I am about to fit the oil pump on my SV engine, is there a correct procedure to position the drive gear to ensure best rotational position for the Distributor body?
I have a 'plate' that grips the Distributor and has a vertical 'pin' welded to it. I assume that this is part of some manual advance/retard mechanism. The block has a tapped hole, beside the Distributor 'hole', that I assume is to position/hold a plate that will grip the the Distributor body to enable the ignition timing to be set.
Should my 1933 SV engine have manual advance/retard? Any photos of correct plates/clamps that should be used to position the Distributor body? If it should have a manual system, what cable arrangement should it have? where should this be positioned in the car?
John
sv distributor drive
Moderators: Ian Grace, Will Grace
Re: sv distributor drive
Hi John,
The '33 does have manual advance/retard. The timing plate should have a clamp bolt to secure it to the distributor shaft, a ball that takes the link to a similar ball on the end of the advance/retard rod for manual timing adjustment from the cockpit and an elongated slot through which a stepped bolt screws into the tapped hole you mention. The purpose of the step is so that the bolt can be tightened in the hole without the head of the bolt gripping the plate, thus holding the distributor to the engine but at the same time allowing the distributor to be freely rotated about 20 degrees - but no more. Some of these plates had a pointer attached to them, and were designed to be fitted with distributors that had a scale, marked in degrees, on the side, but I believe that these were fitted to Austin 7's, and not Minors.
As for correct positions, I don't think it is terribly important, as you can switch the ignition leads around four different ways - i.e. with no. 1 lead in either of the four cap sockets. Then you just have to set the clamp plate so that the correct advance retard arc is available - with TDC corresponding to fully retarded. I think the only thing you need to make sure of is that the oiler on the side of the distributor body is accessible.
The advance/retard lever (and I assume yours is missing entirely) should be secured by a clamp low down on the steering column and then it comes up through the firewall to the left side of your steering column clamp on the '33. Morris changed this clamp every season for the SV car - he obviously couldn't make up his mind!
When I'm setting up my ignition timing, I leave the clamp plate bolt just loose enough so that I can grip it and move it round if it is grossly out of timing - but tight enough so that it doesn't start rotating when the engine is running. Once I have it where I want it, then I tighten the bolt up.
Hope this helps!
Ian
The '33 does have manual advance/retard. The timing plate should have a clamp bolt to secure it to the distributor shaft, a ball that takes the link to a similar ball on the end of the advance/retard rod for manual timing adjustment from the cockpit and an elongated slot through which a stepped bolt screws into the tapped hole you mention. The purpose of the step is so that the bolt can be tightened in the hole without the head of the bolt gripping the plate, thus holding the distributor to the engine but at the same time allowing the distributor to be freely rotated about 20 degrees - but no more. Some of these plates had a pointer attached to them, and were designed to be fitted with distributors that had a scale, marked in degrees, on the side, but I believe that these were fitted to Austin 7's, and not Minors.
As for correct positions, I don't think it is terribly important, as you can switch the ignition leads around four different ways - i.e. with no. 1 lead in either of the four cap sockets. Then you just have to set the clamp plate so that the correct advance retard arc is available - with TDC corresponding to fully retarded. I think the only thing you need to make sure of is that the oiler on the side of the distributor body is accessible.
The advance/retard lever (and I assume yours is missing entirely) should be secured by a clamp low down on the steering column and then it comes up through the firewall to the left side of your steering column clamp on the '33. Morris changed this clamp every season for the SV car - he obviously couldn't make up his mind!
When I'm setting up my ignition timing, I leave the clamp plate bolt just loose enough so that I can grip it and move it round if it is grossly out of timing - but tight enough so that it doesn't start rotating when the engine is running. Once I have it where I want it, then I tighten the bolt up.
Hope this helps!
Ian
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Jpallis001
- Posts: 207
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:08 pm
- Location: Durham
Re: sv distributor drive
Thanks Ian - that is my job for tomorrow night. this is all that I have for the distributor plate - need to have a think + try to make something.
- distributor plate 1.jpg (46.1 KiB) Viewed 1755 times
Re: sv distributor drive
Yeah - I'm afraid this isn't the right one at all. Perhaps someone else has a spare for John???