There us a clip on the bottom that holds the driver in place (at least there is supposed to be).
The driver is not "held in the distributor", the distributor merely sits on the driver.






54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Now...my next question...anticipating what can go wrong...How does the hex drive get held into the distributor, and what are the odds it falls out of the old one while I'm taking it out?  The "old" one in this case is a Mallory unit.  

Thanks x 2.

By design, no gasket is used for the Ford distributors.  Adding a gasket raises the distributor housing and can cause internal distributor damage due to the gear trying to get back down to where it belongs.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

The 1954 engines (239 FYB, 256 FYB, 317 LYB) used a slotted end on the distributor with a corresponding slotted oil drive and slotted oil pump.  There was also a different distributor drive gear for the 1954 FYB engines.  1955 and up went with the hex drive at the distributor end.

The HEI style caps are available in different colors.  The spark plug wires for the HEI caps do snap in place versus just being pushed in which eliminates that problem of the pushed in wires working themselves loose.  The installed HEI wire ends also have a lower profile at the top of the HEI cap versus using a cap with push in wires.  I lean towards black when I can get them.
 

 

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Thanks all…
Ted- do you have a photo of the type of cap you prefer?
A couple more questions…
The CRT website says that they are only replacements for hex drive shafts. I was not aware Y blocks ever had anything different. I was thinking of ordering one of these, any reason to believe that the Mallory distributor that is currently in mine would not have the hex drive?


Also, I’ve only ever replaced one Y block distributor. I remember there being some kind of a trick, either you use two gaskets or you don’t use one at all, under the distributor. Am I imagining that? If not, which is the one I’m supposed to do?
Thanks

There are soft rubber and hard rubber wire separators for the Y depending upon where they are sourced from.  I get most of mine from Carpenters and they are of the soft variety.  I have good results using the soft rubber separators for the 8mm wires but the wires must be installed in those supports where you want them before clamping them down.  The wires are not going to slide in them once bolted in place.  The hard rubber separators tend to work only with the 7mm wires.

Here are some pics of Y’s with 8mm wires as being used with the factory style wire looms.
 

 

 



Here are links to past threads regarding the CRT and TSP distributors.  My preference is to use the caps that have the HEI terminals and not the older ‘push in wire’ conventional caps.
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/FindPost163002.aspx
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/FindPost160254.aspx
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/FindPost156530.aspx
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/FindPost164128.aspx
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/FindPost165943.aspx
http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/FindPost166227.aspx

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Good to know...I still think my current problem is fuel related but this is good stuff.  Any recommendations on the 7mm wires, or where to find the Magnecore wires?  The Magnecore site is terrible!  LOL.  

It may be a matter of personal preference. If you prefer the wires to be neatly tucked away and threaded through the proper grommets there is, as stated above, quality 7mm wires available. I purchased a complete tailored set from Magnecor wires many years ago and for several years ran an MSD and other ignition boxes with no problems and they are still in excellent condition. They are on the pricey side though....

64F100 57FAIRLANE500

I use the MSD plug wires in the factory style looms and the CRT/TSP/MSD distributors as well as MSD caps on the CRT distributor.  

JDC