KA24 Distributor wont install, head gasket replaced
 

Okay im sure you've seen my emissions removal thread, that was a precursor to a head gasket replacement.

Now, when I pulled the head off, I noticed that the old gasket had been cut off right at the front timing chain cover, I said "WTF ghetto rigged shit!" and continued, I ended up putting my cometic on and returning the felpro I bought. the head was smooth and not warped. Reintalled everything to FSM spec, timing is right where it was at before I tore it all down, I know without a doubt it is correct.

I noticed, that the upper cover does not sit flush with the surface off that head, maybe a few mils up or so, After all was said and done, the last thing to do was reinstall the dizzy. It would engage up to the O-ring, then stop. I read that the old hardened O-ring can stop it, so I cut it, it broke like plastic. I thought sweet we're good, no. It still wont go in.
We ended up putting the bolts on and tightening them to pull the dizzy in, and it wont start. there is fuel and spark, and everything was done correctly as to hooking everything up, grounds, connectors etc etc. After along hair pulling hour I pulled it out and called it quits. I've been doing research and I've seen a few threads that talk about the cover not being machined to the head. I mean the dizzy fits into that cover and if it's raised, the dizzy will be raised.

So that's where I'm at at this point,having the cover machined, because it makes perfect sense. The kid I bought it from said someone rebuilt it, they put the gasket on, reinstalled the cover, and had the same problem with the dizzy, so instead of fixing the cover, they cut the gasket off so it would fit.


There's my story. Feedback/yelling/screaming/riots/nudes would be be appriciated.

Did you have the head or block machined? The block has to be machined with the front cover/oil pump attached.... engine building 101.

Friend of mine had the same problem when we replaced his head. The head had work done to it but the front casing didnt. The case NEEDS TO BE MACHINED. Not exactly so though. We put the casing on a table grinder and ground it down. Dizzy popped right in after we did our own ingenuity and we didnt have any problems aligning.

Cant he just trim the gasket and use RTV there or is that a bad idea for some reason (other than not being correct lol) ?

Good info though I never thought about that....

Also when you fix that issue, pay attention to how the distributor rotates when you insert it...they have a bad habit of spinning out of alignment as you put them in. I spent a solid 2 hours trying to figure out why my car wouldnt start with fuel, spark, and everything working lol.

I dont see why not. Most of us use rtv on the front casings when mating straight to the block.

Yeah you're right, I mean that's how my car was setup even before I bought it. Even though there was something wrong with the head gasket in the first place, I had overheating issues like a MF'er until I removed the thermostat. But it never leaked oil from there. The car is already together and I don't want to even try to cut the Cometic gasket. Even if it was a felpro I still wouldn't want to do it. Just for the sake of doing it properly I'm going to go ahead and machine that cover. I'm glad you've been in that situation KRUKED that really gave me the information I was looking for. My buddy is gonna come over tonight and measure how much needs to be taken off, and I'm gonna give him the cover so he can take it in for me.