Okay, Distributor Replacement total confusion....

D

dwarren

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So I bit the bullett and bought new Delco EST Voyager replacements to isolate for loss of RPM's on both motors. Both engines had LH rotation firing order stamped on the block. Port side replaced just fine. When I went to the starboard side, I noticed it was wired for opposite (LH) rotation but was stamped 18436572.

I'm so lost now. Rotor turns same way as the port side so am I okay putting in the same distributor type? i've done this before but can't remember if I ran into this.......
 
what engines what drives/transmissions

Looking at the harmonic balancer, what direction does the it turn?
 
1984 454 FWC. Engines are def turing opposite rotation.
 
Alright then, the dist still turn in the same direction so start with #1 and go counterclockwise with the firing order
This will give you the correct firing order of 1,2,7,5,6,3,4,8 for a clockwise turning dist
 
So did you purchase a LH and a RH Delco EST Voyager replacement? Need to pull the old and compare the gear with the replacement prior to attempting the installation of the replacement distributor.
 
The gm dist turn in the same direction ,clockwise even with a reverse rotation motor. Only the crankshaft turns opposite
 
My last set of LH and RH Crusader 5.7's eventually had the Voyager kits installed . They were the standard LH(CCW engine) and RH (CW engine ) Voyager versions because we knew the engines were counter-rotating. Of course the rotor shafts turn CW on both engines .

That's pretty odd your RH rotation engine has the LH firing order cast on it. Could that possibly have been a rebuilt engine at some point? Or could someone have incorrectly thought that engine's distributor shaft turned CCW and installed plug cables sequentially CCW from #1?

Here's a diagram of the LH & RH engines firing order :
https://www.google.com/search?q=LH+...w=1200&bih=559&dpr=3.13#imgrc=7XDK4K-25Ppt3M:

As long as you are sure the existing cabling was correctly connected for a RH engine with reverse firing order, still going CLOCKWISE around the cap, you might check with the retailer who sold you the 2 standard versions to see if perhaps just removing the existing RH engine distributor and swapping out the bevel gear with the gear at the bottom of the Voyager EST will suffice.

If those gears are identical except for direction of cut , it's just a matter of using a drift to tap out the securing roll pin , swapping bevel gears and reinstalling the roll pin.

You wouldn't be able to install a LH Voyager on a RH engine without changing the bevel gear since the bevel is cut in the opposite direction.
If a distributor set up for a LH engine goes in all the way without changing to a RH bevel gear , it's a LH engine.

As I'm sure you know: ignore prop rotation since transmission/reduction gears can reverse output in some cases. The flywheel/crankshaft rotation is all that matters ...(viewed from flywheel end ).
 
I've done several 84 454's and just dropped the new distributors in, keeping the wires on the cap in the same order. All I did was check what wire the old rotor was pointing at and putting the wires in the same order and the rotor pointed at or near the same wire as before. If you take the old cap off without removing the wires and only remove the wires when the new distributor is in and you know what hole the rotor is pointed at or near you will have no problem. Just re-time the engine. I got the whole job done in like 15 min. after getting access to the engines.
 
Thanks all, sounds like I should be able to use the same dist on both engines. Unfortunatley, the boat is in the boatyard for what will most likely prove to be a bank/credit draining fix (knowing my luck). I will absolutely keep you posted.
 
I don't believe the same exact distributor can be used in a RH and LH rotation 454 power plant.
 
My 88's absolutely needed two different kits, don't know if earlier versions are any different. Doubtful, as mine was the last year with points and condensers. The gear at the bottom was visually different, maybe they just retrofit on a different gear and put a different part number on it for opposite rotation?
 
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