Yesterday i spend three hours looking for these thread posted by ked85 and found nothing, looks like it was two years ago but after a while a got tired and left. So i need an advice on how to rebuilt that. I have already a msd coil, a new pick up coil and a new modulo control what else do i need and how to do that



PS. Ineed to buy a new motor soon and i am thinking about a 3.4l from gm, but the goodwrench information i read about says the motor is for a s10 from 82 to 85 carb and if i put it in my car will be emissions illegal. Can i buy this motor somewhere else that is not a junkyard?

 

you can get a 3.4 out of a 93-95 fbody......i got mine from a local junkyard for $350.00 with the core exchange. Came out of a 93 firebird and had 67,000 on it. the only thing i had to do is use the same intake from the 2.8 and use the distributer from the 2.8

 

Did u use everything from your 2.8(sensors,ecm,injectors)or it came with it.Anyway i will check the junks around here to see if i can find something...

 

reuse what the 2.8 had, unless the sensors need to be replaced. Also, you'll need to swap over the oil filter adaptor from teh 2.8 to the 3.4.

Oil filter adapter gasket p/n: 12337894
$2.46, $2.61 after tax at dealership

 

Funny, I couldn't find my old how-to messages either!

Everything's really covered in the 82-92 Haynes book; you'll need that for removing the dist and putting the dist back in.

What ya need:
1. Pick-up coil ($15) - MAKE SURE that there is a new metal clip in the box before you leave the store! There might be more than one clip; our clips look like a fat rectangle with a hole in the middle.
2. Spark module ($60, I recommend going to the dealer)
3. "1 inch inside diameter O-ring", should be able to find these at either a "real" parts store (ones with greasy concrete floors and old counters) or maybe at a chain store- the real parts store will have a box of o-rings behind the counter; they'll sell you one. The chain store might have metal hardware drawers in their aisles with lugnuts and bolts and bleeder screws and bags of o rings.
4. White Lithium Heat Sink Grease, Radio Shack, $5 for a little tiny tube
5. Tube of engine assembly lube from an auto parts store, they only come in one size tube (large) but they're only $3.
6. Timing light to check your re-installation (alternative- ask a garage to do this step)


But when you get the dist out, here's the key points:

Under the cap you'll see the reluctor (6-spoked disk that spins when you spin the dist gear) and the pole pieces (6 spikes). Spin the dist gear- you may or may not "feel" pulses. Anyway, you've got to clean up the "air gap" between the pole pieces and the reluctor disk. You need a $5 "valve feeler tool", which looks like a pocketknife with multiple swing-out blades of different thickness- any auto parts store has 'em. Pick a thin gauge blade; doesn't really matter which size. Slide it between a spoke of the reluctor and a pole piece. Flex the pole piece "in" towards the middle of the reluctor so the feeler gauge blade gets sandwiched. WITHOUT spinning the dist gear, repeat this for the other 5 pole pieces. Now spin the dist gear. You should really "feel" those pulses as you turn the shaft. As you spin the gear, watch the reluctor disk- it should NOT hit the pole pieces!

The reluctor disk's spokes and the pole pieces might look rusty. If there's a ton of rust, lightly scratch it off with some fine grint sandpaper (like, 320 or 400 grit). The reluctor disk is a magnet that's attracted to the pole pieces. The pickup coil "senses" these pulses, and tells the spark module to fire. SO, it doesn't matter if the reluctor spokes and pole pieces have light surface rust. Don't go all crazy polishing them up!

Now put on safety goggles. Knock the dist gear's roll pin out with a hammer and punch. (You may want to make a mark on the dist gear and dist shaft so they go back together the same way; it's up to you.) Remove the gear, it just slides off. Don't lose the roll pin! Now pull the shaft out of the top of the dist. With your safety glasses still on, pry the old metal clip off the top of the dist that holds the pick-up coil in place. (An old pickup coil looks like an old disintegrating yellow piece of paper. New pickup coils are bright white!) That metal clip will fly across the room; be careful.

Now unbolt the distributor module. Wipe the distributor mounting base clean of the old heat sink grease. Apply an even coating of the Radio Shack white grease to the dist base. Also apply a thin coating to the metal bottom of the new spark module. Bolt the new module to the dist, remember not to overtighten the screws.

Put the new pickup coil on the dist. Make sure the pickup coil's wires reach the 2-pin "inside" connector of the spark module, and hook the two together. (It doesn't matter which way the pickup coil's connector faces, or which wire goes to which terminal.) The hard part now is to put on your safety glasses and gloves again, and clamp the dist body in a vise. You need to install a new clip to hold the pickup coil in place. I clamped my dist by the dist housing's shaft so the dist faced "up". Then I laid the clip over the pickup coil, and used pliers with the jaw semi-open (to clear the center hole) and pressed "down" on the clip. It's a pain.

Remove the dist from the vice. Find the original o-ring on the dist housing's shaft- it'll look and feel like hard black plastic. It'll be between two raised chunks of metal. Take a screwdriver or blade knife to it so it snaps. When you get the o-ring off, "flex" it backwards- you'll see a million little cracks in the rubber; this is how the oil leaks happen. Rub some motor oil on your new o-ring and slide it into place on the dist housing.

