Valve lash! My cam is supposed to be set at 10 and 10, I assume that's hot. What would you set it cold to get you in the ballpark, 9 and 9?

unless you rebuild it I wouldn't worry to be honest. In SV's case it's a little different.

edit: that would be crosshatching... lash I don't know what they want.

With an aluminum head and iron block I would subtract .003-.004". That should be close enough for cold lash. You still want to do a hot lash after you warm it up to really quiet it down. Use your old valve cover gasket to warm it up, then use your new one after you do the hot lash setting.

Y U NO UPDATE.

He's probably just having too much fun driving his rig.

Or he's dead. Anyone wanna place a bet?

Still at it. Lots of false starts and doing things in the wrong order.

I can't install the distributor - it won't slide in. It gets to a spot where the teeth are maybe an inch from the cog, and just stops. I can't find anything hanging it up, and tapping with a mallet doesn't budge it. I tried the dist from the '86 too just in case, it does the same thing. Now I'm sitting here googling instead of out working on my truck - frickin story of my weekend.

Put some oil around the distro o-ring. Make sure that you ease it in so you don't pinch the dirsto o-ring. I'm assuming that's what you're getting caught up on.

got about an inch to go before the oring

eta - now that I'm not on my phone, that's where it stops. It's a hard stop, not squishy. There's nothing inside the tube in the block, that's completely smooth. The rotor and distributor both rotate freely - the rotor teeth aren't contacting the gear, and the distributor body isn't hanging up on anything on the PS pump. It just stops sliding in right there.

There's a tiny tiny lip on the dist housing about halfway down the rotor tube, and it stops right about as that lip gets to the block. I assume that's what its stopping on, but I don't know why - it came out of there, it damned well oughta go back in. I'm getting ready to take a flap wheel to it and see if that makes a difference.

Try your other distributor and see if it goes in.

Does the 86 have this lip on it?

I tried them both and neither wanted to go, even after a good cleaning and oiling.

So, BFH for the win. Who says you can't fix a car with a hammer? I'll be adjusting the timing with a brass drift, but it's in . Off to the OReilly's now because my thickness gauge isn't small enough to do the valves, then I can throw the cover and all I'll have left is wrestling the exhaust manifold - it isn't lining up on the studs in the head, I need to figure out what that's all about.

Yeah, they both do. Both dists slide into the bad head, but show a little more resistance when that lip hits the block - it's just a slightly bigger diameter there I guess.

When I get a chance I'll tap it back out and give it just a tiny bit of love with the belt sander. It's in for now, and I'm moving on.

You know, I recall the last 22re disty was a huge PITA to both remove and put back in. I think I had the same trouble.

So, I meant to pour a glug or two of oil into the springs and rocker arms and forgot before I buttoned up the motor. Should I pull the valve cover back off and do that, or will oil shoot up in there soon enough when I turn it over?

pull the coil wire and crank it with the starter only for about 15 seconds. That should get some oil to the top end.

^this