Morris Minor Owners Club

why does my rotor arm point to the bulkhead for no1 firing pistion?
just had an engine rebuild.
no1 piston is at tdc
the valves for no4 cylinder are rocking
the dots on the crank and cam gears are pointing together
the notch on the crank pulley is lined up with the timing chain cover for 5deg
i have connected the plugs 1342 and the engine runs.
could i have put back the dizzy drive in the block 180deg out?
the drive in the dizzy is offset so this drive in the block must also be offset as well ??
its the only thing i can think of.

It doesn't matter a hoot - the dizzy itself can be assembled 180 out, and as you say the drive can be any way round - it depends how you put the drive shaft in the block. As long as the leads can reach - it's fine.

A way to correct it....as everything else seems correct is to take the distributer out.
Reverse the offset dog teeth on the end ,by drifting out the roll pin carefully, twist the end around 180 degrees and re-insert the roll pin.Use masking tape from the the rotor arm to the side of the distributer, to stop the plain shaft from rotating.Otherwise you might find you have simply put back in the same position !
Support the body of the distributer and the shaft well before setting to with the hammer and the correct size drift.If you have to improvise ( no drift ) cut the end off of a large 4/ 6 inch nail.A smear of vaseline will help ease the roll pin back in, gentle taps.If you are too heavy handed you will burr over the end and then you will need a new roll pin.
Bob

thanks for that bob
off in the garage now

It's SO much easier to just turn the drive shaft in the block 180 degrees - don't meddle with the dizzy!

Unless the distributor dog has been assembled wrongly, I would definitely not alter its orientation, that just makes any future replacements more complicated and any of the workhop manual instructions will be useless, as will guidance from this forum, as they will assume its all as standard.

If you want to reorient the distributor, take it out and turn the jackshaft by however much you want to turn the distributor by. You will need to retime the ignition afterwards.

And in any case - to move the rotor 180 degrees within the dizzy - it's easier to simply remove the centre screw - lift out the top section - rotate 180, and reassemble........ To turn the drive shaft - use a long 5/16UNF bolt/stud - screw it in and pull. Rotate and re-insert. Try not to drop it into the engine - but at least not as disastrous as it is in a Mini...