DragStuff

Hey, I'm here to ask opinions on a situation I need to remedy. Seems I don't have quite enough clearance for my large cap distributor and I'll need a 1/2" of extra room on the firewall. However, rather than take out the ol' trusty hammer, I don't want to beat on the paint job that has been applied to my engine compartment. Any ideas on how to tastefully gain that additional needed 1/2" of room for the distributor cap with smooth results without marring and screwing up the paint? The interference is right on a bend and since the cap is round, the interference point is very small so the clearance doesn't need to be over a large area. My thoughts are to rig up a po' man's port-a-power witha bottle jack and use some sort of smooth surface for pressure application. Any other ideas?

We have an inductive heating pad thats designed for separating panels that are glued together .It will heat the metal without hurting the paint.We have used it for the same thing your trying to do. If you can get something like that you can form the metal without making dents or cracking the paint.

sc racing wrote:We have an inductive heating pad thats designed for separating panels that are glued together .It will heat the metal without hurting the paint.We have used it for the same thing your trying to do. If you can get something like that you can form the metal without making dents or cracking the paint.

Good idea. I can see where that would be a handy item for your business. That bit of technology might be out of the scope of tools I can access. How hot does the pad get?

How 'bout if I heat up a big hammer?

It can make metal turn red if you leave it long enough but normally you dont need it that hot. I think your biggest problem even with a port-a-power is cracking the paint. If it cracks just put a Dragstuff sticker over it

Get a dist with a smaller cap?

Bowtiestang wrote:Get a dist with a smaller cap?

That is an option but, I'm so close with the large cap unit that I don't need a whole lot of room to make it fit. I'd like to stick with the large cap if I can for the increased accuracy.

Plus Mike Im sure your talking about making the crank trigger distubuter that uses the ford cap to fit? I wouldnt want to use a smaller cap on a nitrous car like yours. When you start pulling all the timing out to spray it on a small cap you would be more prone to a misfire. I would make the big cap fit. As far as how to do it Mike Im not sure. Knowing me Id use a hammer lol My 2 cents Sam

TubbedTruck67 wrote:Plus Mike Im sure your talking about making the crank trigger distubuter that uses the ford cap to fit? I wouldnt want to use a smaller cap on a nitrous car like yours. When you start pulling all the timing out to spray it on a small cap you would be more prone to a misfire. I would make the big cap fit. As far as how to do it Mike Im not sure. Knowing me Id use a hammer lol My 2 cents Sam

Yep, crank trigger distributor. A hammer isn't out of the picture yet. Got the engine back out to provide a lil' workin' room. Couldn't get a full swing even with that itty bitty small block in there. Just lookin' for some ideas on how to protect that expensive "Rustoleum" and still get the clearance.

How's the repairs to the coolest car in MAKO coming along Sam?