose. The shaft under normal running free floats between the distributor and the oil pump.
  Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)
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darrell
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i always found the fe engines to be the worst for droping the shaft.a lot of people would pull the base but i see a lot just got another shaft.same as i did.
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Ted
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