How to Install A distributor in a SBC

all right so next week we're going to talk about how to drop a install a distributor I use the word drop but we're really installing it this is our billet distributor that we've got for this engine and we're gonna put this thing in so you see we got our intake manifold on and torque we got our valve covers you're just sitting on here so the first thing you want to do we'll just take this the first thing that you want to do is you want to get the engine to top dead center compression stroke on number 1 this is number 1 and the way you can do that is you rotate the engine and watch your intake valve here so we've got some studs in here that are going to allow us to rotate this engine so we're going to rotate this around until our number one cylinder here opens or our number one valve here over there so and they're probably already pretty close to where we need to be there's a exhaust closing okay so there's our intake our intake valve is opening right there so we're gonna we're gonna keep going we're gonna open that valve up and then we're gonna let it close so we're gonna come up that valve is closing now after this valve closes we just bring our zero mark around to zero on our tab here and you'll hear the compression I'll put my finger over this hole and you can hear that compression so we want to come up to zero here and that's going to put us at top dead center on the compression stroke so top dead center right there's our zero or right here were zeroed out so right now we're at top dead center of compression on number one ok and so now that we have got that located correctly we can take our distributor and we can install it in the engine so we come around to the back side of the motor and here's our distribute now the thing about the distributor if you look down here at the bottom of the distributor there's a it has a male end and this this is actually just a stock or a pump drive shaft we've actually got one in the engine when we put it in there but I wanted to show you this because this is going to be sticking up from the pump this attaches to the to the pump down here and this is what's going to be sticking up there's going to be a female end here and if you look at the bottom of the distributor you've got an end that will fit right in there so that fits right in that gear and that is what when this distributor messes with the cam gear that's what drives the oil pump down here okay so what we need to do is we need to get this into the cam gear but sometimes when you put this down in the cam gear this thing doesn't mesh right away okay so you you can actually get into the cam gear here itself but have this in here like this and it doesn't actually fall down in there so the distributor may not fall down in like that even though you have this gear meshed well there's a real simple way to do that so we have our engine on top dead center we know that so all you need to do now the distributor basically goes in in this orientation here my my vacuum advance is going to point toward the the passenger side over here it's going to point right you about the number six cylinder here my rotor on my distributor since I have this at number one what I need to do is I need number one it's real easy to remember points toward the number one cylinder this is a good way to set it up so I'm just gonna take and I'm gonna I'm gonna rotate I'm gonna drop this in here I'm not gonna go all the way in with it but I'm gonna drop it in I got my vacuum advanced pointing over here basically toward number number six this way and then I'm gonna put my rotor on my distributor and I'm basically gonna kind of point it up toward the number one cylinder okay so then I'm gonna go right in and I'm gonna mesh with my gear now the chances that you are gonna get this lined up correctly in that oil palm drive down inside this thing here is not very good but I just want to go ahead and locate my rotor so I'm close because my number one on my cap is gonna be right here in this area and so and of course I have timing adjustment right now this distributor is meshed with the cam gear its meshed with the cam gear so this if I were to turn the motor now turn the engine now the rotor is going to turn with the engine so in other words I've got this set really close to where I want to be as far as where my number one's gonna be on my cap and I so I have enough adjustment that I can set my timing here once I get the engine running I can go ahead and rotate the engine now and this rotor is gonna stay timed with the cam but what what will that will accomplish is if I rotate the engine by hand it's gonna rotate the shaft around so that it falls into the oil pump drive and you can see a gap here and what will happen as I rotate the engine the rotor will move with the gear and once I get around to where I'm s with the female end on the oil pump drive gear it'll drop right in so some people will pull the distributor out and look at the clocking on the distributor and take a long screwdriver and try to move that oil pump and try to get this to drop down in that you don't need to do all that that's a complete waste of time and effort that's really not not necessary all I need to do now since my rotor is where it needs to be and I'm already meshed with my cam gear what I'm going to do is I'm going to go up and I'm gonna slowly rotate the engine clockwise and you'll see the rotor moving because it's meshed with the cam and I'm just gonna rotate that until I line up with the oil pump drive and you'll see this thing drop right down where it needs to be so let me grab my tool here I'm just going to rotate this engine clockwise I want you to watch that you'll notice the rotor is turning because it is of course meshed with the cam gear so if I rotate this around eventually I'm not gonna lose my timing eventually and you might want to grab on to this and you kind of kind of push on it a little bit but if I if I just rotate this around eventually I'm gonna find that gear those gears are gonna mess up and this thing will just drop right there it goes it just dropped right down in now I'm still timed because my rotor moved with my engine and when I go if I go back to number one now my rotors gonna be over here where it needs to be and that's all there is to it that's the initial that'll get you close so you have timing right here in this area and you can you can adjust that timing according to whatever it needs to be once the engine is running but the distributor is now in and it's close enough that if I put my wire is on I start here with my cap and I go through my firing order one eighty four three six five seven two when I go to fire the engine up this you know this thing should light right up it should fire up immediately and that's all there is to putting a distributor in it's not this is something that gets over complicated a lot but it doesn't really need to be

Channel: Myvintageiron7512

Views: 1,770,955

Keywords: Chevy, Ford, Chrysler, Hemi, Ram, 454, 502, 383, stroker, small block chevy, big block chevy, Distributor, Burnout, Racing, Dodge, Turbo, Exhaust, Cars, Camaro, Street, Pontiac, Race, Mustang, Muscle, Buick, Cobra, Corvette, Drag, Supra, Auto, Used, Shelby, Twin, Drag Race, Stock, Mazda, Charger, Burnout Paradise, Boost, Drag Racing (TV Genre)

Id: O4WRL513Gx4

Length: 7min 59sec (479 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 15 2015