distributor case swap?

[FB73tii]

I broke the case on my tii mechanical distributor (002 type). Can I swap the internals from it into a standard 2002 vacuum advance distributor case? I don't know the year of the car the vac advance dizzy is from. If yes, any tips on disassembly appreciated, have not done this before.

Thanks, Fred '74tii

[Mike Self]

you'll have to plug the hole left when you remove the vacuum advance unit from your donor housing.

I've dismantled dizzys before, and the most difficult part is driving the pin out that holds the drive gear in place, so you can remove the shaft. It's small, and takes a lot of whanging with a skinny drift to drive it out . Pay attention to all the washers and spacers on the shaft as you dismantle, so you'll get 'em back together correctly.

If you're gonna dismantle, and the parts are still available from Bosch, spring for a pair of shaft bushings and put 'em in your replacement housing. you can make a bushing puller/installer from a long, thin bolt, a sturdy piece of steel with a hole in the middle, and a couple of washers with flats ground on 'em.

Good luck

mike

[///mChris]

The housing is sized to the shaft. You'll need to put in the proper amount of shims. I'm not really sure how tightly it is supposed to fit. I've always wondered that.

[FB73tii]

Thanks for the tips. I can epoxy a patch to fill the vacuum advance hole. Will have to see about spacers. I was able to source another dizzy, but I may tear into this one to see if I can fix it as well. Alternative is to patch the large hole in my case with some curved aluminum and JB Weld. Dizzy hit roll cage cross bar under rapid lateral deceleration, damaging case. --Fred

[TobyB]

he most difficult part is driving the pin out that holds the drive gear in place,

Careful- depending on the vintage, that pin is swaged, so you end up drilling the end off it.

End play is very small- there's a spec in one or the other of the

aftermarket books, but it's effectively as close to zero as you can

get it without binding. Using the shims from the donor dizzy can do it.

hth,

t