Peculiar distributor/distributor gear seating problem

[Relyt]

My distributor is not seating into my distributor gear.

The 205T that came in my 69 kept shifting timing, when I investigated I had to push down on the shaft to get it to engage. Pulling the distributor showed there was a lot of slip in the shaft, assuming this was the problem I got in contact with Bill here for a rebuild (because he’s the go to guy).

I wanted to get the car up and running again so I pulled a known good SVDA out of a running car. The distributor would not engage the distributor gear, I tried the clamp from the running car Incase the other one was to bent up but still no good.

So I pulled the fuel pump/base flange (breaking the flange but I expected that and had an extractor ready), then pulled the distributor gear, luckily I was able to retrieve both washers from the case as well.

Since I was using a known good distributor I am thinking the distributor gear is too low and needs to be raised up.

Perhaps the washers are old and worn? Maybe something else is worn needing more washers?

Am I on the right path or is there anything else I could be missing?

Thanks In advance!
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69 Beetle - Daily driver
1600 SP (unknown history)
30 PICT 1 w/power circuit (Volkzbitz)
205T (Bill)

[Pruneman99]

I think your distributor drive gear may be drilling into the case and sinking.

IDK if there is a standard measurement that it should sit below the case surface, but there should be.

You can measure the shaft length of a OG distributor, then measure how far the drive sits below the case surface. What's the difference?

VW would use a thick spacer there if the case was damaged like that when they did engine rebuilds.

Why they didn't use a bottom shim with a tab to keep it from rotating is beyond me. Maybe because it's usually not a problem? If the shims kinda grab the bottom of the drive and start spinning, the mag base will get ground away and it will sink the drive deeper in the gear.

You can try to stack some shims to take up the slack and hope they act as a thrust bearing as intended, or just go crank fire and omit the distributor drive altogether.

[Multi69s]

[Relyt]

[Relyt]

Here is a picture of what the distributor gear seat looks like, don’t know if anything can be seen from it.
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69 Beetle - Daily driver
1600 SP (unknown history)
30 PICT 1 w/power circuit (Volkzbitz)
205T (Bill)

[Pruneman99]

I don't see anything that looks especially troubling except maybe the bore itself. Is it rough and chewed like the picture makes it look?

The brass gear looks good. Can't tell if the thrust surface has been milled lower, from the straight down view.

Reinstall the drive with the shims you have. Make sure it's seated and measure down the bore with a ruler. Measure the distributor to see how long the shaft is. Subtract. There should be some difference, but not much. I can't remember the spec off hand.

But if it's more than the dog ears are long, you found the problem.

You are using a hold down clamp with the proper thickness right?

[Relyt]

I may be able to get time to work on it Wednesday and get all that information. I assume the clamp is the proper thickness, but I’m going to pick up another OE VW clamp just to make sure as I know they tend to get tweaked over the decades, and the one that came on the car is pretty beat (I then tried with a good straight one).

Thank you for your advice so far!
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69 Beetle - Daily driver
1600 SP (unknown history)
30 PICT 1 w/power circuit (Volkzbitz)
205T (Bill)

[tasb]

[quote="Multi69s"]

[Relyt]

[quote="tasb"]

[Relyt]

I went to reinstall the distributor gear but could not get it to install with the thrust shims on as they kept hitting the brass gear. It easily slid in without the shims.

I got my shipment of parts and the old shims were exactly the same size as the new ones including thickness. The old ones were more beat up though, one had a slight ridge on the end that could be felt with my fingernail and the other was slightly warped in one spot.

I installed 4 shims, as by my measurement that would let the distributor engage but not bottom out. I used a long screwdriver to slide the shims into place and nudge the to where they were supposed to be. The shims fell into place as if there was a recessed area for them. The distributor gear slid right into place (though it is off center despite my efforts for it to go in right), but I think I will leave it alone for now so I don’t risk dropping any of the shims in.

I will need to keep an eye on it, I may need to pull the engine sooner than anticipated.
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69 Beetle - Daily driver
1600 SP (unknown history)
30 PICT 1 w/power circuit (Volkzbitz)
205T (Bill)

[Pruneman99]

Did you measure?

[VW_Jimbo]

Briefed through the posts. I have never seen a stock parts distributor have issues when installed, like that. The common issues I found all related to the clamp being worn out. Could it be a worn out clamp or too thin of one? Empi makes a lot of shit, and has for 60 years!
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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[Relyt]

[Relyt]

To clarify the measurement it was don without shims as I couldn’t get shims to install while on the distributor gear. The running engine I barrowed the clamp and distributor from is sitting at 1 14/16 inches with 2 shims. 2 shims are measuring at .049 inches so the distributor gear in the one I was having problems with was sitting little over 1/16 inch deeper then the other engine.
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69 Beetle - Daily driver
1600 SP (unknown history)
30 PICT 1 w/power circuit (Volkzbitz)
205T (Bill)