4. If my early model engine got out of time, how do I reinstall the Prestolite distributor?

If it is known for certain that the distributor has been previously installed in the best orientation, the distributor can be reinstalled with the rotor pointing in precisely the same direction. However, if the "oiler" tube and the hold-down clips for the caps face in an awkward direction, or if the orientation of the rotor prior to removal is not known, you'll have to start with step one.

1) Turn your engine over until you have the number one cylinder (nearest the flywheel) at top dead center of its compression stroke. This is most easily done with all the spark plugs removed so that you can turn the flywheel by hand. Hold your thumb over the first spark plug hole until you just begin to feel compression. At this point, the roll pin in the center of the flywheel should be roughly horizontal. Continue turning (counterclockwise) until the roll pin is vertical.

2) If your old distributor is still installed, remove the cap, and note the direction in which the rotor is pointing. It should be pointing directly aft. The distributor will work in virtually any orientation, but the oiling tube, distributor cap retaining clips, etc. will not end up in convenient locations.

3) Disconnect the distributor lead to the negative terminal of the coil, and remove the old distributor by removing the 1/4 X 20 retaining bolt holding it in place through its timing adjusting bracket.

4) Remove the timing adjusting bracket from the old distributor, and re-install it on the new distributor. If the new distributor came with an adjusting bracket installed, you can ignore this step.

5) Install the new distributor, making certain that the rotor ends up pointing in the original direction, or directly aft. Rotate the body of the distributor until the alignment notch is directly under the tip of the rotor. This will be the location of the number one spark plug wire.

NOTE: The following step only applies if an Ignitor (electronic ignition) is being installed.

6) Connect the red lead to the positive terminal of the coil and the black lead to the negative terminal of the coil. This step is very important, since the Ignitor module is very unforgiving of reversed polarity.

7) If the distributor is being reinstalled after replacing points and condenser, connect the points lead from the coil to the negative terminal of the coil.

8) Connect the primary ignition lead from the "ign" terminal of the ignition switch to the positive terminal of the coil.

9) Connect a 12 volt (continuity checking) light across the positive and negative terminals of the coil, and (with the ignition switch on) rotate the body of the distributor slowly and a small amount in each direction until the light is observed to be going on and off. Stop at the point that the light has just gone off, and tighten the adjusting bracket at the base of the distributor to hold it in this location. The point that the light has just gone off is the point that the spark will occur.

10) You should be able to start the engine at this point. After the engine is fully warmed up, and under load at your favorite cruise RPM, loosen the adjusting bracket and once again, rotate the distributor carefully a small amount in each direction to determine if the RPM increases. If the RPM does increase, tighten the adjusting bracket at the point of maximum RPM. If RPM stays the same, retighten the bracket, as the timing is already at the place where it should be. - Updated: April 15, 2004