We'll be at the track for the race weekend next month. Just wondering if anybody else is going.

Heading out this morning for our Dega trip. We're only staying on 75 to Ocala this time then jumping off on 27 to 19. No Interstate after Ocala all the way to Dega. Stopping in Perry tonight, Mapquest says 4 hours 15 minutes so I figure 6 hours just to be safe. Still puts us in early afternoon. Then on to our favorite State Park, Wind Creek, on Lake Martin in Alabama. Then 70 miles to the track Friday morning and a lot of racing and partying. Unfortunately my hand isn't doing so good from the surgery and I'm on prednisone and antibiotics so this will be my first race weekend with nothing to drink. Who know? I might actually remember it!

That looks like a very nice State Park . We'll have to check it out .

Happy Motoring

Well, we are going to try that again. Yesterday we got almost to Tampa when I had to make a quick stop for a traffic problem and when I tried to get back up to speed the Barth just sputtered and backfired but I got to the next exit and parked in a convenience store. I called my wrench buddy and he said to check under the dog house for anything amiss while he got someplace he could vid chat with me. I checked everything and when I tried turning the distributor it moved right in my hand! I called him back and he said start it and move the distributor until it seems to be running smoothest which I did butwhen I test drove it she still backfired and ran crappy but much better so I decided to go back home and get it right. With all the backfiring out the exhaust I blew up both mufflers but got her home. My wrench came over and had it timed right in about 30 seconds, then off to O'Riellys for new mufflers and hardware. Got them in and drove it around long enough to know it was still not right. We finally got out on 41 with the doghouse off and at 50 he moved the dis until it smoothed out and picked up power. Locked it down there and he tweeked the Quad a little bit and it's running as close to perfect as ever.
So here's a question for you gearheads. Would a hard stop from 70 then restarting up to speed cause a lose distributor to turn and go out of time? It certainly seems like that is what happened. Anyway, the campground up in Perry said they would just switch our res to tonight no charge, which I thought was pretty decent of them, so we are off again. 

The center shaft of the distributor spins whenever the engine is running. The shaft has two bearings in the stem of the distributor. Inside the body of the distributor there is a plate where the electronic module and pickup are mounted, also the centrifugal advance mechanism, consisting of pivoted weights and springs. Above that, there is the rotor.

The only way the distributor body can turn is if the internal shaft drags or binds, applying torque to the body. (You are fortunate that the distributor clamp slipped and rotated or the camshaft drive gear pin would probably have sheared off.)

Possibilities include bearing siezure or an object lodging between the shaft and the body. In your case, bearing failure is very unlikely. However, it seems quite possible the hard stop may have moved something around inside the distributor and temporarily hung it up. It would probably be wise to completely inspect the inside of the distributor for anything that could have moved around. Even a plastic chip from the rotor or cap might be able to wedge somewhere...

I learned this a long time ago, when cars had points in the distributor and needed regular tuneups. The points were held down by small screws. When changing the points it was really easy to drop the screws into the distributor.

My friend Dave had a Plymouth Valiant with a slant six engine. Distributor was down low under the tilted engine, hard to get to. Dave replaced points and dropped one screw. Wasn't sure where it went. He got another screw and finished the tuneup. The car ran great for a couple days and then stopped dead. This is where I got into the story.

Inspection revealed no spark, the distributor shaft was not turning. We pulled the distributor out and found the drive gear was mostly gone. The gear was plastic, the cam gear was steel so it chewed up the plastic one.

Assuming the gear had worn out, we went to the parts store to get a replacement. Dave showed the gear to the parts guy. (Old guy, he knew his stuff.) Guy says, "Plymouth Six?" Dave said yes. Parts guy: "did you find the screw?" Dave says, "What?" "The screw you dropped in the distributor when you changed the points... it jammed it up and it will do it again if you don't find it..." (This why I miss the oldtime parts guys. Knew the parts by sight, didn't have to look them up.)

Sure enough, we took it apart and found the screw in the bottom.