C2:67 Distributor, were they green?

[Gerard F.]

Attached is a picture of my original 67 base engine distributor:


About 14 years ago, I was having trouble with the tach drive gear, and I bought a repair kit with a new advanced crossgear. The kit required that a hole be drilled and tapped on the opposite side of the crossgear for a setscrew.

I got the kit, pulled the distributor and was preparing to install the kit when I noticed that the main shaft gear was also screwed up. I just wasn’t going to deal with this, so I put the distributor back on without the tach drive gear, and went and ordered a new rebuilt replacement distributor with the tach drive. They were a lot cheaper then.

When the new distributor came, I put this distributor in a box with the thought that some day, I’d restore it. Well, as you might have guessed, that day has come, and I’m sure glad I didn’t drill that hole. For the record, here’s the numbers on it:

The band says 11111194 Delco Remy 7 F 12 (fits my June 29, 67 car)
Casting on the opposite side of the housing in the picture is 170
Vacuum Advance on the top mounting plate has MS (above) with 355 below with 15 on the far right.

In cleaning it up, I noticed this green paint spot alongside the vacuum advance which shows up clearly in the picture. The rest of the housing looks like it was either painted black or was bare and has some black baked-on grease deposits.

So in starting this project, I’d like to ask the following questions:

1. What was the original finish of the distributor. Is the green paint spot remnants of the original finish or some factory marking?

2. If one changes the main shaft, should one also change the upper and lower bushings?

3. Are there any vendors out there who can supply an original distributor cap with the “Patent Pending” on it?

Thanks in advance.

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[Joe L.]

Re: C2:67 Distributor, were they green?

Jerry----

1) The original finish for the distributors was semi-gloss black. They are painted externally only from the manifold seating flange up. From there down is natural cast iron. The cap seating surface and the internal area below the distributor plate were not painted. The green paint spot is an inspection mark of some sort often seen on these distributors;

2)The bushing don't necessarily have to be changed if the main shaft is changed. It depends upon how much wear the bushings have. A rough estimate of the bushing wear can be inferred by the mileage on the car at the time the distributor was removed. If it's 50,000 or less miles, the bushings are probably ok. If greater, it might be best to have the bushings replaced;

3) Distributor caps are widely sold on eBay and are among the "trendy" parts that often command big prices.

Other items:

1) Whenever the tach cross gear is damaged, you can almost bet that the mainshaft gear will be just as damaged. They usually "go" as a pair. So, what you found regarding the mainshaft condition is the norm;

2) unless you install a cam button in the housing, you are likely to be needing another mainshaft and cross gear soon. GM added a nylon thrust button to the distributors beginning in about 1970 or 71. The button was added to both PRODUCTION and SERVICE distributors, including those of earlier part numbers. If you look at the inside rear of the distributor housing cross gear cavity you will see where it will appear galled and, perhaps, "indented". Left as-is, this will practically assure you that you new gears will fail in short order. The only way to address this is to install a thrust button. That involves drilling a 1/8" hole through the end of the cavity. You can try to drill the hole from the inside so that it doesn't go all the way through the cast iron. I would not attempt this, though, since it might result in the thrust button not properly seating if the hole is not deep enough. If the hole bothers one, another approach is drilling the hole all the way through, installing the thrust button, and then filling the external hole with JB Weld. File it flush after curing, paint the distributor, and no one will ever know the difference.

I recommend using either the stock-type nylon button (these are a LOT more durable than folks think), or the brass button available from Hi Tech Innovations. High Tech can also rebush your distributor and JIG BORE THE BUSHINGS TO PERFECT ALIGNMENT. They are the only ones providing this service that I know of. They can also sell you a new mainshaft and transfer the autocam from the top of your old mainshaft (critical to maintain original centrifugal advance characteristics). They also have a roller bearing-type adapter/cross gear assembly which, if you get the brass type, will appear identical to the original. This part is really "overkill", but I like it and use them exclusively.

[Terry M.]

Re: C2:67 Distributor, were they green?

If the C2 distributors are like their C3 counterparts, the green dot is a mark indicating the distributor number. It was a means of quickly separating one distributor from another at the engine assembly plant. The C3 TIM&JGs indicate the color of the mark for each of the distributors. Colvin's "Chevrolet by the numbers" also indicate the appropriate color markings. Time's too short this hour of the morning, but if no one else looks them up today, I will later.

[Michael H.]

Re: C2:67 Distributor, were they green?

Yep, 66 425 HP has a white/cream dab or slash in just about the same spot.

[Gerard F.]

Re: C2:67 Distributor, were they green?

Joe,

I do have one of those roller bearing crossgears which has a brass button on the end of gear. (Never used it, cost about $70 then). Does one still have to install the plastic button with one of these gears?

Jerry Fuccillo

[Mark #28455]

how much do you really plan to drive the car?

