I have these little rubber rings on the bottom of my MSD distributor...well one of them broke...what are they for and do I need them? Can I put it back in with the broken one missing?

 

I dont know anything about distrubutors, but my guess would be that they keep the oil from pissing out.

 

Take them off, in the MSD directions, it say if the block has been chamfered to use them, if not however, they will be cut installing it. I tried using them without chamfering and mine looked the same way once I took it out. I never seen any difference in oil pressure with or without them.

 

ok....but what the hell is "block chamfered" how do i know or can tell if my block has had that or not?

 

The chamfering is a slight tapering of the edges of the distributor hole in the block so that there's no sharp corner there anymore to tear the O rings apart when you install the distributor.

 

Agreed- you definitely leave them off if using a standard/unmodified block.

 

yeah I did that...but what if I leave them in? what will that do?
like what does it do if you have them in a un-modified block anxd vise versa

what the point of the ring?

 

If you leave them on, they'll just get torn up again when you install the distributor, unless you modified the block.

Some people use O rings should be used to stop the miniscule amount of pressurized oil that leaks around the distributor shaft. On the other hand, some people say that oil is necessary for lubricating the distributor gear, and actually grove the distributor to increase the amount of oil there. In practice, neither really seems to be necessary.