Distributor Hold Down Clamp

[Bernie]

I have an Edelbock 2101 manifold and a Mallory Unilit distributor. My hold down clamp for the distributor does not keep the distributor from moving. Does anyone who has this arrangement know of a particular clamp that works ?

[bigmac73]

do you have a pic? can you add a washer, or does the "fork section" not touch the shoulder on the dizzy?

[Bernie]

Here are the pictures. It looks like the clamp is the wrong shape. No matter how hard I screw it down it won't grip the distributor base.

[swamp rat]

I think it has been over tightened to the point it won't grab probably need a new clamp.

Do you have a gasket under the distributor? It kinda looks like the distributor isn't centered on the hole properly although i know the distributor should have a shoulder that keeps it centered.

[Bernie]

I do have a gasket. The manifold and the distributor are off the truck to fix a stripped thread in one of the holes that goes into the water jacket, so the distributor might not be centered. The clamp hasn't bent; it has ribs underneath to strengthen it and those are intact. I think that it must be the wrong sort of clamp. Is there more than one type ?

[mgchevyparts]

A flat washer or two under the clamp will enable it to gain the leverage it's missing. Looks like one of those well engineered Chinese units

[vectorit]

That clamp is one of those chromed pot metal pieces of junk.
If you flip it over, it will be cracked.

Get yourself an OE steel clamp from the junk pile somewhere.
Make sure you use a stud/nut to clamp it down, since the manifold is aluminum you don't want to risk damaging the threads.