Loose Distributer Body
 

I was working on my distributer a few days ago and I noticed that there was some electrical tape wrapped around the inside perimeter of the upper body where it mates with the base. I removed the tape and quickly found out why it was there. The upper body didn't fit snug on the base and I could actually move it around somewhat. Surely this is supposed to be a tight fit, right? Have any of you guys experienced this? Unfortunately I'm not sure if it's the base or the upper body that's out of tolerance. Would one of you mind measuring both halves of your distributer with a caliper to give me an idea of what the correct dimensions are? Thanks.

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

what you may have is a poor quality repop top from long ago (Ricks-JC Whitney)
Wick

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

I've purchased distributor bodies from Bert's, Bratton's, and Little Dearborn in Mpls. and they all had a nice snug fit to the distributor. I have seen some loose repro bodies though and I guess tape would be a good fix to keep them centered.

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

Got mine from A&L last year, perfect fit.
Paul in CT

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

Thanks for your replies, guys. I'm hoping it's just the body that's out of tolerance. Once I can verify that's the case then I'll probably replace it, assuming I can find one that's snug. The tape seems to be working for now, though.

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

I just measured two disttributor bodys I have and each one measured .993-.994 above and below the grove. One of the ones I measured is in the car ( happened to me doing some maintenance).
Hope this helps. Oh, by the way the one in the car is snug>
Cape Codder

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

The original Ford distributor bodies have a machined area where it fits to the cast iron base and they fit nice and snug. The repros do not have the machined area and are often very loose. I run originals that fit tight.

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

I got an original that had been rebuilt, but had to remove the paint and sand it down a bit to get it to fit into the head. It fits nice and tight now.

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

This is where "DISTRIBUTOR BODIES" gets confusing. I also think of distributor bodies as the main cast part, and every thing about it as the cap, but Ford calls the main part above the cast distributor the BODY, and the small round part the CAP.

I also use an original body and it fits the distributor nice and snug.

As Carl mentioned, you want the paint and rust off the distributor so it gives a good ground when it's slipped into the hole in the head.

Someone is making a repro distributor body with only ONE alignment notch, as original. I haven't tried one yet to see how tight they fit the distributor.

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

Cape Codder, thanks for taking the time to measure your distributer bodies. However, I'm not sure what it is that you measured. My upper body has a machined area where it mates to the base. When I measure the inside diameter of the body in the machined area I get 2.89" or about 73mm. How does that compare with yours?

Tom, if I'm understanding correctly what you mean by "alignment notches", mine appears to have two, so does that mean it's a repro?

Thanks for your help.

Re: Loose Distributer Body
 

When the Model B was introduced they had the alinment notch 90* from the Model A, so to allow one cap to fit both distributors they came with two notches, so the fact that your cap has two notches doesn't mean it's a repro cap. I'm always looking at swap meets for good one notch caps, but they don't often show up.

I think it's Terry Burtz making the new one notch cap.