I got my distributor and coil back from Mallory tonight. I was happy since I haven't driven the car since fathers day. When I unpacked it I discovered my alignment marks were gone on the shaft, but I sort of expected that. When I took the cap off to set the rev limiter and timing curve I discovered the cap and rotor were brand new. I thought replacing the cap and rotor was nice, but unnecessary since they only had 1800 miles on them. I got my settings right, put a little assembly lube in the gear and tried to install it in the engine. It wouldn't go in more than a few inchess. It stopped as soon as the fat part of the shaft started to go into the hole. I looked at it closely and it looked like the shaft of the distributor was larger than the hole. I figured I was doing something wrong so I tried again with the same results. I gave up and brought out the calipers. The shaft measured 1.555 and the hole was 1.485. So the numbers tell the story. The distributor shaft is .070 larger than the hole in the engine. When I talked to Mallory last week it sounded like they had repaired mine and was sending it back, but I'm not sure where this one came from. They also sent a clear plastic bag that has the software, all the wiring and cover. I think maybe they sent me a new distributor. Of course that doesn't explain why it doesn't fit. I'm bummed out.
Jeff
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Mark III complete kit ordered 12/03/2007, received #6351 1/22/2008 Homemade mods: driver footbox extension with deadpedal and dimmer switch, widened passenger footbox, brake reservoir mounting bracket, under trunk storage box, custom dash and dash extension, heater forward box, custom glove box, under dash switch panel, Explorer motor carb conversion, first start 7/10/2010, paint by Performance Automotive 11/20/2010-5/7/2011, Graduated 11/22/2011
I called and spoke to the women that repaired my distributor. As soon as I told her the shaft was too large for the hole she knew what was wrong. She said there are two sizes of shafts that look exactly the same, but one is larger than the other. She said she must have installed the wrong one. She apologized over and over and offered to make it right. It was nice that she admitted to the mistake and apologized for it. I printed out another repair form and will ship it back tomorrow. It looks like it'll be a couple more weeks before I hear the engine come to life again.
Jeff
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Mark III complete kit ordered 12/03/2007, received #6351 1/22/2008 Homemade mods: driver footbox extension with deadpedal and dimmer switch, widened passenger footbox, brake reservoir mounting bracket, under trunk storage box, custom dash and dash extension, heater forward box, custom glove box, under dash switch panel, Explorer motor carb conversion, first start 7/10/2010, paint by Performance Automotive 11/20/2010-5/7/2011, Graduated 11/22/2011
Keep her number, call her in a couple of days and see if she can fix it, ship it back same day and overnite it.
I put it in the mail this morning. She did say she would give it priority as soon as it arrived, but she didn't commit to a repair time frame. I'll do as you suggest and hope for the best. I just realized the car has been down for 6 weeks already. Half of that time was me taking the troubleshooting slow. It rains almost every day here this time of the year so I'm not missing much. Thanks for the suggestion.
Jeff
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Mark III complete kit ordered 12/03/2007, received #6351 1/22/2008 Homemade mods: driver footbox extension with deadpedal and dimmer switch, widened passenger footbox, brake reservoir mounting bracket, under trunk storage box, custom dash and dash extension, heater forward box, custom glove box, under dash switch panel, Explorer motor carb conversion, first start 7/10/2010, paint by Performance Automotive 11/20/2010-5/7/2011, Graduated 11/22/2011
I called yesterday and they said it had shipped out on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll have it early next week and it'll work. Thanks for the interest.
Jeff
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Mark III complete kit ordered 12/03/2007, received #6351 1/22/2008 Homemade mods: driver footbox extension with deadpedal and dimmer switch, widened passenger footbox, brake reservoir mounting bracket, under trunk storage box, custom dash and dash extension, heater forward box, custom glove box, under dash switch panel, Explorer motor carb conversion, first start 7/10/2010, paint by Performance Automotive 11/20/2010-5/7/2011, Graduated 11/22/2011
The distributor arrived earlier than expected on Friday. I installed it last night and finished the details this morning. I really wanted to use my new piston stop to find TDC since my damper isn't marked. Unfortunately the piston stop won't thread into the cylinder. It looks like the right diameter and is the right thread pitch, but it won't fit. Anyway I'll have to figure out the timing later. Now to the good part. I rolled the car out into the driveway added a little bit of gas to the carburetor and it started on the first crank. The sound of that motor was music to my ears. It went up on the high idle and ran very smooth. Smoother than before to be honest. I kicked it down after it was up to temp and it went into a nice 650rpm idle. I shut it off to put the air cleaner on and it started instantly without touching the gas. While I have no way of knowing for sure I think the timing must be pretty close. I'll work on that more later, but for now I'm a happy camper.
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Mark III complete kit ordered 12/03/2007, received #6351 1/22/2008 Homemade mods: driver footbox extension with deadpedal and dimmer switch, widened passenger footbox, brake reservoir mounting bracket, under trunk storage box, custom dash and dash extension, heater forward box, custom glove box, under dash switch panel, Explorer motor carb conversion, first start 7/10/2010, paint by Performance Automotive 11/20/2010-5/7/2011, Graduated 11/22/2011
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