Damaged Dist Gear

[FreeBeeTony]

Installed new bushings/gear and installed w/ grease on the gear and spun over a few times. Pulled dist for inspection, looked like cam gear made contact w/ entire dist gear. Finalized the install, approximated timing and she fired right up. After setting timing, idle came back to where previously set. All seems well.......ran out of time for a test ride, S/B fine though.

 

[Lou C]

Thanks for the follow up, learned a lot following your build Tony!
I have a question for the pros on here...
I'm thinking ahead, that I may need a new long block eventually (old raw water cooled block with 2 reman heads installed last year). What I am curious about is this:
can I use the old points distributor, on a new GM marine 4.3 Vortec? reason being I like to keep the OMC ESA system working as designed, and if I changed the dist to electronic then I have to find an ESA that works with it, or wire it like a Merc. But I'd rather keep what works in place....

 

[Bondo]

can I use the old points distributor, on a new GM marine 4.3 Vortec?

Ayuh,..... I can't think of any reason it wouldn't work just fine with a points distributor,......

 

[Lou C]

That's what I was thinking but wondered, if any change was made to the cam gears/dist gears when they switched from Pre Vortec to Vortec…
I am one of the few who does not mind points, because you can easily get parts, no electronic mystery boxes that can become NLA over time...

 

[achris]

... What I am curious about is this:
can I use the old points distributor, on a new GM marine 4.3 Vortec? ...

As long as that distributor came from a 4.3... If it came from a 3.8 (229), then no. The 3.8 had uneven firing....

Chris...

 

[Lou C]

Thanks Chris!
Hey Tony, how did yours turn out? Our season is winding down but I want to get a few more runs in.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

As a matter of fact I just came in..........was going to troll a bit in the state channel and all of a sudden the pitch of the engine changed. I was idling at the moment the went to throttle up and it didn't sound right. I made it back to the dock around 2800RPM. While troubleshooting my last problem and checking compression, I noticed 1 plug seemed rounded off and wouldn't fully tighten.........when I got back to the dock tonight I went directly to that plug and it was VERY loose, wiggled in the hole.......I was able to remove it with my fingers.....the plug seemed to be very lean. Bought a new plug, going to install tomorrow and retest if the weather is OK.

 

[Lou C]

Ahh its always something, this morning the wind on the North Shore is howling, there are whitecaps in the harbor behind where I live...no boating today!
Why do you think that plug loosened up? How are the threads on the plug?
The dist gear issue, that worked out OK?

PS I finally solve a low voltage issue to my dash wiring and ignition system...that's been dogging me for a few years...I thought my voltmeter was just old and reading low....because I had 14.3 V at the batteries with the engine running....well...pulling out the ign switch to test....that old voltmeter was 100% right! I had battery volts at the Batt terminal, but 10-11 V at the ignition terminal with the key on..... I went through the dash harness, every connection could find nothing corroded or loose....there may be a few connections behind the engine that I have to check....
I solved it temporarily by running an additional 10 gauge wire to feed the fuse box, from the battery switch common terminal, fused at the common terminal.... now I get battery volts at the volt meter...before I was getting like 10-11 V with the engine off, ignition switch on. Engine on, I get 14.3V on the gauge just like at the batteries.....
And, the engine starts and runs better, smoother...etc....a good thing to check on old boats if you run into an operational issue...that normal fixes don't work for.....my ignition system was likely getting starved for voltage because I didn't believe the dash gauge....