RE: a quick weekend trip

[Kinkos Whitehall <kinkos-emain@ee.net>]

> Melissa & Jim wrote:
> >
> > >From: Kinkos Whitehall <kinkos-emain@ee.net>
> >
> > >sure enough, dist. loose again.  Now I was
> > >wonderin'.  I knew I tightened it THAT time!  Pulled the dist out &
> > >looked at the clamp (after a couple minutes of headscratchin'  ;)to find
> > >that it was bent up a little...just enough to make it so it wouldn't
> > >stay tight, but not really enough to notice when I swapped the dist
> > >earlier in the week.
> >
> > This clamp is commonly bent by people who overtighten them.  With a good
> > vice, a hammer, a punch, and a pair of pliers you can straighten yours.
> > Once straight, put a flat washer between the spacer sleeve and the clamp.
> > When tightening, don't get carried away; when you can no longer twist the
> > distributor by hand, it is tight enough.  Force yourself to quit.
> >
> > I don't envy you your trip experience.
> >
> > Jim
 
I checked it all out & swapped clamps after I got home (try buying a new
clamp in Columbus, OH.everyone acted like they'd never heard
of'em...hadto get one from a guy down the street who had a ghia in the
back yard ;), the clamp had been bent for some time (it had a hairline
crack, too,and you could see that it had been there a while), fact is, I
had to use the next size open end wrench to tighten the clamp, and I
could barely get it tight enough...
The whole thing would have been dealable had I not had most of my
fastback with me (a real set of tools woulda helped, too : )!!!
Otherwise it would've only taken me about 20 seconds each stop!!!
Definately not enviable...but it was worth it to get my car back home.
At least I knew enough not to let it go very far off time before
readjusting...that coulda gotten REAL ugly!!!
 
 Topher
 '70 Squareback
 '68 Fastback (organ donor)
 kinkos-emain@ee.net