I noticed the other day that the distributor housing did not sit flat on the intake (even with the gasket in place). If I remove all the distributor gear shims the housing will sit flat with some additional play. However with all the gear shims removed I have around .060" of shaft end play with the distributor removed. With the distributor and gasket installed I measure roughly .015" of vertical play.

I would expect the preferred thing to do is to shim the distributor gear/shaft end play to between .012 and .015 and then shim the housing to a height that allows the distributor shaft end play to travel its entire length.

Opinions?

 

The end play should have no effect on how high the distributor sits in the housing.
How far up does it sit when properly shimmed? What oil pump and oil pump driveshaft are you using? Dist gear, and cam?

 

When properly shimmed I'm seeing the distributor housing somewhere in the neighborhood of .040" above the intake manifold seat with out a gasket.

I have a stock replacement oil pump and whatever drive shaft came attached.

The distributor gear is the cast OEM original. never been changed.

Cam is a XE262. Not even broke in yet. I just switched from the Powermax listed in my sig. I suspect i had the same issue with the old cam. It was pretty oily in that area when I disassembled it.

I also have the GMPP vortec TBI intake manifold.

The block is also a rebuilt 355. I would suspect that the machine shop squared the block when it was reconditioned (rebuilt by a local engine shop).

If the distributor shaft is bottoming out on the oil pump shaft (which is why I imagine you asked about my oil pump and shaft) then adding shims between the distributor gear and housing will increase the installed height of the distributor housing. Correct???

 

Hmm. You've got me thinking now. I don't think the dist should rest on the oil pump driveshaft, at all.

The gasket is about .040", i'd just put the little paper gasket in there and snug it down and call it a day.

Nothing you have done should remove any distance there (ie milling the heads/block a LOT, and milling the intake as well).

Check for any foreign objects in the end of the distributor. You never know...