[Marcellus]

Never had this happen before. I am trying to drop in my distributor and I cant get it to lock into the oil pump shaft or the cam gear all the way, probably the cam gear.

This is a new motor and a new MSD distributor.

I have tried lining up the oil pump shaft to get it close to position bring the motor up to #1 set the distributor in and it locks with gear some and the rotor turns but no amount of turning the motor over and putting pressure on the rotor will cause the distributor to drop all the way in.

The only thing I can think of is maybe the intake slightly out of alignment. There seems to be a lot of "slack" in the bolt holes wen installing the intake.(meaning you can move the intake left and right and front and back slightly before it tightened down). It is a victor jr. The distributor seems to rather tight around the intake hole.

I have installed many an intake and distributor and have never ran into this.

Anybody else run into this?

Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[Rbace123]

I had the same problem with mine. I have installed a few before but never had a problem. This time no matter where I turned it would not go in. I finally figured out that the oil pump rod was tilted a little and would not alow it to go in all the way. It was leaning toward the drivers side just a bit. I finally eneded up jacking that side of the car up a bit to get it to stay straight and it wen right in.

Good luck !l

 

[Marcellus]

I had the same problem with mine. I have installed a few before but never had a problem. This time no matter where I turned it would not go in. I finally figured out that the oil pump rod was tilted a little and would not alow it to go in all the way. It was leaning toward the drivers side just a bit. I finally eneded up jacking that side of the car up a bit to get it to stay straight and it wen right in.

Good luck !l

Hmm, I will check that. My garage has a slight slope to the passenger side, maybe the rod is leaning.

 

[firebird69racer]

Do you have another old dist to try to see if it goes in?
You sure the oil pump shaft is seated all the way into the oil pump. I have seen them come off of the oil pump when the motor get turned upside down with no dist in place to hold it in. The shaft that has the plastic sleeve will hold the shaft to the pump but the ones with the metal sleeve does not hold the shaft to the pump. I always put a little silicone on the sleeve to hold the shaft in place.

 

[Marcellus]

Do you have another old dist to try to see if it goes in?
You sure the oil pump shaft is seated all the way into the oil pump. I have seen them come off of the oil pump when the motor get turned upside down with no dist in place to hold it in. The shaft that has the plastic sleeve will hold the shaft to the pump but the ones with the metal sleeve does not hold the shaft to the pump. I always put a little silicone on the sleeve to hold the shaft in place.

I have primed the motor with proform pump primer, if the oil shaft wasn't seated all the way would the pump still work?

 

[firebird69racer]

I have primed the motor with proform pump primer, if the oil shaft wasn't seated all the way would the pump still work?

Nope
if you had oil pressure the shaft is good.

 

[firebird69racer]

Is this on a 65? I don't know that year Nova to well. But don't they have a different pan and oil pump that takes a shorter oil pump shaft. Could that be the problem?

 

[Marcellus]

Is this on a 65? I don't know that year Nova to well. But don't they have a different pan and oil pump that takes a shorter oil pump shaft. Could that be the problem?

It is a 65 but its a rear sump pan set up.

 

[Paul Wright]

What pump are you using? A Melling High volume requires a steel collared shaft.

 

[The Big Al]

Some MSD dist were not machined correctly, check the dia of the low part of the dist compared to your stock dist.

If you have a block laying around pre fit it.

Al

 

[Nova_Guy]

Do you have an extra old distributer you can pull apart? If you pull the main shaft out of it and see if it will go into the block and intake at the same time. If it goes in you have narrowed the problem down to the shaft fitting into the oil pump. Then see if the shaft will fit into the oil pump opening. If it does that eliminates the pump opening being too small.
My guess is the intake isn't lined up with the block. My MSD distributer had a much tighter clearance in the intake than the old GM distributer did. The last time I had the intake off I made sure that distributor was in before I tightened the intake bolts.

 

[levisnteeshirt]

heads milled ??

were the heads milled??

 

[Jim W]

If you look at the gear on the end of the dist, you will see that when the engine runs, the gear angle is pulling the dist down.
Get your dist. back in, timing where you want it, put the dist. hold down on finger tight and spin the starter over. The dist. will spin to where the oil pump shaft lines up and will drop right in. Usually 1/2 a turn and down she goes. If it doesn't, you have a real problem and need to take things apart.

Jim

 

[Marcellus]

Do you have an extra old distributer you can pull apart? If you pull the main shaft out of it and see if it will go into the block and intake at the same time. If it goes in you have narrowed the problem down to the shaft fitting into the oil pump. Then see if the shaft will fit into the oil pump opening. If it does that eliminates the pump opening being too small.
My guess is the intake isn't lined up with the block. My MSD distributer had a much tighter clearance in the intake than the old GM distributer did. The last time I had the intake off I made sure that distributor was in before I tightened the intake bolts.

This is exactly what it was. Thanks for all the advice guys. Intake was off about 1/8th of an inch.