Langdon`s HEI

[BeBop138]

I am not to crazy about the bracket on the dizzy he offers---awhile back someone made one they thought was way better---are there any pics?....Thanks

[martybose]

That was me. No pictures right now, but the distributor is out of the engine, so I'll take one tonight and post it.

Marty

[teardrop puller]

I will be thanking you too Marty.

I agree with BeBop138. My dist has been in a while and is working well, however...

kai

[martybose]

I didn't like the fact the the only way to change the timing with the Langdon bracket was to loosen it, which would lose the height adjustment, so I made up something to separate the two adjustments. Not to mention that the bracket I received wouldn't tighten down on the distributor shaft anyway!

Pictures to follow!

Marty

[BeBop138]

Thanks Marty---will be looking forward to the pics......Thanks again:)

[martybose]

Okay, here's what I did. I took a a scrap piece of aluminum, bored the center hole

a couple of thousandths bigger than the OD of the distributor, cut the OD to leave

enough depth for the threads of a couple of setscrews at 90 degrees from each

other. A word to the wise: the OD should be about the diameter of the adjustor

arm mentioned below (Didn't think of that until I was done!)

Then I took the adjuster off of one of my extra distributors that I have and

cut off the section that had bolted to the distributor housing, leaving just

the arm that bolted to the block. I figured out what angle I wanted the

arm at, then drilled a small hole through both the adjuster and the aluminum

piece, then drove in a split pin to anchor the two pieces togeter. (You can

just see the hole in the second picture on the left side where I pulled the

O-ring down a bit.

With the O-ring installed I locked the setscrews when I had the endplay

that I wanted, then can adjust timing by loosening the block bolt just like

an OEM distributor.

Sorry about the large pictures, but it was kind of hard to see the detail

on black painted parts!

Marty

[blueskies]

Marty-

Nice solution on your clamp. What did the original clamp look like?

The clamp that came with my Langdon HEI is marginal too, but it allows adjustment of the timing same as the stock distributor, without losening the clamp on the distributor...

Pete

[Don Coatney]

Pete;

Your wobble question on another thread got me to thinking again.

I dont recall if we discussed this early on but. On my big block

engine the distributor shaft is turned down in the area where

shaft passes the camshaft. I cannot remove my distributor

unless the cam lobe in this area is turned in such a way that

the shaft will clear. Is it possible that your camshaft with the

higher lift is making conrtact with the distributor shaft and

causing the wobble?

[blueskies]

Pete;

Your wobble question on another thread got me to thinking again.

I dont recall if we discussed this early on but. On my big block

engine the distributor shaft is turned down in the area where

shaft passes the camshaft. I cannot remove my distributor

unless the cam lobe in this area is turned in such a way that

the shaft will clear. Is it possible that your camshaft with the

higher lift is making conrtact with the distributor shaft and

causing the wobble?

Don-

I think you might be thinking of two different things here...

The cam drives the oil pump, which in turn drives the distributor shaft. The tip of the oil pump extends past the cam toward the distributor, so the end of the distributor shaft does not reach the cam.

The neck-down part of the distributor shaft is there for two reasons. One, is that the #3 and #4 pistons are very close together, and the skirts on the pistons would hit the shaft if it werent' so small; and Two, the crank lobe that centers on the distributor would also hit the shaft if the lobe and shaft weren't designed to clear each other.

You can see in this pic (reload your browser if it's not there) circled with the thin red line, the distributor shaft under the center crank lobe, and between the two piston skirts. It all fits in there very snug.

I think the reason you have to have your engine turned to just the right spot is so that the shaft of your distributor will clear the crank lobe and piston skirts, not the cam.

When I had the pan off of my engine to fix the wrist pin that went south, I checked the clearance of the shaft to the pistons and crank lobe, and nothing touched. I even did a test where I pulled the distributor, colored the entire shaft with a blue sharpie marker, put it back in for a few miles, and pulled it to see where the blue was worn off. The only place that had lost any marker was the tip where it sits in the oil pump.

I found that the tighter the tolerance of the fit of the shaft to the oil pump, the worse the wobble. It seems that the shaft is not perfectly in line with the pump, and was binding in the slot. I filed the tip of the shaft so that it would not bind at an extreme angle, and it got rid of most of the wobble.

Pete

[Don Coatney]

Pete;

You are correct. I should have said piston skirt not cam lobe. Silly me. I like skirts a hole lot better than cam lobes. Guess my brain created a tad of flatulance.

Seems like I should have a "w" somewhere in the above.

[anthonyb]

Back in the corner.....

[Powerhouse]

That clamp he sells with the kit is pretty much exactly the same as found on 1939 dizzys. It allows for two adjustments...one is pretty much never needed though.