Re: 1974 mercruiser 140 hp NAPA parts??
Did you pull the distributor to see if the pin was sheared or if the gear was worn? I'm guessing no since you didn't mention whether the gear was messed up of if it was just the roll pin.
If the roll pin sheared your old gear could be OK, you just need to replace the broken roll pin. If the distributor gear is worn or missing teeth I would be seriously looking at the cam's distributor drive gear also, one can wear out the other.
When you're at the parts store picking up the dist gear, pickup a roll pin for it too. They should have roll pins in their bulk supplies, like nuts and bolts, etc.. The roll pin could be longer than what is required for the gear so you might need to grind it to length, grind slow and keep the pin cooled with water or an ice cube.
Do you have a timing light to set engine timing after the distributor is replaced?
As for chunks of metal left in oil pan, the only way to know they are gone is to pull the engine and pop the pan off and that would be the best thing to do. I've pulled a couple engines that had small metal pieces in the pan and the metal chunk was resting on the bottom of the pan and causing no harm. It's a roll of the dice as you could be removing the engine for nothing or keeping it from grenading. Fishing around in the pan with a small magnet could get the pieces out, but they could still be hung up in the engine and not accessible from the drain plug hole,,,, yet. Metal piece could be on top of the baffle or up in the front hump... I guess you won't really know until you see if there are pieces missing.
Oh yeah, if you do pull the engine read about engine alignment, very important and if not done you could cause further damage (coupler).
Did you pull the distributor to see if the pin was sheared or if the gear was worn? I'm guessing no since you didn't mention whether the gear was messed up of if it was just the roll pin.
If the roll pin sheared your old gear could be OK, you just need to replace the broken roll pin. If the distributor gear is worn or missing teeth I would be seriously looking at the cam's distributor drive gear also, one can wear out the other.
When you're at the parts store picking up the dist gear, pickup a roll pin for it too. They should have roll pins in their bulk supplies, like nuts and bolts, etc.. The roll pin could be longer than what is required for the gear so you might need to grind it to length, grind slow and keep the pin cooled with water or an ice cube.
Do you have a timing light to set engine timing after the distributor is replaced?
As for chunks of metal left in oil pan, the only way to know they are gone is to pull the engine and pop the pan off and that would be the best thing to do. I've pulled a couple engines that had small metal pieces in the pan and the metal chunk was resting on the bottom of the pan and causing no harm. It's a roll of the dice as you could be removing the engine for nothing or keeping it from grenading. Fishing around in the pan with a small magnet could get the pieces out, but they could still be hung up in the engine and not accessible from the drain plug hole,,,, yet. Metal piece could be on top of the baffle or up in the front hump... I guess you won't really know until you see if there are pieces missing.
Oh yeah, if you do pull the engine read about engine alignment, very important and if not done you could cause further damage (coupler).
