Good evening all.
Slight mystery. I have the oil pump in and currently nipped up, the camshaft is in and the gear drive shaft for the oil pump and distributor is in with the spacer that engages the slot in the shaft and key on the distributor is in (and correctly aligned). Now, if I drop the distributor in with a gasket the key doesn't engage with the slot in the slotted spacer. If I take the gasket out it's just engaged, but sloppy.
As far as I can see, the driven gear is held 'up' by the oil pump's splined shaft - and it can't have contracted while it was laid on the bench... I have a gasket between the block and the flange on the oil pipe, but it's hardly thick enough to make a difference.
I've looked at the parts book and can't see anything I'm missing, but should there be a spacer in the pump to push the shaft higher perhaps?
If not I can only think that I've wrongly assembled the distributor/clamp/plate and need to look at that again.