As much as I hate to ask this, I've stuck it a hundred times and it's not down. Did a search,have done it before but not now. Have a create long block, using parts from a doner. Can't even stick it back in the original engine. Seems like both the oil pump shafts lean over and hit the dizzy gear. Took a tape to it and seems it stops when gear hits pump rod. It may be cursed or the Buick is trying to puke the SBC out. So much for "using a Chevy will be quick and easy" Any advice? And I've so far rejected "take it to the crusher"
If the shaft is too far off to one side it will give you problems. Have you tried jacking the car up to allow the shaft to center?
I always turn the pump shaft to the proper positon before trying to stab it, and it always goes in. The gear turns a bit counterclockwise as it drops in. I have a long screwdriver that I filed a line on the end of the handle in line with the blade, so I can easily see which way the slot is as I turn it.
Get a really long screwdriver and jiggle the oil pump driveshaft around or twist it a hair one way or the other. The distributor gear grabs the teeth on the cam and has to rotate and if the oil pump shaft is not lined up right, it won't go all the way down. Put some assembly lube grease on the end of the distributor shaft, and maybe that will help a little too. KJSR's idea of tilting the car to get the shaft to wobble over to the side sounds good too. There's a lot of slop where the oil pump driveshaft sits on the oil pump's shaft, so the shaft might be leaning over to the side too far to engage with the distributor shaft.
Tried jacking the car last night, glad to see it wasn't a crazy idea. I started with the pump shaft at 10 angled down toward 5 o'clock, started the dizzy 45 degrees COUNTER clockwise from there thinking the gear turned it clockwise. Squirrel, did you mean clockwise, cause I'm really confusd if it turns counter. Relieved to hear all pump shafts wobble, one less thing that could be broken. So far I've tried your suggestions, need more. Tried bumping the starter also.
If you bumped the starter, now you're not going to be at top dead center anymore. You should get it back to top dead center on the compression stroke on the number 1 cylinder and then try again, otherwise your timing will be way off, and chances are you won't get it to run at all. You'll eventually get it to drop down. Sometimes you have to try a bunch of times before it drops all the way, but it's not hopeless. I think some of the older small blocks have extra casting with a hole in it up high at the top of the block to help support the upper part of the distributor, but the newer small blocks don't have that. If you have an older block with that extra casting, and you have an aftermarket intake that has the distributor hole slightly crooked so that it doesn't line up perfectly with the upper hole in the engine block, then that might be something to look at. The newer blocks don't have that extra casting part at top. It's a little harder to get the distributor lined up in the older style blocks sometimes.
Goodwrench longblock 350, doner is 70's 350. I hand cranked it back to TDC after all my experiments. I pulled the intake last nite to make sure there was no interference, leaving it off till i figure this out.
Is there a collar on the bottom end of the oil pump shaft, where it fits onto the oil pump? stock was a plastic collar that snaps on, high perf replacement shafts have a metal collar pinned in place. This helps keep it centered. The plastic collars break after they get old.
I think you are making it way too hard. Assuming the pump shaft has a plastic retainer on the bottom at the pump , ( it does right?) Put the distributor in and crank the engine until it drops in the engine. Then re-align tdc and number one cylinder and wire the cap to the rotor position. The last one of these i seen the drive gear was on upside down...
Don't see the plastic. Looks like a 1 in. sq. piece of metal with the pump shaft in the center. Tried tapping down on it but that didn't firm anything up. Turned it over a number of times with some light pressure but never dropped down.
seem ez enuf to try another dist to see if it will slip all the way down .... while comparing every aspect of the two good luck any chance of other items binding like fuel pump rod and a differnt /incorrect cam?
this ussally will make the car run, BUT IS NO WHERE NEAR RIGHT, or even a good idea,,,ya it'll ussally run..........you have either the wrong pump shaft on it or it is plastic and cracked or steel and either burred or has been squeezed together to tight...look at the end of your dizzy...the oil pump connecting shaft is important peice..if it is screwwed up, you got no oil pressure at all 0-zip--nada...motor junk by time you figure it out upon first startup..the part in the pic by the melling is the pump side..this style is a good style because the shaft and pump are pinned together and are steel..never in 40 years have i seen this melling peice fail..the other has plastic at the melling box in..break from old age and heat..crack off alot in the cold weather with thick oil when old..notice that the shaft has a swelled section towards bottom of pic..this stablizes the shaft in the block to help prevent the problem you are having...there should not be that much slop that you have to jack up car to get it to fall to center where it needs to be...if it's that sloppy, me myself i'ld be pulling the pan and droping the pump to see whats up....or ya got a fucked up dizzy..this melling peice is generally under $20 at auto zoned out, advanced ect...your motor, do as ya see fit...this is just my long winded $.o2 worth..........
I've found a picture is worth a thousand words on diagnosing stuff over the net. Any chance you can shoot a few?!? Can't hurt! Good luck man, that sounds really frustrating.
since it seems about everythings been covered, i'll just throw out some stuff. look at the bottom of the distributor gear, make sure there isn't any thing stuck in. is the roll pin still in the drive gear? if not, maybe the gear has slid down. have the heads been milled or the block been decked? is the distributor body rubbing anything on the way down like the firewall causing the distributor to wedge against the hole in the intake?
I've taken the intake out to eliminate it. Had a new gear, replaced it with the old one even thou they look identical. Have primed the engine with proper tool, good pressure. The crazy thing is i can't get the dizzy to go back in the original engine. Now I've got to think I'm doing something stupid so I call a guy who knows what he's doing and he can't believe he strikes out also. I'm telling you It's cursed.
Are you using an oil pump for a 60's nova, chevy II? If so, you need the oil pump shaft from the same motor. I just had the exact same problem. I put an sbc in my shoebox and used a front sump oil pan. The nova shaft is shorter.
We have a winner, GMC Bubba, Russco for gear wrong and me for saying I probably did something stupid. I installed the gear at the bottom of the shaft, causing everything to stop an inch above where it should, I'll confirm later but that's got to be it.
We have had this problem when using the cheap after market manifolds. Their not cast correctly. Also some of the after market dists.
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