Wipe some assembly grease on the distributor shaft. (Note: Karl (KED85) suggested using high-temp synthetic grease) Slide the shaft into the dist, and re-attach the dist gear to the dist shaft by using the roll pin. Make sure when you tap the roll pin back in (with a hammer and punch) that the roll pin doesn't stick out of either side of the gear.

And then use the Haynes book to reinstall your dist. When the dist is back in, use a timing light to make sure your timing is dead on.

TIP: It really helps removal/installation of the dist if you first, before ya do anything, turn the engine so the #1 piston (frontmost passenger side) is at TDC of compression stroke.

TIP #2: 85-89 motors might find difficulty with pulling the distributor out of the car, even with the 15mm hold-down-clamp bolt removed. Look near the base of the distributor where it goes into the engine. There is the cold start injector plug near the base. Squeeze the metal clip of the injector plug "inwards" and pull the connector straight off. The dist should now pull up easily. Don't forget to reinstall that connector when you're done!

TIP #3: Cover the dist hole with a rag after the distributor's out so you don't drop anything into the hole.

That's really all there is to it! It's like changing a fuel pump- most of the work involves getting the distributor (or the fuel tank) out of the car. Once the distributor is out, it'll take you 15 minutes to rebuild it!

 

ok i almost got everything, the only thing that i screwup is the clip that is not inside the box and the modulo that i got it at pdq auto parts they are both from a company called standard.

 

Ouch; that factory clip will be hard to re-use. Mine bent all to hell when I removed it.

The Standard company is alright; they do make a ton of replacement parts, but I've already had one Borg Warner distributor module go bad. I replaced it with another, since it was the weekend and the dealer was closed; but next time, it'll either be a GM module or the $60 Holley 891-103 module. Just be sure to use the Radio Shack heat sink grease on that module to keep it happy!

(I'm not a fan of Borg Warner parts, especially since their "lifetime warranty" fuel pump only lasted two years!! )

I've also considered keeping a spare module in the car... yeah it'd be hard to change out on the highway, but technically, it can be changed without pulling the distributor- and if I was 100's of miles away from home, it'd make sense to do in a parking lot.

 

TomP thanks for the info. I did what u wrote and the car is now responding very fast, i know that because i can fell it. I went to autozone and got another one with the clip.I'll do what u said and keep the original one in the car.It is set at 10 degrees, and guess what when i took off the distributor it had oil all over it, the O ring was like a molded plastic very hard. I took a look today around it and saw no oil around.....:lala:

 

Glad to hear it! And yep that's exactly how my old O-ring was; felt like black plastic instead of soft rubber. Karl (KED85) said that a V8 chevy's distributor gasket will work, too.

 

Ok I brought one back from the dead! I was searching on TomP for the distributor rebuild. It was such a massive improvement on my car that I wanted to post his info on my website. TomP I hope this is ok? I also used many of your disc brake rearend info and put it on my site as well! Gave you credit on both!

But in regards to anyone else doing a distributor rebuild...here is one more thing you should check:

Distributor endplay!

Here is another distributor problem we found to also be true on mine!

Well now we are trying Joe’s theory of spark scatter. He thinks the endplay in the distributor is too much. Well an aluminum body distributor should be shimmed to 0.012" to 0.015" of end play. Cast iron body distributors can be shimmed to 0.005" to 0.008" of end play. Our 2.8 distributors, and most GM distributors made since the early 60s, are aluminum.

To measure endplay...You stick a feeler gauge between the upper part of the dist gear and the factory shims
(they have interlocking teeth); mine was about .030! You could pull back and forth on the dist gear and watch the rotor move up and down. This can cause spark scatter, which often shows up as timing that jumps around a lot. Moroso makes a shim kit for all GM/Delco type distributors to tighten the endplay (ours was less than $5 with tax); Mine is now set at .012.

Not a bad result for 20 minutes time; well worth it, esp if you're doing a distributor rebuild anyway. Just check the endplay (distance between dist gear/fact shim and housing) with a feeler gauge, knock out the pin and remove the gear, and then experiment with the Moroso kit until you get it perfect (the supplied shims are different thickness’). A feeler gauge, if you don't already have one, is about $5...the Moroso kit is even less. Moroso shows the gear kit as #26140, with 5 shims? Summit wants $3.95.

 

Hey Tom, I thought you were married or engaged by now?
SO MUCH TIME TO TYPE!

When I did my Distributor rebuild, I used what was on a guys bench. Including grease, synthetic axle grease.
In my distributor instance, I had no end play for which to shim.
Tom is right about the reluctors (?). Ya want them, tight, BARELY touching
IF too close/hit the spinning pole, tweek slightly outward. You do want them really closely spaced.
Do note that the reluctor is aged metal and can break if ya experiment TOO much.
The distributor base is greatly enhanced by using a small block Chevy distributor gasket down there. Apply Black RTV (a film, not gobs) both sides of gasket, insert over distb shaft, also use that new "o" ring gasket & your leak problems will be gone!

Now compliment your Distb rebuild with new T Chain & balancer snout repair sleeve & you're in great shape.

ICM
I went thru 6 of them due to a faulty alternator.
I FOUND ZERO ZERO difference between
GM
AC Delco
Standard
Borg Warner
Frederich
Notice I went thru only four brand names. Some bought twice.
I now am using a $28 ICM from somewhere and a freshly rebuilt alternator.
Most I paid was like $52, least is the $28 now in there.
Car runs great.
Choose your weapon!

Sorry my Distributor rebuild article got lost.