indeed helpfull topic by Dequincey; and some more tips
DeQuincey,
thanks for the detailed, picture supported, instructions. I used it yesterday to disassemble and reassemble my distributor; took me less then 2,5 hours to fix it all. As it's a daily driver, it couln't be more then a one nighter anyway.....with your instructions I managed perfectly and even had some time left for chit chat; kept the wife happy too.
The general cleaning & new lubrication indeed solved the non-stable idle and gives faster pickup when depressing the accelerator peddle. It seems that also the dipping of the revs when pressing the accelerator peddle from standstill is solved. I am actually spining the wheels now, haven't been able to do that for a month or so.
A few hints for others wanting to do thesame;
- If it's just a thorough cleaning that you require, you can do it too with the crown gear still in place. In my case the retaining pin couldn't be hammered out (drove my vice into the ground almost), so i found out that you CAN dismantle it from the top, right down to the excentric masses by just disassembling the bits.
- i actually think you can clean it to the level that i did with the distrubutor still on the block. Aside from pulling your hamstrings, it should be doable. Positive aspect is that you don't have to worry about the timing being changed, as you don't alter the relation crowngear to rotor.
- the part that you can't remove (axle with grooves and the plate with the hinge points for the masses) can be cleaned effectively by pouring solvent in the housing and spining the axle. There are 3 holes in the bottom of the housing to let out the (in my case) very dirty solvent with pieces of grit, sand and small stones. Not the things you want in there. I think they get there the same way i got them out; through the 3 holes. A cup of solvent (roughly 0,3 liter) was sufficient to flush all out and see shiny aluminium again on the inside of the housing.
- i also found the brown/black 0,5mm plate to be broken in 2 pieces, this has been discussed also in other threads i noticed. As i had no replacement/spare/donor to use, I reinstalled it anyway. No strange behaviour when driving (yet). I assume it only acts a sliding contact surface for the masses. As long as the sliding paths are not compromised and they keep their location, they should function i guess. Probably it's a low friction material to allow the masses to move as they want. It looks a lot like a PCB, (printed circuit board) by the way; those are usually glass filled Epoxy resin.
Hope it is helpfull to others.
Erik.
