[Mgs] engine question

[Paul Hunt]

There are two parts to this, one is the insertion of the drive gear into the 
crankcase, which can be done in as many ways as there are teeth on the gear, 
and the other is internally to the distributor as the two halves of the 
shaft can be assembled in either of two orientations.  John Twist has given 
instruction on how to insert the gear, but to do this the engine has to be 
turned to a particular position, and if you are going by the timing gears 
the Workshop Manual is confusing and Haynes is incorrect.  No 1 piston has 
to be at TDC on its compression stroke, and going by the timing gears (e.g. 
if the rockers and pushrods haven't been installed yet)  the cam gear dimple 
has to be top right and not adjacent to the crank gear dimple, i.e. one full 
turn of the crank away from the positions for installing the gears and 
chain.  With that done, or looking at the rockers, Twist says:

"Thread a LONG 5/16"-24 stud into the centre of the distributor drive gear 
(find the stud in the air cleaner assy, twin SU models). After THROUGHLY 
CLEANING AND GREASING THE GEAR AND HOUSING, drop the gear into the engine, 
keyway offset below horizontal, large half of the driving dog upmost, with 
the keyway 9:00 to 3:00. As the gear drops into place, it will rotate 
anti-clockwise and set in at about 2:00-8:00. The rotor should then face 
1-2:00."

So the distributor should be assembled the same, i.e. with the dog aligned 
with the gear slot, the rotor should be point to 1 to 2 o'clock.

No gasket between engine and bellhousing, their shouldn't be oil in there to 
keep in, and there are other holes letting stuff out (and in) anyway.

PaulH.


----- Original Message ----- 
> Another issue is the distributor...how do I ensure it is correctly
> oriented and not 180 off?