I had removed the cam pulley and found that the indexing pin was totally destroyed. My only guess as to the cause is that the cam pulley was not tightened properly once upon a time. A cheep fix may have been to over tighten the cam pulley bolt since it seemed very tight. It was still not tight enough to prevent a 30 deg rotation.

As a bonus, I noticed that one of the beveled washers is missing, the one between the crank gear and the engine. Double bonus, channel lock teeth marks and resultant burrs on the crank gear.

I had success removing the remains of the pin by using four different drill sizes in a right angle drill attachment. Since the roll pin is a hardened spring steel, there was a risk of drill end breakage. I’m sure there’s a better way. I managed to stay with drill bits that were smaller than the hole diameter to avoid reaming it out. A #9 drill bit (.196) fits in the roll pin hole very snugly. The maximum pin length should be no longer than .83 inches.

Since I’ve gone this far, I’ll be rebuilding the distributor, replacing the valve hushers, the three front seals, and the belts.

Below is a photo of the cam, pulley end, broken roll pin. You can see just a bit of the broken roll pin.



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Tom F Two and a quarter 940s. Lien holder on two more (the kid's). Rust in pieces, '78 245