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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Distributor removal - '38 Ford

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Discussion Topic: Distributor removal - '38 Ford

Tim I

02-16-2011 @ 7:47 AM

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I am about to send my coil to Skip Haney to be rebuilt, and am thinking maybe I should send the distributor while I'm at it. I can't find any removal procedure in the manuals, so I assume it must be fairly simple. Are there any pitfalls I should know about?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Tim

Pauls39

02-16-2011 @ 8:25 AM

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Good idea sending the whole unit to Skip. Get all the problem taken care of at the same time. You may also consider buying new caps and wires while you have things apart.
No problems taking the distributor off, however installation requires some care. Be sure the drive tang is lined up with the cam before you tighten any bolts. The tang is offset as is the slot in the camshaft. We usually start a couple of bolts loosly, then turn the rotor till you feel the drive tang drop into the slot. Once in place you won't be able to move the rotor by hand. Failure to install this properly will result in breaking the ears off the distributor housing. A very expensive mistake!
Make sure the caps on the distributor are lined up properly. They fit in a notch for proper alignment.
Lastly, if you change the wires besure they are in the proper positions in the caps.

supereal

02-16-2011 @ 9:44 AM

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To properly set up an old Ford distributor on a machine, the coil must be attached. As you are sending your coil, that shouldn't be a problem. Having the coil in place both brings the distributor housing into the correct shape, and the pressure of the coil brush on the rotor is important. There is alway a bit of play in the distributor bushings, and if unsecured, will affect the point settings.

keith oh

02-16-2011 @ 12:35 PM

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Tape a thin piece of cardboard over the fins on the radiator as it is so easy to bend them and hard to bend them back so they look right.

Tim I

02-16-2011 @ 2:09 PM

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Thanks to everyone for the responses. I will see if I can get the distributor off tonight. (And I will use that cardboard!)

I have also ordered new plug wires. The car idles nicely, but doesn't run well under load. (I've only driven it around the neighborhood.) The plug wires look very old, and so I'm assuming there's a lot of crossfiring going on. The guy I bought the car from said he had trouble re-starting it when it was hot, so I figured the coil needs to be rebuilt. As for the distributor, like Paul said, better to make sure it's OK.

The car has the original engine, I think. (It's an 81A at least.) Compression in all cylinders is 70 -80 psi. That seems low, but I'm hoping that at 6:1 compression and 5500' above sea level maybe those numbers aren't TOO bad. I'd like to eventually build a dressed-up 59AB for it, but it would be nice if I can drive the car as-is for now.

Thanks again! More questions to come, I'm sure...

Tim

supereal

02-16-2011 @ 2:38 PM

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Tim: That compression is OK, particularly if it is fairly uniform between cylinders at your "mile high" location. You should see a big improvement with the rebuilt coil. I doubt you have much crossfiring if the idle is OK. Check the plug wires to see if they are the copper type, or the carbon filiament variety. We recommend the copper type, with the connectors on both ends firmly soldered to the conductors.

Stroker

02-16-2011 @ 4:00 PM

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Tim I:

If you ever decide to swap out your 81A motor for a 59A, I'd like a crack at it. My 38 lost it's
81A engine early on, and has had a series of replacement engines since dad bought it new. I'm trying to put it back as close to original as possible, and while I have my 59A "dressed" correctly, with proper aluminum manifold, and Chandler-Groves carb, it obviously will never pass the "pencil test". Send me a PM, if you can. Yes fellow Ford folks, I apologize, as this prolly ought to be in the Classified. Please forgive.

Dan

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