As you will soon find out I am not a mechanic...I'm a "wanna be." I've contacted Dave about a new electronic ignition conversion for my 67 Camaro...I'm not sure he is used to dealing with someone that is as ignorant as I am about distributor conversions.

Anyway...I'm guessing I send in my old distributor for him to work with. My quesiton is...how do I do this? I've never taken a distributor off before. I know that the plug wires need to go back in exactly as they came out but how do I mark the wires to know their proper position when the new distributor returns? Any tips would be greatly appreciated as I am going to attempt this on my own.

Those wires will flow in a CW direction looking down on the cap and follow the firing order 18436572.

Your left bank or drivers side cylinders from frt to back are 1357

Right bank or passenger frt to back is 2468

Step 1 is to determine they are indeed landed thusly.

Step 2 is to make a mark on the distributor body in-line with the center of the #1 lug on the cap.

Then just yank the wires and pull the cap. Pull the plugs and rotate the crank by hand until your TDC mark on the balancer lines up with about the 10 or so. Then look at the distributor rotor to see if it is lined up with the mark you made on the body. If it's not go abother rev on the crank until it lines up. A dose of salts here ok? Stuff may not line up quite absolutely perfect.

Then put your plugs back in. Then take air and clean around the base of the dist because you don't want crap falling in your engine.

Then get a 9/16 wrench and remove the clamp at the base of the distributor. Then twist and pul the distributor out, slow and watchful of the direction the rotor will spin as you disengage the gear and make a mental note of where it pointed. Stuff a clean rag in the hole and put a plastic coffee can or something over it. Close the hood and don't turn the engine until you get your unit back and it will drop in and fire off if nothing moved. Going from points to electronic there will be a slight change but should still bust off if you stab it at #1 on the distributor body.

btw howdy fellow okie

Those wires will flow in a CW direction looking down on the cap and follow the firing order 18436572.

Your left bank or drivers side cylinders from frt to back are 1357

Right bank or passenger frt to back is 2468

Step 1 is to determine they are indeed landed thusly.

Step 2 is to make a mark on the distributor body in-line with the center of the #1 lug on the cap.

Then just yank the wires and pull the cap. Pull the plugs and rotate the crank by hand until your TDC mark on the balancer lines up with about the 10 or so. Then look at the distributor rotor to see if it is lined up with the mark you made on the body. If it's not go abother rev on the crank until it lines up. A dose of salts here ok? Stuff may not line up quite absolutely perfect.

Then put your plugs back in. Then take air and clean around the base of the dist because you don't want crap falling in your engine.

Then get a 9/16 wrench and remove the clamp at the base of the distributor. Then twist and pul the distributor out, slow and watchful of the direction the rotor will spin as you disengage the gear and make a mental note of where it pointed. Stuff a clean rag in the hole and put a plastic coffee can or something over it. Close the hood and don't turn the engine until you get your unit back and it will drop in and fire off if nothing moved. Going from points to electronic there will be a slight change but should still bust off if you stab it at #1 on the distributor body.
this could be a sticky

I would not pull the wires from the cap, just pull the cap off the distributor and lay it on top of the rag that you've got over the carb. (you did put a rag there ,right?) I have better luck pointing the dist rotor straight forward, then when you go back next week or next month that's all you have to remember. it's straight ahead when it's fully seated. (as long as no one turn the engine with the distributor out)Make a mental note of where the vacuum advance is pointing also.


Jeff

Might I add that if you bend the end of a Standard Box End 9/16th's Wrench will make Distributor removal and adjustment much easier :o

Make sure that you are on the compression/firing stroke when coming up to 10 deg. before TDC. If you aren't, you will get a big back fire when you try to start your car. #1 TDC is EITHER firing for #1 (compression) or firing #6 (exhaust) stroke.

For all the more they cost (less than $10), go to the local auto parts store and buy a distibutor wrench. Here is one version, but there are others: http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/kti70600.html

If it is running well now, I'd use a piece of tape on the intake or valve cover to mark the direction the vacuum advance unit is pointing. Then I use a second piece of tape to mark where the rotor is pointing (unless you want to try to bring the engine to Top Dead Center on cylinder #1 before you pull the dist).

Here's a photo of a properly-oriented distributor, the firing order, and correctly-indexed wires in the cap towers. :)

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2002-2/13522/dist2.jpg

:beers:

Wow, you guys are realy complicating this one up!

It don't matter where anything point right now, not one bit. Take the cap off, and lay it on the carb (on that rag, right?)

Put a mark with a sharpie on the top edge of the distributor body exactly where the rotor is pointing.

Put another mark on both the bottom of the distributor shaft and the manifold where the distributor makes contact.

DO NOT disturb or crank the engine until the distributor is back in.

When you go to drop it back in, feel the gearteeth. Line up the bottom marks at the manifold as best you can. Rotate the rotor 1 tooth counterclockwise from your upper mark and drop the distributor. It won't go all the way down, and it won't exactly line up.

Crank the engine for a few seconds. The distributor will be all the way down now. align your lower marks and tighten.

Hope you didn't forget the gasket. Follow Dave's instructions on how to do the wiring.

Dave will offer to lightly polish or fully polish the housing at no extra charge, and it looks so sweet it is hard to say no (unless you really want to mark the body like Jim says, or if it is a numbers distributor you want to preserve).

I got the light polish on mine...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/ekammerer/114_1431.jpg

Didn't affect the numbers much (yay 68 big car dizzy)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/ekammerer/114_1438.jpg

I'm not sure any markings on the housing itself would survive Dave's cleaning and rebuild.