Week long distributor install lol

Well.... what should have been a 20Min repair on my 88 351w rh drive 1988 nautique Turned into a friggy hell week for me! but its done now!

How it all started..
Motor has about ten hours on it, everything new or rebuilt! I bought it as a basket case and this was it's first summer and has been running great until a few weeks ago!
It lost all its umpff and after some investigating
I learned that one of the cam advance arm thingy's(tech term!) had broken off in the dist!

My Dist was the stock prestolite with a pertronix conversion in it! So I decided on one of the D.U.I units..Even though it ships with the wrong cam gear!
Placed my order and got the dist on tue's the 28th of july.. Raced home from work to swap the gears on the two Distributors and hopefully have some daylight left for a test run!
Should take like a 1\2 hour right!

hahaha The old gear took a little heat to get off no biggie I've swapped dist gears before!
Pressed in on the new dist, drove the spring pin thru! Spun the shaft to admire my work.... and noticed a nice chunk of one of the gear teeth missing!! ARGGHHH!!! In my haste I hadn't noticed it!
Next day.....
So after many a phone call I located said gear and had mallory overnight me TWO of them just in case! (good people at mallory)

Ok thursday was a blur cuz it was my b-day and the girlfriend and I went out on the town...

Friday,
after work I want to install the new gear and install the new dist and wires and time it in, and hope fully have some daylight again! Sounds familiar doesn't it!

I have trouble getting the dist meshing with the cam and oil pump shaft! So I slide it out to have a looky see with a flash light and notice that the pump shaft is out of place and (Gasp) not seated in the pump!
?? That shouldn't have happened!!!! I put the pump and shaft on the block! I know I put the retainer at the right end of the shaft??? I've built a dozen or so small block fords..hmmmm

So I try to grab it with a extendo magnet to no avail as the head of the magnet is large to go thru the hole machined in the block for the oil pump shaft..... Hmmmm So in a desperate attempt I use a coat hanger bent strategically to try and persuade the shaft back into it's home in the top of the oil pump!! Only to hear.... KER PLUNK..... shaft fell in the pan!
Oh NOooooooo......my stomach is now perfectly lodged in my throat to the point that cuss words can't make it clearly out of my mouth!

What a stupid rookie move that was!!

I sat there contemplating my options and decided on tearing the front of the motor apart and see if i could fish out the shaft with a magnet? Rather than yank motor and pull pan!

So 8.30 pm fri night I made sure I had all the tools and gaskets needed for the job and started the wrench fest!
When I fished out the oil shaft, the retainer clip was loose on the shaft? And dropping it in from the top I couldn't have it the clip on anyway, so I left it off....
By 1.15 am I was done! tools cleaned and put away and showered and ready for some much needed sleep! I'll spare the neighbors and fire it up in the morning!
Next day...
Change oil and fire motor, Fires right off! But, I hear alot of valve train noise? Quick look over my shoulder at the oil psi gauge explains it! No oil pressure.. shut it off quick... ran maybe 30 secs or so..

Now wtf... Pull dist inspect?? Everything looks cool.. ah ha!!
Not having the clip on allowed the shaft to go up inside the distributor shaft just enough to dislodge from the oil pump when the motor was running!
I looked at the old prestolite dizzy and discovered that there shaft was not hollow like my new fancy dui unit. I whipped up a brass plug the correct size and tapped it up into the new dizzy and tada!!! Oil pressure is back!!

I am kind of shocked that the dui dist wasn't the same way as the original dist? I checked a couple of other ford dist i have kicking around the shop and all of them are plugged so this cannot happen to them!
Drove the boat sat and sunday with no problems at all! And honestly the old girl has never pulled harder or gone faster then it doe's now!
I am quite pleased!
Summary.....
I wanted to try a D.U.I. dist, and have read quite a bit of positive things about them!
Would I buy one again?? No, prolly not!! It doe's work good I'll give it that! But unless it's a drop in ready to run unit i'll pass on it fron now on!
I should have bought the mallory unit that was made for the rh rotation motor (just like you said 79nautique) , but didn't want to wait for it! But ended up with a huge mess and delay anyhow!
Haste make waste....... and then some!!!

Anyways....Thanks for letting me vent!!

Chuck

79nautique wrote: horse carp .

Horse Carp!!! Is that another new species invading the Illinois river?

Always a good laugh reading your stuff Chris. I think we know where you stand on the DUI though