Hitchcocks Forum

OK folks. I'm back, but under a different name (Previously Barry Q). Moving swiftly along.....

The oil seal behind the contact breakers has packed up and needs to be changed. I've removed the nut on the gear wheel in the timing chest, but the gear wheel won't come off. I understand it's on a taper, so I've done all of the low key stuff (Heating the wheel and then tapping with a hammer). Is thre any special trick to getting the gear wheel off?

On my 350 the seal presses in from behind the contact breaker plate.... why do you want to remove the timing gear side? I found that over enthusiastic use of the grease gun pushes the seal out, but it is easily pushed back in. I removed the grease nipple and replaced with a plug, just put a few drops of oil in now and again and has been fine for the last 10K miles....

Slight problem there. I've got the later distributor. There's no grease nipple and bushes. My distributor has bearings and is lubricated by the engine oil. At this nano-second (According to the colour of the oil that's leaking out: Brown!), I may have to change the entire distributor, at it looks like the bearings are shot.

Why not just replace the bearings? The alloy body will still be fine.

A.

Yeah. I could replace the bearings (A lot cheaper than replacing the entire distributor), but I still need to get that gear wheel off.

Because mine is the old type I haven't done this particular job, but the essence of any taper removal is to pre load the (gear, in this case) then impact on the shaft centre..... you know all this! For this type of thing I have used an air chisel with a plain end to provide impact as it is safer than the big hammer approach, but if you don't have access to one, I wonder if an impact electric drill may work with a piece if plain rod in it??

Flap on, flap off. The deed is done. I went back to basics. I undone the three screws that hold the distributor on. The three screws were large enough to press against the offending gear wheel, thus tensioning it. After consulting the Haynes Manual (As written by Jeremy Clarkson). A large hammer was obtained. One almighty wallop was all it took for the gear wheel to pop off.

The inside of the distributor was a scene of carnage. I've no idea of how water got in, but it was all rust damage. The bearing directly behind the contact breaker plate was completely shot. The spindle was badly rusted. The other bearing was fine, but it would be a wise move to replace it anyway.

Looks like our Hosts are about to get another order....

Just to draw a line under this Thread.

Lizzy the Lightning is back on the road! I decided to buy a complete new distributor, so I could get back on the road faster. My Enfield runs sweet as a nut and better than ever. I've bought a pair of bearings, so I can rebuild the old distributor at my lesure.

Haynes have never produced a workshop manual for the pre EFI models - although if they did and it was written by Jeremy Clarkson - I would dearly love to read it !