5.7 Mercruiser Delco distributor Shaft / Housing Exact spacing.

[JohnEG]

I pulled the Distributor and dissembled the unit as required to remove/ replace the "internal Pic-Up coil:. But i guess did not clean the shaft and now there is a lot of
Play, I can pull the rotor /shaft up and inch.
The Engine Idle fine but i guess the shafter moved up under acceleration and damaged my Rotor, I have the Shaft and Housing soaking to loosen it up.
Does any know if there is a mark where the two should meet? or how much play there should be?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Pull your distributor. Something is seriously wrong. The thrust washer on the bottom of the housing that the gear pushes on will limit the vertical movement unless something is broken

 

[alldodge]

How did you remove the pin (item 18) from the gear and did you use the correct size roll pin on reassembly?
Link is probably not your motor just same Dizzy

https://www.mercruiserparts.com/bam/subassembly/31782/1952/40

 

[JohnEG]

Thanks all: and It's the same distributor. Yes, I will be pulling the Distributor, just trying to get a heads up on what I screwed up...
I do believe when I was hitting the top of the distributor with a large Socket to get room for the locking nut something slid down.
now on the bottom, I can pull on the center shaft Assemble section and create a 1-inch gap between the gear and the bottom of the Housing.

 

[JohnEG]

How did you remove the pin (item 18) from the gear and did you use the correct size roll pin on reassembly?
Link is probably not your motor just same Dizzy

https://www.mercruiserparts.com/bam/subassembly/31782/1952/40

I did remove the pin...

 

[JohnEG]

its become clearer? The Shaft assembly can't move. The Grear holds it in place. But the Flat portion housing Plate can move where the Cap sits on

 

[Scott06]

Thanks all: and It's the same distributor. Yes, I will be pulling the Distributor, just trying to get a heads up on what I screwed up...
I do believe when I was hitting the top of the distributor with a large Socket to get room for the locking nut something slid down.
now on the bottom, I can pull on the center shaft Assemble section and create a 1-inch gap between the gear and the bottom of the Housing.

Was the gear put back on upside down? Did that on an older points delco when shimming the endplay out ....

 

[Scott Danforth]

its become clearer? The Shaft assembly can't move. The Grear holds it in place. But the Flat portion housing Plate can move where the Cap sits on

No, not unless you broke something

 

[JohnEG]

It turned out that I had a mix-matched rotor and Cap,
Thanks all for your input.