Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines distributor for '58 261

Gentlemen,
I am rebuilding a ’58 261 engine to put in my 50 Chevy 3100. The engine came from the bone yard with a later model Delco Remy distributor (1110318) for the 194/250/292 series engines. How can this be? I thought the later model 194/250/292 distributors would not work in the 235/261 series engines. I have closely examined the distributor and cam drive gears and see no adverse wear patterns. The ’58 Chevy shop manual shows a different distributor with the vacuum advance located on the block.
Very confused in Colorado Springs.

The later engines came with HEI which is better than points. These later dizzy's can be modified to fit the earlier engines, and that is what somebody has done with your engine. The vac advance on the later dizzy rotates the guts inside, rather than rotating the entire dizzy like the original did. The original vac would have been part of the hold down clamp, not the block.

I'd be very wary of the dist that may have been just stabbed into your motor from the bone yard. If the shaft does not exactly fit into the oil pump or cam gear if off you could ruin your new motor.

For my money the HEI's are super, even the Pertonix are much easier to live with than the points set up.