first of all guys. you all do an excellent job, i have learned a lot fron the post. so as the title says i cannot get the dizzy on my 350 to drop into the oil pump grooves. so that it will sit correctly on top of the manifold. i had it running for like a year then last week i switched to an eldelbrock performer 2101. the 350 has a tbi and ran fine with the stock intake. i have splayed the intake mounting holes so it mounts just fine but the dizzy will not drop. i have tried moving the oil pump shaft slightly, and a lil more and a lil more (2 full revolutions worth of inching). i tried to bump the engine over. hell i even tried to run in to make sure it wasnt already engaged... this sucks. any suggestions? i am not concerned which way the rotor faces when it finally drops .....i just want it to drop then that spot will then be no. 1 on the cap.

 

I'm guessing, giving all you tried, that the intermediate shaft is not seated in the oil pump. If you turn it with a long screwdriver do you feel the resistance of the pump?

 

Align the distributor rotor in the correct orientation. Next, slowly turn the crank with a breaker bar until the distributor seats. The dist will drop down once the drive is aligned. This is usually faster than guessing the drive rotation

 

I have even tapped the starter

 

The starter has a tendency to spin the engine over too fast for this

 

I am willing to bet that the intake could be installed to far back or forward, not allowing the hole in the intake to line up with the hole in the lifter valley of the block.The aftermarket intake, like the one you have, usually have holes of about half inch diameter for some reason, so when you use a 3/8 bolt, you can have the intake missaligned just enough to cause this problem, I know, because I spent a whole day with this problem once.

You have not removed the dist gear have you, the reason I asked, is I have seen people install them upside down, that would cause this problem as well.

I would start by getting the timing right, where the motor is at top dead center, and then point the rotor at cylinder 1, then slowly bump the starer while having someone put slight downward pressure on the dist., I have never had this method fail me, except for when my intake was misaligned!

If this fails to work, then I would remove an intake bolt, and see if the intake is far to the front or back, if so, you could try to just loosen all the bolts and slide it, but I bet it would tear the silicone at the ends, and you may just have to remove the intake, and reinstall, this time, set the dist in before tightening.

Good luck.

 

just bump the starter

 

All good suggestions... tried each one. wouldn't ya know it the intake was too far backward. after all else failed i removed the intake to check alignment and the performer intake placed the dizzy hole like 1/8 inch forward of the stock location so the dizzy drive gear was not aligned but sitting only half over the oil pump gear...so as i was turning the rotor to align the slots it was just riding. i compared the edelbrock 2101 intake to the stock tbi and the stock has a larger dizzy hole placed closer to the back of the intake whereas the 2101 has a smaller hole placed away from the back of the intake wall. So i guess they (edelbrock) says it wont work for more reasons than just the famous 4 center mounting holes alignment. thank you all for the advice. also once i replaced the tbi intake the dizzy fell in the very first time. no effort required...oh well i guess i lost out on the edelbrock upgrade . but thats ok i only lost $20 for the intake (craigslist) and a week of fustration...... but now i know.