Re: Two questions on my '50

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2011/3/26 22:47:55

Not exactly sure about your particular unit, but the Auto-Lite distributors are really very finely-made precision units, a bit more elegant than the Delcos in their usual use of a ball bearing rather than just a slider joint for the vacuum advance motion. If yours has that when you take the breaker plate out of the distributor body, just a bit of screwdriver pressure at a few points around the perimeter will separate the two plates. Then clean the bearing and repack. Seen lots of them with ancient, dried up grease and dirt, but rarely seen one that required replacement unless it had long contact with moisture.

No first-hand knowledge on whether the sheet was glued to the top of the box, though I don't recall anyone else saying that it was.

PS - if your distributor or generator and starter are missing their little hinged-cap oilers, they are readily available from any good machine supplier like MSC, and probably McMaster. A couple of sizes and styles but it should be easy for you to determine which ones you need. You can also still buy the grease cups if that's what you have an need a new one. Very inexpensive to buy new.