Distributor indexing

Dedicated forum for all things electrical... Sometimes Electrical issues can really get you stumped! Not Stroker related.
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Mike B
Making Progress
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Posts: 65
Joined: September 15th, 2019, 11:05 am
Stroker Displacement: 4.7L
Vehicle Year: 1995
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Xj

Distributor indexing

Post by Mike B »

I've perused through many articles on this site about indexing the distributor and have seen the angelfire web page too. Most of it is helpful yet I'm still unsure of the proper indexing of the distributor, let me explain why with some photos.
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I've found articles covering proper indexing that use a punch in the holes of the distro to hold it in the proper position when dropping it down into the block, mine came with a plastic pin to hold the rotor where its supposed to. In the last three photos, you can see the pin in there, but when dropped down, the tabs don't align with the hold down bolt hole. I think that the distributor may be one tooth retarded in these since my cam is supposed have a 3° advance ground into it, im not sure though. If I jump a tooth advanced, the rotor centerline ends up damn near at 6 o'clock when its dropped down in, and this is why I'm a little confused. I'm about to cut the tabs off the distributor, but want to be sure of the correct positioning before I do anything else.

In the upper two photos, I removed the plastic pin so I could rotate the body and bolt it down, the black line on the body is the alignment mark for cyl #1. Does it look right to anybody?
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Mike B
Making Progress
Making Progress
Posts: 65
Joined: September 15th, 2019, 11:05 am
Stroker Displacement: 4.7L
Vehicle Year: 1995
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Xj

Re: Distributor indexing

Post by Mike B »

20201003_134916.jpg
20201003_134928.jpg
20201003_134941.jpg
20201003_135205.jpg
20201003_135219.jpg
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Mike B
Making Progress
Making Progress
Posts: 65
Joined: September 15th, 2019, 11:05 am
Stroker Displacement: 4.7L
Vehicle Year: 1995
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Xj

Re: Distributor indexing

Post by Mike B »

Well f*** it, none of the photos will show, guess they aren't necessary then.
Mike B
Making Progress
Making Progress
Posts: 65
Joined: September 15th, 2019, 11:05 am
Stroker Displacement: 4.7L
Vehicle Year: 1995
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Xj

Re: Distributor indexing

Post by Mike B »

20201003_135205.jpg
20201003_134941.jpg
20201003_134928.jpg
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Mike B
Making Progress
Making Progress
Posts: 65
Joined: September 15th, 2019, 11:05 am
Stroker Displacement: 4.7L
Vehicle Year: 1995
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Xj

Re: Distributor indexing

Post by Mike B »

It seems like today was a better day to post photos, so there are the rest of them for reference. You can see where everything rests when the distributor is bolted down. Looks close to me, but i want to make sure its right where it needs to be.

Fwiw, I did not degree the can, I just installed it per the timing marks.
Mike B
Making Progress
Making Progress
Posts: 65
Joined: September 15th, 2019, 11:05 am
Stroker Displacement: 4.7L
Vehicle Year: 1995
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Xj

Re: Distributor indexing

Post by Mike B »

Looked at the distro again just to be sure that in not missing something. I read something in another forum about the roll pin and the mesh of the gears in the distro body and how they should fall. Not convinced that it matters, but I'll post the link at the bottom and I have some photos for comparison to boot to hopefully get an opinion on what the next course of action should be.
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So following angelfires method of indexing, I scribed a line into the body of the distro, turns out currently Im roughly a 1/4" off where it should be if i bolt the distro down where it falls. The plastic pin does hold the rotor where it needs to be, so i could cut off the ear on the body and bolt it down where it should be..... or theres that link...

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/1998- ... em-234466/

Scroll down to post number four and the guy talks about how the roll pin in the shaft of the distributor should be aligned with the body and gear teeth. If that alignment is correct, then my distributor is off from the factory.

My question is would it make the difference up that I need? I know what the easier course of action would be, but if changing the alignment of the distributor is better, ill do that as opposed to cutting. I just want the engine to run right on first startup....
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Mike B
Making Progress
Making Progress
Posts: 65
Joined: September 15th, 2019, 11:05 am
Stroker Displacement: 4.7L
Vehicle Year: 1995
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Xj

Re: Distributor indexing

Post by Mike B »

Followed the advice that I had read in the one link, and also something I had found buried in the archives on this forum too. Distributor is indexed properly, dropped into the block exactly where it needs to be and no cutting necessary. I ended up punching out the roll pin on the cam gear and rotating the gear 180°.
20201017_144223.jpg
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Mike B
Making Progress
Making Progress
Posts: 65
Joined: September 15th, 2019, 11:05 am
Stroker Displacement: 4.7L
Vehicle Year: 1995
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Xj

Re: Distributor indexing

Post by Mike B »

Here's an update to this thread.

Turns out the distributor was fine. I just never verified that I was on compression stroke for cyl #1. Ended up having to swap the gear back around. Once I did that, the engine fired right up when I performed the cam break in. Had to use a compression guage to figure it out, visual on the valves was not enough.
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