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I know this topic has been covered however a search of "distributor" did not come up with anything.

When the cam/oil pump/distributor is in phase I remember reading that the distributor rotor will need to point at the 7 O'clock position. I instructed the engine builder to do this however on this engine, when the #1 cylinder is 6 degrees before Upper Dead Center this rotor points more like the 7:45 position.

I assume the only way to set the ignition timing is to loosen the standard blade screw the attaches the body of the distributor to the vacuum advance slot adjustment?

When I try to use the vacuum advance slot adjuster to set the rotor to point at the #1 pole of the cap when the engine is at 6 UDC I can only adjust the body/vacuum advance to get only "very close" to the #1 post before the adjustment reaches the end of the slot adjustment.

I was considering moving all of the spark plug wires clockwise one post however then I can only get "very close" to the other post before the slot get maxed out.

Is it possible the distributor is one tooth off?

Can I remove the oil pump and re-phase the rotor to be more closer to the 7 O'clock position???

Any suggestions/help PLEASE!!!

Here is a picture of the distributor rotor pointing at the 745 O'clock position with the vacuum advance slot adjustment centered. The two black ink marks are where the two posts of the distributor are located.

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yes, you will need to properly index the oil pump to ensure that the distributor located where you want it at the 7 position....this should be pretty much covered in your manual..

I could not find this procedure in the manual. Can someone please direct me to the proper place?

Thanks!!!!

Oil pump install: 46-50 manual, Engine section, starting on page 38 but not much detail on the distributor.

The oil pump install procedure and maybe little more detail with a couple of photos is in the 51-4 manual, engine section on page 32. The distributor is covered in the electrical section on page 20. Since your engine is not the 356 that info should be applicable to your engine also and you can download those two sections from the literature archive if you don't have the manual.

rotate the engine till TDC on number one and lift the distributor cap off so you can see where to index the distributor

keep the engine in this position...

remove the oil pump body bolts and slip from the engine and look at the oil pump gear that engages the cam for a punch mark...at this time index your distributor to the desired 7 o'clock position....now back to the punch mark....on L6 engines this punch mark should be indexed to the bottom when installing...for L8 this will be indexed to the top....this will account for the spiral of engaging the cam gear and aligning the slot for the distributor when snugged against the block...

if for some reason you should have a pump that is not marked as factory...you will still use this procedure...you just have to find the correct gear tooth offset on install to allow aligning with the distributor..

Packard 1948, I'm really surprised your search did not give you the info you need as this has been commented on and commented on many, many times. Perhaps searching on "ignition timing" would have been more fruitful that "distributor".

Yes, sure it would be nice to have the position of your plug wires the same as when the engine was factory-assembled, but you can achieve correct ignition regardless of the position of the distributor drive shaft, or the mating of the oil pump gear to the camshaft if you're willing to walk the wires around the cap to new positions. It's back to pure basics; put #1 cylinder on the timing mark (or TDC) on the COMPRESSION stroke and then note the position of the rotor tip. If it's directly under a plug wire tower on the cap, then plug wire #1 goes there and the rest around the cap in firing order. If the rotor is not quite under a tower just rotate the distributor body until it is so. Yes, it's quite possible that the vacuum advance will not be in quite the exact same position but you will achieve correct timing.

If you really want to have the #1 plug wire a 7 PM then you'll have to remove and reinstall the oil pump until you find the gear position that achieves that.

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Bill, a typo? However, -> this way it should work.

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Below show is an excerpt of the -> 1947-49 Service Repair and Tuneup Booklet. Click to enlarge.

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Yes, the oil pump can put you out of place a bit. I went through this too, see my project blog for details.
packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... at&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=160

Thanks all. I was able to back out the oil pump and move the gear what I thought was one tooth and reinstall the distributor. Of course I went the wrong way the first few times but FINALLY got it.