Here are things to check on your Chevy

[Phil Waterman]

While assembling a 261 cubic inch Chevy to install in my Pattern 13 C60S I was cleaning and checking the distributor I found two problems to check on your stove-bolt 6.

• I grabbed the drive gear and the bottom of the shaft and discovered that the gear would turn on the shaft several degrees. See photo below for what the shaft and pin looked like. This is the third distributor that I’ve found with this problem. One of the pins broke on a 216 the road in my C60S traveling along at 40MPH boy do stove-bolts start making strange sounds when they loose timing at speed. (see second photo) Moral of the story be sure to check the drive pin on the distributor or just replace the pin.
• The second thing I discovered on this distributor was that the oil groves on the shaft where completely gummed up so be sure to clean the groves on any distributor you are installing. This can be done by disassembling the distributor completely and cleaning the shaft or by injecting degreaser (like brake cleaner) into the lower shaft oil port until it runs out bottom of the shaft. (located in the lower grove on the body of the distributor) Then re-lubricate the shaft before installing.