Head / Distrubutor cap clearance - Help needed

[Matt Elan]

Help I've just done a trial fit of my head with he distributor in place and the head fouls on the dissy cap. The cap is a 43D type side entry on a 43D type dissy from Accuspark; the head is a Stromberg and it fouls on the inlet manifold. The head height appears to be 4.608 inches / 11.725 cm and the height of the dissy cap is around 6.8 cm, and head reast neicely on the inner top plug lead socket. The disstributor is nicely bedded into the block. Any one got any ideas? I'm not sure if the Stromberg inlet manifiolds are much lower than a Webber head? Would a 23D type distibutor cap fit on a 43D distributor, or is my cap just unnaturally high?

[billwill]

The cap should be of the side entry type. Have you got the version where the leads come out vertically instead?


<later>
Oh sorry you already said it was side entry.

Are you sure that the distributor is fully into its hole, with the gears meshed correctly into the layshaft. You should see the centre rotate about a quarter turn when you insert it as the gears mesh.

[Matt Elan]

Thanks for the comments Bill - I've just been back in the garage to check the fitting and it does fit OK - I had just plonked it in and dropped the head on top in a bit of a hurry, and the defailt position meant the cap did foul; loosening off the clamp and turning the dissy so the wire point to the rear gives me loads of clearance. So I'm an idiot for not checking before posting; but at least I'm a happy idiot now

[YellowS4DHC]

Matt, I understand your pain.

I've got a 43D distributor and the Stromberg head (fitted by the PO) and it took me nearly 45 min to figure out how to get the %$^##@# cap off. It's a tight fit, even with the side entry cap.

When I want to take the cap off, I first unsnap and then remove the two cap clips from the distributor body (they just slide off). Once the clips are off, I found it's much easier to orient the cap at the right angle to clear the manifold. The down side is having to put the clips back on by braille with the cap in the way.

Regards
Rick


'69 Elan S4 DHC
'57 T1 Speedster
'67 S800 Coupe