Hello,

My 122 has recently been plagued with hard starts when it's cold out. It will get started but chuff along on 2 cylinders for a bit. #2 and #4 are the culprits. Anyway, I pulled the distributor to clean the FI triggering contacts and noticed that there is a bit of play in the shaft up and down. Nothing laterally. But when the shaft is pushed upward to its limit, the chopper wheel from the crane hits the optical pickup for the electrical ignition unit.

So I got to thinking. The crank spins counter-clockwise as viewed from the front of the engine. That means the cam spins clockwise. And the distributor rotor spins counterclockwise when viewed from above. But what direction are the teeth on the cam and distributor drive gear angled? Meaning, when the cam turns the drive gear, is it pulled down or pushed up through the cant of the gear? Or, when the engine is running forward, is the chopper wheel hitting the pickup, or only when it's on the kitchen tabel while I look at it? Does the engine/cam rotation pull the shaft downwards and tight?

Thanks,
Justin
70 1800E
66 122E