Distributor seal replacement and FI o-rings

[BakersChoice]

Helllo all,

First off, a bit of background. In the process of changing out a head gasket, I overfilled the oil by about a quart (that Rotella is really clean looking, could hardly see it on the dipstick!). Since then the distributor has developed an oil leak under the cap and it leaked onto the exhaust until I brought the level back down to normal.

However, now as the car gets warm, it puffs and backfires, not consistently, until it has been driven for awhile. I had leaking Fuel Injector lines and had suspected that air was getting in through the seals, so I replaced the lines but could not find replacement seals at NAPA auto parts, O'Reilly, or Autozone. (I was in a time crunch and needed them that weekend.) NAPA auto parts said they had 2 different part as well as O'reilly, a set for an '81 and a set for an '82. I went ahead and got the '81 set cause that's all that was in stock, but they were way too big, they wouldn't even fit in the manifold. Has anyone ran into this problem before, I tried to identify the intake manifold and it appears to be stock to me so I don't think that is an issue. How are the seals from the online vendors? Has anyone had any fitments problems with them?

The seals I had seemed to be intact, and were not brittle, so I re-used them and just replaced the Fuel Injector lines. The car still pops and backfires when warm, so I suspect that oil is getting on the wires on the Magnetic Pickup and causing problems. I bought the lower distributor seal and o-ring to replace it, and have done some research on how to replace the seals. Just wondering if anyone else ran into a similar problem and/or has any advice for me. Thanks

[lglade]

I pulled my fuel rail to replace all of my high-pressure fuel hoses. They were cracked and showing their age and definitely in need of replacement. Anyone whose car still has its original fuel lines is probably overdue as well...but that's another story.

During the process I also replaced my injector seals. When I was done bolting everything back into place, I found one of the small seals lying on the floor under the car, and the engine was running poorly. Unfortunately I couldn't tell by looking which seal had fallen out, so I spayed some carb cleaner towards each injector--while the engine was running--and listened for the engine to rev up slightly. The engine rev'ed when I sprayed the #1 injector, and sure enough that's where my missing seal belonged. I repeated the process after installing the seal, and the car tested good this time (it was running more smoothly now too). If you think you have a vacuum leak anywhere in your system (plenum, injector seals, etc), a small squirt of carb cleaner (WD40 may work too) will point out where your leaks are.

I bought my seals from Mark and they worked great, but Autoricambi's would be good too. There are two seals for each injector: a larger one that is more of a vibration dampener and a smaller one that seals the injector to the intake. But I believe that all fuel injected Spiders, regardless of the year, would take the same seals.

Once you verify that you have no air leaks, go after that distributor. If the gap on that magnetic pickup is out of whack, your car will run like hell too.

[RRoller123]

+1 on that. Another risk factor for fault is if any of the 4 short segments of FI hose between the fuel rail and each of the injectors happens to be a tiny bit too short. The injectors are only held in place by the action of that round clamp with 1 nut at the side, and they need to seat fully in the SMALL inner seal. If the hose segment is even just a little bit too short, the injector doesn't quite reach and can have a pull resistance to it seating properly. Too long and it puts sideways pressure on the injector and is hard to get oriented properly.

[BakersChoice]

Thanks for the help. Yeah I replaced the FI lines to each fuel injector and I used the old ones to determine the length and they seated well.

How do I check the gap on the magnetic pickup?

[lglade]

You can use a nonmagnetic brass feel gauge or even a chunk of cardboard from a matchbook cover (it's about the right thickness) to set the gap. Put the car in a high gear, and with the distributor cap off, bump the car around to advance the distributor to the point where the lobe is closest to the pick up. Then use the feeler gage/cardboard to set the gap. Make sure the wires on the pickup are tucked away, so that they don't chafe, and re-install the button and distributor cap.