Distributor Bushings for EARLY distributors

[Tom P.]

Does ANYONE know where I can locate, or who has, bushings for a dist such as an 891? I have REPEATADLY measured the OD of the bushings that I pressed out and always get a .627 OD. I can find bushings all day long (and I have a few) with a .643 OD, but that is just tooooooooooooooo big. I'm sure I can have a .643 bushing turned down, but I'd sure like to locate some correct .627 bushings. Also, if I can locate any, I'd like for them to be about 1 1/2in long.
Anyone?

[Joe L.]

Re: Distributor Bushings for EARLY distributors

Tom-----

I don't understand this situation, at all. First of all, the housings for all 57-61 distributors, passenger car and Corvette (except FI, of course) were functionally the same. The only bushing ever available froim GM for ALL 57-61 distributors from GM was GM #1923250 and this part was used for the upper and lower positions. This part is long-since discontinued. I don't know what the OD of this piece was, though.

[Tom P.]

Re: Distributor Bushings for EARLY distributors

I have several early iron cores which I have canabalized useable bushings from. But they are all used up now. So, now I need to locate some of these early bushings for 3 distributors that I am working on. As I say, the ones which I just pressed out of a 60 891 are also the same size as those from a Oct 54 dist for a 55 V-8. I've looked (and had others look and inquire) everywhere I know where to look and inquire. The bushings for the early iron housings measure .627 OD and the later bushings have an OD of about .642-.643. The reason that I would like to locate some longer than stock bushings, is because the longer bushing will contact a fresh portion of the original shaft which is not worn. Or, if I could only find the correct OD bushings, then I could use 1 bushing and cut another in half (and put both pieces together) to provide extra contact with the shaft surface which is not worn. I've done this on several other distributors and it works great. But now I'm out of useable bushings.

[Joe L.]

Re: Distributor Bushings for EARLY distributors

Tom------

Oh, I thought you meant that the bushings for the '891' distributor were different than other 57-61 distributors.

Here's a lead for you, though: The technicians that used to work in pump/instrument repair for the municipal organization I retired from used to use bushings like these. They were manufactured by Isostatic Industries of Chicago, IL. I believe the one that you need would be Isostatic # C-0710-12 (5/8" OD X 7/16" ID X 1-1/2") or C-0710-16 which is 2" long. You would have to ream the ID of these to fit your shaft, but the OD should work fine.

Isostatic can be contacted at 1-800-621-5500 or www.isostatic.com. I don't think that they sell direct to the public but, perhaps, they can tell you who sells their products.

[Jack H.]

Opps....

My reply to this thread wound up in the thread below. So, delete + add....

If you can't find a set of bushings from local supplier sources (have you tied NAPA?), then you'll find the bushings listed in the Chicago Corvette catalog under their dual-point distributor section:

#A2588, '55-61 Dual Point, Non-FI, Distributor Bushings (U/L) $13.95

[Tom P.]

Re: Opps....

Thanks Jack, we'll check that out!