Distributor Advance / Retard slot

[jgbrown59]

In the process of doing some restorative work on my 59FL (owned since 1980) I found the slot in the distributor shaft housing that controls the distributor advance / retard travel to be considerably worn on the advance stop side.
59 distributor slot wear.jpg

I have the shaft housing from a 47EL (approx. 0.750” wide) and 48FL (0.870” wide) shown below. All of them have different widths.
48 dist advance gap.jpg

Over the past few years I’ve had suspicions my 59 distributor was traveling too far when retarded, potentially impacting starting (to much retard). I realize I can control the distributor travel with the cable adjustment but I’m just anal enough to want the distributor to hit its stops so I want the correct opening.

Does anyone know what the factory width of the slot is? I’ve welded the worn slot for the 59 (now 0.685”) shown below, but need to clean it up and would like to get it back to the original, or maybe slightly narrower, width.
59 dist gap.jpg

Palmer answered my question - Page 643, 3rd Revised Edition says 13/16” (0.8125”). I should have looked there first!


Since I wrote this up, then found the answer, any contributing opinions or commentary?


Thanks,


Jim

[T. Cotten]

Gosh, Jim,

The only thing that matters is how you time it to its fully advanced stop.

Most Folks find they start easier if they are not fully retarded anyway.

(By the way, HD never used a 'distributor', but Indian did!)

....Cotten
PS:
Somebody please identify this timer that's aimed back at the motor?
Its .935" at the top, so it can't be HD, right?

TIMER.jpg
Thanks in advance as always,