Strange distributor problem...

[Rick Ross]

A friend of mine had a strange problem develop with his FM this past weekend. For unknown reasons the distributor rotor somehow made contact with the distributor cap, damaging both parts and of course causing the engine to mis-fire. This happened twice in one day. Initial inspection revealed an unusal wear pattern on the distributor drive gear, otherwise everything seems normal. I raced FM's for many years and don't remember ever hearing of this failure. Any ideas????

[starmazda]

Rick,

I have seen this happen on the Standard Formula Mazda when I was working for World Speed Motorsports way back when. This can happen when a car goes off track hard and the jarring can make the rotor hit the cap. My fun introduction to this was at a Sebring pro race when my driver Pierre Ehret went off course entering the backstraight. He made it to pit entry before the car came to a stop and it was a load of fun running down to get him and push him back to the pits. Never realized how long that pit lane is until then and was amazed at hom many pieces a rotor can break into.

We replaced the cap and rotor and had no further issues that weekend, although it did happen one more time that season after he went off course.

Eric McCombs

[Rick Ross]

Thank you, Eric. I know that the problem occured after running over some curbs, but I do not think that he went off track. When it happened to you, do you think that the distributor shaft moved enough to allow rotor contact, or do you think it was the cap that moved? Thanks!

[starmazda]

Rick,

I don't think we ever determined what shifted to cause the contact. The off at Sebring shook the car pretty hard so I'm sure a lot of stuff was moving there.