spitting oil from distrubutor new/reman engine

ok boys i dropped a remanufactured engine in the boat. i took out out on the lake today (2nd time) and its spitting oil out of the distributor. the first time out on the lake it did this and i thought the O ring was bad so i changed it and today the same thing happened. any ideas? im also having problems at idle. i.e. the boat is idling at about 550 rpms and shutting off consistently. if anyone has any thoughts i'd please let me know. its pretty frustrating.

if it matters its a 351 windsor. are the distributors keyed to fit only one way? it didnt seat well at all when i put it on and i had to used the lock down bolt to actually seat the distributor.

There is a seal missing that goes on the distributor and sometimes you have to bump the engine around to get the distributor down. Pull distributor...hopefully you didn't bend the pump shaft. Remember the gears and pump shaft have to be aligned to get the distributor down, but it should seat without using the hold down nut to pull it down.

(Message edited by johnsvt on March 01, 2009)

"sometimes you have to bump the engine around to get the distributor down"

If you mean by hand OK. If you mean with the starter NO! The risk of damage is too hi.

Alan, oil leaks can be caused by a number of things. First of all is the dist the original? Are you sure it has the correct seal on it? By you saying it is spitting oil does that mean out outside the dist or internally? Secondly is the engine properly vented? What happens if you remove the valve cover? Did you follow the proper break in procedures?

Dizzy should drop in without a lot of effort, once the gear teeth are lined up. Sounds to me like its not completely seated, like mentioned above, or the o-ring is the wrong size.

Engine shut-off: since your diz isn't in just right, I think it's messing with your oil pressure. Drop in pressure can trigger a kill switch.

And its a FI GT 40. Built on a 351W block, right?

AP, any news?

hey no new info. thinking i may have incorrectly installed the intake manifold gasket and the oil is actually coming from the intake rather than the dist. i havent had much time to deal with the boat tho. i have movers in my house as i type this packing my stuff. i may have to mess with this in a couple weeks when i get to va

Moving from AZ to VA? Ack! Good luck on the fix.

Ok man. Good luck with the move. Hit my email, got some ideas.