33 Coupe Engine Install 8        9/12/03

The gear is held in place by a roll-pin and has to be knocked out. Here I'm using an 1/8 straight punch to remove the pin. I put the distributor on a couple of 2X4's to get it off the bench to keep it from getting damaged. 
 

 

 

The new gear is made by MSD and comes with a new pin so I will be using it. The old one was still in good shape but because it was new.....why not. You can see the end of the shaft that has been machined which is hidden by the gear. This part of the shaft drives the oil pump when the distributor is moving. In other words, as the camshaft rotates, the cam in turn drives the distributor and oil pump. 
 

 

 

I slid on the new gear and placed the new pin up to the hole. I used a 3/8 diameter punch this time to press the pin back in. The reason for the larger punch is because it has a larger area on the bottom where they make contact which helps in not slipping off the pin while hitting it with a hammer. I went slow here and only hit at a time, then repositioned the punch and then hit again. The last thing I wanted to do is hit the soft gear and ruin it. This whole gear swap only took ten minutes and was easy. Hummm....I wonder if I missed something because I didn't run into any problems. Nope....got lucky this time!!
 

 

 

The next thing I'm going to do is change the timings advance curve. This distributor doesn't have a vacuum advance like most do. Instead it has what's called a mechanical advance. The advance curve is very adjustable with the aid of different springs and bushings. The springs that were installed by MSD are the heaviest ones they make and will make the timing come in to sloooooowwwww. I want things to happen sooner so the springs have to be changed.
 

 

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