In a message dated 98-10-19 20:13:44 EDT, you write:
>
>I inherited a Mallory Dual Point in my TR3A that has been nothing but
>trouble. Whoever installed it in the car in the first place located the # 1
>terminal 90 degrees out (or some approximation there-of).
The fact that the driving dog doesn't line up where you want it is basically
irrelevant. You can position the distributor wherever you want it to be
throughout a 360 degree parameter by moving the gear iside the pedestal. With
the motor at TDC, note where the rotor points in relation to some outside
reference point, pull the distributor, remove the pedestal (careful of the
gaskets), and turn the gear in whatever direction the distributor needs to go
to get the no 1 where you want it. Now the only tricky part...the gear will
turn as it re-engages the gear on the cam, so you will have to either drop the
gear back in beyond where you wanted the final alignment to be, or short of
it, depending on which way you are trying to move the distributor. Be VERY
SURE that the gear has dropped ALL the way back down as the oil pump drive
will only go into the gear in one place (it has only one keyway).You will
probably have to turn the shaft by hand to help align it, and when it is
close, turn the motor by hand until it aligns and drops down. Now put the
motor back on TDC, reinstall the pedestal (do not force the pedestal down, if
it goesn't go you either have not gotten it onto the shaft (it will be about
.75 inches from seating) or you have pulled the shaft out of the oil pump (it
will be about .25 inches from seating). If this occurs, no problem you can't
screw anything up (well maybe some of us can, but I mean you can't drop the
shaft into the pan like on some motors, just repeat the seating steps until
it all goes back together.
I used to run other models of distributors and they all could be aligned
easily using this method.
Often a little "turned around" myself...
Nick in Nor Cal
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