231 into CJ3B- Distrib ?

Building a 231 :v6: for a 53' CJ3B project. Previous owner made a failed attempt at installing a 231. BFH work on the firewall, angle iron motor mounts that look like they were cut with a drill bit, etc... The rebuilt 231 is on a stand purchased on ebay, block # 25506818 / heads # 25518445. Because I don't know what year of vehicle the motor came out of, I'm having a hell of a time finding parts that fit, ie, timing cover, water pump, valve covers. I think I've gotten passed all that because the combination that I've settled on seems to fit. A couple of years ago I found a 1977 231 even-fire distributor that I converted to odd-fire for my old 69' CJ5 with 225. I'm trying to put that distributor into the new 231 but I can't get it to go all the way in. I seems like if it did go all the way in, the dist. gear would pass the gear on the camshaft. From TDC I've tried to step back counter-clockwise in small increments to see if it would fall in but still no joy.

Also, since this is where the experts hangout, what carb should I invest in? I have a Edelbrock 5486 installed so far.

I'll post some pics asap. Any help would be greatly appreciated it.

 

Do you have the slot in the oil pump lined up correctly with the one in the bottom of the distributor? It will not go all the way tn unless this is done.

 

If you converted it to a odd-fire then it will no longer work for an even motor. To do that you had to grind off three of the points, and so at the minimum you would have to replace the shaft.

 

Good point. I knew that I had to undo the conversion but I don't remember grounding off the points. Let's assume I didn't and that I only replaced the pick-up. Why wouldn't it go into the motor? Can the shaft be misaligned or too long or short?

 

If you didn't grind the points then the pick-up should be the only thing to change. If it ever ran a OF then it was modified. That and the cap. It won't make any difference in whether it physically goes in though.

 

It never made it into the OF. I think I read somewhere that I might have to change the distributor gear. I plan on putting an Edelbrock cam in it so I don't want to change anything on the distri yet. I'm just having a hard time figuring out why it won't fall in since there is only one Disti offered from like 77-87ish, according to RockAuto. Thanks so far for the help.

 

The distributor gear is the same for the odd fire and the even fire. If the gears won't mesh correctly then there is a different issue.

 

Oil pump not installed yet. Should I try to torque down the timimg cover?