dist. play (back lash)

[DAVE JONES]

Well its time for a question for the pro's agian. I have a 70' 340 with a mopar elect. dist from 73 (tang on bottom of dist shaft). I took it out and dissassebled it to clean it up. Put it back together and now I definantly have one problem and possibly another.
problem 1...I cant get it started and there is backfiring and fire. before I took the dist out the eng started right up and ran. When I reinstalled it i put it back in the exact location and I didnt rotate the eng at all when it was out. piston is at TDC, timing marks align properly, rotor is pointing at 1 on cap....all exactly where I took it out. I know that I'm not exactly perfect but i did scribe a small mark to get the dist very close to when I took it out. I dont run a vaccume adv line at all and my initial was set at +16 adv with 36 total.
There is no way I could even put my dist in 180 because my wires are short and i wouldnt be able to hook them up at all.
I never took any of the wires off the dist cap and even double checked them again as well as all the wires that go to new but proven plugs. Thats it for problem 1.
Problem 2 (possibly)...during my reinstallation of the dist i notice play in the dist shaft...not bushing play at all but where either the tang slips into the gear or the gear meshes with the cam gear. I took the dist out and I can move the gear manually my hand against the cam gear. I dont know if this is really a problem or not. it seems to me it would be because my dist shaft has about 8 deg total backlash rotation. i would think this would play hell with my timing and keep it moving around. I dont feel that this is causing problem number 1 but I wanted to ask you all your opinon on the back lash condition as well. the tang on my dist shaft does not look worn at all but i know that my back lash concern may be a dule problem if there is excessive play there too. if this backlash is really a problem please give me direction on which way to go. thanks again to all you guru's that respond. I'll keep in touch with all on my findings for both problems........DAVE

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[wedgehead]

First check the blipper wheel. You probably need to take it off and turn it over and reinstall it. Check it by getting #1 up to your advance setting @ crank of 8 deg. With your dist. set to where you made your mark, the blipper wheel should line up directly to the pickup coil to fire #1 cylinder. If it doesn't then flip the blipper wheel and reinstall it. Repeat the procedure to verify this. Wedgehead

[BillyBob]

wedgehead,
Have you ever heard of a guy named "roundman" from you area, supposedly he is super on carb work?

[440trk]

Dave,
When you re-installed the reluctor (8 point star shaped thing), did you set the pin in the "clockwise" rotation location, or the "Counterclockwise" rotation location? Since Big Blocks and Small Blocks rotate in opposite directions, there are 2 possible pin locations on the reluctor. Make sure you used the one for the small block. (which I believe should be the clockwise position)

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Mike (440trk)

[Speedy#1]

I was wondering when you set the GAP did you use a non magnetic feeler gage?

[DAVE JONES]

Thanks so far for your replies. I did set the gap correctly with a plastic feeler gage and the reluctor is on correctly. when I reassembeled the dist the pin was still on the reluctor because I never took it off. Every thing is the same as it was when I first took off the dist. I did notice that I do have another problem though. I have alot of play in my intermediate shaft. I took out the gear and shaft and the gear looked ok but the shaft is real rough and has alot of wear. I would say there was aprox .015 of play. I dont think that this is directly my problem cause it used to work ok but I do know that I have this problem and I'll have to fix it. I'm still open for opinions or direction for either problem.
thanks.......DAVE

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[Jimmy]

...sounds like your 180 out to me? The dist shaft can turn inside the housing when it is out of the motor, so you can be 180 out with your wires all still reaching. If you haven't tried already and your sure the wires are in proper firing order, I would pop the cap, lift the distributor up and turn the rotor 180 and drop 'er back into place. Your cap will still fit without removing the wires. Good luck!

~Mopar4ever