If you're going to drive it a lot, drill the hole in the replacement distributor you already have and CAREFULLY remove the part number band from your original (or get a repro band with the same info) and put it on your replacement distributor. Then keep the original in unmolested condition in the back of your garage.

Good luck,
Mark

[Gerard F.]

Re: how much do you really plan to drive the car?

Mark,

I do drive it, maybe not every day, and the replacement I have on now has the hole in it. At recent flight judging, it was recognized as a replacement because of the hole and I lost 8 points on originality.

I know they sell these dated bands, but I'm not so sure how ethical that is, to put a dated band, or your original band on a replacement.

Except for the band, I did the same thing you have suggested some 14 years ago.
Now it's time to restore this unmolested distributor to original condition. But I still want to put another 50,000 miles on it.

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[mike cobine]

Re: how much do you really plan to drive the car?

I know they sell these dated bands, but I'm not so sure how ethical that is, to put a dated band, or your original band on a replacement.


ROFL. I'm sorry if this offends you, but the whole hobby is really about making a car look like it did 30 or 40 years ago and not really about original parts, except the engine. (Long discussion possible on "original" engines.)

Reproduction carpets, new bc/cc paint dulled to loook like lacquer, reproduction Coker tires, replacement "original" distributors, alternators, water pumps, fuel pumps, starters, FI units, etc.

Most of these restored cars have parts taken from other cars or from restorations vendors (who got them from other cars or made them) so many items are unoriginal to the car that they left St. Louis on.

If you want to judge it with the original distributor, do this:

1. Rebuild your original distributor with the correct parts, no hole. Install it when going to a meet or at the meet the night before judging.

2. Rebuild the existing one (if needed) and put the band or an extra (reproduction) band on it to look correct and drive with this one.

This way you have one distributor that is safe to drive and you judge with the original distributor.

[Michael H.]

Re: how much do you really plan to drive the car?

Jerry,

As Joe Lucia suggested, it is possible to drill a hole in the housing for the nylon bushing without drilling all the way through to the outside. I did exactly that to the dist in my 66 20 years ago and it has worked perfectly ever since. Externally, your distributor will look no different on the outside than it did originally. If you measure the exact length of the button on the nylon bushing, you can drill the hole to this exact dim, plus a few tho, if you do it on a drill press with the stop set to the correct dim.

Personally, I would definitely rather have the original bronze bushing in place of the aftermarket bearing but.

Michael

[Joe L.]

Re: C2:67 Distributor, were they green?

Jerry------

The roller bearing cross gear does not eliminate the need for the thrust button. In fact, the primary advantage of the roller bearing unit is to prevent any wear in the gear-to-adapter interface. Very little wear usually occurs here, anyway, so that's why I say that the roller bearing gear does not represent a huge advantage. But, it's more sophisticated than stock because bearings are more sophisticated and superior than bushings.

There is NOTHING about the roller bearing set-up that controls or affects THRUST on the cross gear. So, you still need some sort of thrust control if cross gear/mainshaft gear longevity is what you seek.

Gear misalignment due to excessive lateral movement of the cross gear is not the only factor which affect the life for the gears. Another VERY important factor is the ALIGNMENT of the gears as influenced by the machining of the housing bores and the bushings, themselves. There were, of course, manufacturing tolerances for bushing alignment and housing machining. At the outside of the tolerance limits, cross gear/mainshaft gear life can be short. For those that happen to end up very close to ideal, the gear life can be very long.

Having High Tech install bushings and jig bore them to perfect alignment "cancels out" most of the original "misalignment" that may exist.

[Joe L.]

Re: how much do you really plan to drive the car?

Mike, et al-----

A wise "old philosopher" that I know once said that the only ORIGINAL parts for ANY car are the ones it originally came with. Any other parts, even if they're exactly like the originals in every way, are nothing more than a replacement. Truer words were never spoken! For example, if it's "unethical" to transfer a distributor ID band from one distributor to another than it's equally unethical to install a replacement distributor in the car even if it carries the original part number and a "correct" date code. Such a distributor is a REPLACEMENT and NOT the original.

Sometimes, I think that folks get "restoration" confused with "religion". Restoration is NOT a religion. Period.

[Patrick H.]

Re: how much do you really plan to drive the car?

"Restoration is NOT a religion. Period."

And NOW you tell us.



Patrick

[Clem Z.]

to drill the hole correctly you need a

correct size drill bushing that fits into the bronze cross gear housing with the gear removed.this will allow you to do the drilling with a hand drill. a lot of the gear problems can be solved by shimming the main shaft up and down movement to .005/.007

[Joe L.]

Re: how much do you really plan to drive the car?

Patrick-----

Better late than never.

[Michael H.]

Re: to drill the hole correctly you need a

That's an excellent idea Clem. That would keep it on absolute center.

The reason I suggested a dril press was the fact that he could actually measure/control the exact depth of the drilled hole needed for the button without accidently going too far.