dbreese Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Car has not been started since FEB of this year. I have been doing some re-wiring under the dash and taking my time. Finally got it done today and fired the car up with no issues. Backed the car out of the garage and was checking under the hood for fuel leaks/water/vacuum leaks. Then this happened The cap split open. I determined that one of the screws that held the rotor had backed completely out and that the other was loose. The the rotor got cocked inside the cap and the above photo was the end result. No damage to the stator or pickup or shaft. This is an MSD 85551 pro billet unit. Never seen this happen but thought I would post the aftermath and remind y'all to check the tightness of the screws that hold the rotor to the shaft. Gonna order a new cap and rotor and use some blue loctite on the screws. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreese Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 Sorry the proper spelling should be distributor! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam (Bones) Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 never seen that happen before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footballubet Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Never saw that trick before. Luckily that's all that happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Richey Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Wow, will definitely check this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Peters Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 I have seen a broken motor mount cause that. By the distributor hitting against the firewall. rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreese Posted December 26, 2015 Author Share Posted December 26, 2015 Well I ordered a cap and rotor through Orelliy's( they matched Summit and no charge for shipping) Picked the cap up and on the way home noticed the cap had a crack. Must have happened during shipping. Returned it and they ordered another kit. Going to pick it up today. The distributor hold down is tight and the shaft has no excessive end play. As far as motor mounts They are solid. I hope they aren't moving.LOL I will post back later with the results. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Wow lucky you caught it early. Definetly looks like loose rotor screws or excessive shaft play. A second cap with a crack, makes you wonder. How old is the damaged cap? Possible manufacturing defect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreese Posted December 28, 2015 Author Share Posted December 28, 2015 Hey Steve, It was the cap and rotor that came with the distributor when new. Was in the car maybe two years. I'm almost certain it was loose screws in that holds the rotor on the shaft that caused the issue. No excessive endplay in the shaft. Housing is tight. Now if the cap/rotor kit would come in. With the holidays it still not here. Hope it will be in tomorrow. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreese Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 UPDATE; New cap and rotor installed. I put some blue loctite on the screws that hold the rotor to the shaft and tightened them down. Re-installed the plug wire and fired the car up. Everything is good. Set the timing at 35 degrees( locked out). Now waiting for the weather to clear so I can clean her up and hit the track next weekend. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FASTSS454 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Did you have the trans out? I have seen this when guys pull the trans and let the engine tilt baclk and the cap hits the firewall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreese Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 No Sir. I haven't had the transmission out since 2011 IIRC and I was running a different distributor then. It was definetly loose screws that held the rotor on that caused the issue. Shame on me for not checking. Never had it happen before BTW I really like your SS. Not many real ones left. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FASTSS454 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
502ci Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Did you have the trans out? I have seen this when guys pull the trans and let the engine tilt baclk and the cap hits the firewall. A mechanic did that to my car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreese Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 Track update; Went to the track last Saturday. Air density was ok around 1600 feet. Humidity was high (70 %) and ambient air temp was around 64 degrees. First pass was 11.90 at 113 mph fuel pressure was 6 psi at the top end. The car felt lazy and the sixty foot was 1.72. Got back to the pits checked everything over things. Saw nothing wrong, pulled a few plugs and they looked good. Waited for the car to cool down and made a second pass. Another 1.72 60', 7.54 at the 1/8 and 11.75 at 99mph (on the brakes not realizing I was in the traps). Well I was aggravated and knew the car should be running better than it was. It was just lazy all the way down the track. I called it a day and hung out with some friends that were running their cars. Today I pulled out the timing light cranked the car up and let it warm up. I shot the light to it and started laughing. I thought I had set the timing at 35 degrees BTDC(locked out) well it was at 25 degrees. When I original set the timing, after replacing the cap and rotor, I had an old set of contacts in my eyes and my vision was not the best. New contacts I see much better now. So if ya want to slow your car down pull 10 degrees out. Dang I'm stupid!! David 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.