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My '51 300 with 327 engine stalled out and died on me recently. After some inspection I removed the distributor cap and found a good amount of fine metal shavings in there. The shaft doesn't seem like it has any play in it. Cap and rotor are new from Max Merritt so I should have the right ones. Any suggestions as to causes or solutions?

If the upper busing is truly OK what about the centrifugal advance mechanism and weight pivots. The weight pivots need a drop of oil or some light grease on occasion. Some distributors have a felt pad in the top of the shaft under the rotor which also needs a few drops of oil. I believe that felt takes care of part of the advance mechanism. Some distributors also have a bearing in addition to the felt and that bearing needs a bit of light grease. Anything that has been running dry in the advance area could be the source of powdered metal. The cam lobes need a very light coat of grease on the surface to lube the point wear block. If the block has worn the dwell or point gap should have changed.

What are the shavings, brass, steel, aluminum? Metal posts inside the cap OK? Rotor tip?

HH56,

I have lubricated all of the points mentioned recently and the advance system seems to be working as it should.

Owen,

Upon further inspection the shavings seem to be from the contacts inside the distributor cap. Looks like the rotor has been making contact with them. The end of the rotor is worn too.

There is no side to side play in the shaft/bushing. It does kind of seem like the rotor doesn't fit very snugly onto the shaft. Is it supposed to sort of "snap" or "click" onto the shaft? Mine just seems to lightly sit onto the shaft. It is very easy to remove the rotor. I could almost see it being able to move around on there but I'm not really sure.

No snap, no click, but it should fit snugly. Some rotors have a steel shim in the pocket to insure a tight fit. Were all the cap posts scraped or just those on one side of the cap? If the latter, how about the cap, was it properly centered in the distributor body before the clips were engaged?