I'm running out of patience in trying to get my 460 running. I rebuilt the engine and am now in the process of trying to start it for the first time. To make a long story short an to the point. I need suggetions on how to get the rebuilt distributor to engauge the oil pump drive shaft while still keeping the timing or the #1 cylinder at TDC. I am also having trouble with getting the distributor to full seat down into the block. The last time around on the rebuild and initial start I don't remember this being such a problem. The Buick and AMC design is so much easier to deal with when it comes to ignition issues.
Getting the dist to line up with number one and seat is easy, but, you need to figure out why the dist. wont seat all the way in first and foremost. To get the dist to #1 and drop in simply get #1 where you want it on the gear and then bump the starter and the dist. will drop right in when the oil shaft and dist. coupling line up.
The distributor I took out of the engine seems to be in smoothly. I got a remanufatured unit because the "old" one had about a 15 degree window of play in it and therefore the base timing couldn't be set close enough to get the engine to start and run. I've made a couple of calls to Ford racers and engine builders today and left messages but no reply yet. I am thinking that there is someting I'm going wrong or the reman is the issue.
Is the oil pump shaft the same configuration (shape and size) as the female configuration in the bottom of the dist. gear??o No:
Yes. it all fits together outside the block. I got the suggestion of using silicone to secure the oil pump shart to the distributor and then install it in the engine. I'm not a fan of silicone usage in general and for this application I am even more leary.
I usually used a socket and extension to turn the oil pump drive until it aligns. This does have the 6 point shaft? Right? I also used this same setup for priming before inserting the dist.
On the Ford 302 I usually have to use the priming tool to play around with the allignment. On the Mustang there is very little area to fit the vac advance so it is a PITA. If I remember correctly on a Ford you have a reverse hex and a slot and both have to line up.
My Ford oil pump drive shaft had a flat piece of springy metal on it like a washer the slid up the shaft. This required the drive shaft to be inserted form the bottom. The purpose I believe is so that if you remove the distrbutor, it doesn't pull the shaft out with it. You are correct, I've done the 302 and 460 set ups and the shaft doesn't sit centered to easily align with the distribtor. I took a little heavy grease on the tip of a flat blade screw driver and squished it around the shaft and the part of the block where the shaft passes through. Then I could center the shaft and drop in the distributor. Yes, Ford are a pain compared to the GM slot set up!
So here's the update. I talked with the machine shop that did the work for me, they only build Ford engines, and they made two suggestions. 1) turn the shaft until the hex end or the shaft lines up by using a socket and ling extension on a 1/4" drive. 2) put in a Ford Motorsport shaft. I do not have the spring clip on the shaft I have now. The purpose of the clip is two-fold according the Mark. First to hold the shaft in place within the block to align the distributor shaft and second to keep from having the oil pump and distributor from being seperated at an inopportune moment while removing the distrbutor. The motorsport shaft is Chrome-moly steel and larger diameter as well with the ends sized to fit both the oil pump and the distributor. Also, the distributor that I am putting is had some damage to the housing that a bit of filing, sanding, and polishing seems to have resolved. I wish I knew what happened to the clip on the original shaft. I think the engine ate it up when it was eating itself up. Did I mention the cause of the engine damage before? Let me know if I didn't and you are curious.
The biggest problem I always had was getting it to stay centered, seems like I'd drop the distributor in and the drive would hit the housing :rant: I bought one of the Ford Motorsport drives also. Been sitting on the shelf for 10 years :laugh: I picked up a new 302 shortblock for my Bronco back then as well. Figured when the motor in the Bronco died, it's the best way to go. I just use the Bronco as my beater these days, no towing, but it's still going with 330,000 miles on the original engine and transmission. Times about up though, shes starting to run a little rough. Looks like my winter project since the GS is running good ray:
I did the exact same thing 30+ years ago on a 429 engine. Worked like a charm.:TU: Just change the oil shortly afterwards.
I got my motorsport shaft two days ago but havn't had a chance to do anything yet. My daily driver decided it needs a new camshaft sensor. There goes the 28+mpg for a week or so becuase I have to order the sensor. I am now driving my Jeep ( 11.9mpg). However, I taked with the tech guys a motorsport and found out it doesn't matter which end of the shaft goes in the oil pump or distributor. Odd because the shaft is machined with two different lengths of hex. I'll measure it both ways and make a decision after that. And, I'll give a shot on Saturday after I pick up the parts and pieces of the shelves that collapsed in my storage unit. I hope they didn't fall on my project car stored in there.
It's alive!! I got it started this evening by doing two things. 1) installing the Motorsport oil pump shaft and 2) installing the distributor after grinding off material from the housing where is had been damaged before. I suppose that is the find of stuff you deal with when you buy inexpensive replacement parts from the national DYI chains. This was the first and most likely my last purchase of this type from them. Anyway, it starts and runs. Now to repair the transmission line leak before engine run in tomorrow. By the end of the morning I could have the timing set and the first oil change done!
Warning about the larger diameter oil pump drive shaft. A good friend of mine had one of those in the 429SCJ engine he had in his 78 F250 4x4. He always ran 20w-50 oil, and one morning when it was about 15 deg. outside, he fired it up and no oil pressure (he always watched the gage on startup). Long story short, the load from the cold oil sheared the hex off at the oil pump end of the shaft. The factory shaft is actuall stronger becaus it is the same hex from one end to the other. The aftermarket shaft you bought has a huge stress riser in it where it transitions from the hex to the larger round diameter. We put a stock shaft back in his truck and it never failed again no matter how cold it was outside. Also, never put one together without that clip around it! The stock shaft we put in his that night didn't have it, but we had to get it together quick to make a trip. Years later he pulled the dist. to replace the Mallory Uni-lite module on the side of it and the shaft came up with the dist, the dropped off. Next thing he heard was the clunk when it hit the bottom of the oil pan. The dist. module had died in a mall parking lot, so there he was pulling the oil pan in the parking lot to fish the pump drive shaft out.
