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MG TD TF 1500 - Distributor advance plate very loose

I removed the distributor this afternoon to reswage the top casing onto the lower/outer shaft and discovered that the advance weight plate was very loose on the rotating inner shaft - it basically wobbles a great deal as it has come loose from the center crimp fitting.

I am going to drive out the pin and remove the drive gear and pull the rotor shaft out and then reswage the upper housing and send it off to Jeff at Advance Distributors to repair replace the advance plate and for a double check on the springs and the advance curve and general overall operation.

I have never seen the advance plate come loose before - so just one more thing to check when things seem a little off as far as your timing and advance.

One question - both the drive gear and rotor seem to have very loose fit on the shaft- these should be tight I would think - no rotation when the shaft is held - am I correct on that?

Thoughts welcomed.

Thanks so much,

Jeff
J Delk

Jeff, I think you are right on concerning the excessive distributor wear. It is probably long overdue for a trip to Jeff Schlemmer at Advance Distributors. He helped make my car run like the proverbial top.
Jim Merz

Jeff, It is normal for the rotor to have a loose fit, but not the gear.The advance plate must be secured to the shaft, reswaging, or silver soldering, perhaps. As for the casting concern, he did not have a fix for this a month ago.
Len Fanelli

Jeff - Instead of sending the shaft/advance plate to the other Jeff, I would recommend sending him the entire distributor and let him work his magic on it, it's money well spent. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Thanks guys - I will be sending it to Jeff today but I will go ahead and reswage the upper casing to the lower shaft housing before I send it off.

I imagine he will recrimp or replace the central shaft plate assembly. The weights and plate look good. But I will send everything up for a quick check and repair.

I had never seen the weight plate come loose before - always new things to learn!

I remember some of the older rotors not being so loose - guess those were exceptions - this one will move 3-5 degrees on the shaft -

Jeff

Thanks,

Jeff
Jeff

Jeff,

I had your problem with the top and bottom of the body becoming loose,
I tried several times to reswage it myself, no luck. Finally sent it off to Blair Engle who had made special tooling to perform this difficult task. Ufortunatly, Blair sold his tooling to Mike Lewis in New Orleans when he retired.
My comment is: it is difficult to do yourself, let a pro who is equipped and experienced at reswaging the T distributor do it, or it will soon be wobbly again.

Install a pertronix Ignitor and remove the varying spring pressure that helps cause the wobble..
Don H.
Don Harmer

This thread was discussed on 01/08/2008

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