distributor wont seat

[cold69bird]

i was assembling my engine today and ran into this problem(8.2 deck iron eagle)the dist will not seat all the way down in the block--comes about .020 from seating.has anyone ran into this and if so what did you find?

[Awesome Bill]

your oil pump shaft is to long or not in the oil pump correctly or you have not indexed it correctly. If you put the safety washer on the shaft to keep the shaft in place, you will have to take the pan back off. You can take a 5/16 socket, put it on a speedy wrecnh and try to turn the shaft and pump. You will feel some drag if oil is in the engine. If that works, measure from the seat on the block to the shaft about 3/8' down and then transpose that to the distributor. That measurement will give you how much distance it is and eliminate some causes. Its and engine, it can't out think you.