swaping a distributor

Well, my 2a's started running like a dog, lots of black smoke :( I think (hope) it's just mixture/tuning.

On inspection, I noticed that there was no pipe from the advance/retard screw adjustor thingy that sits on the dizzy, not only this, but a chunk of metal missing off the end of it, meaning that it could never be connected to the carb by a tube.

So. I went over to my mates farm, where I very thoughtfully had placed a spare lump and ancillaries (for sale if anyone wants a S3 engine/gearbox) and extracted from this a distributor (in good nick) and a zenith carb (in reasonable nick)

The idea is to take the distributor off, change it for the spare and if that fails, change the carb too, If I take out the dizzy with 3 bolts, i noted a sloted "groove" on the bottom that keys into somewher in the engine. now this has to fit the slot, if it is 180 degrees out I assume it won't work right... correct?

I'm worried that I'm playing with something that I know nothing about :) should I be?

Any advice for a clueless clot about to change a distributor?

Cheers Spozz

If you can turn the engine until it is sitting with piston one at TDC about to start the firing stroke (rather than induction stroke) the distributor should go on easily. I broke the mountings for one by not following this advice, but i'm not altogether sure how!

Do this by removing the rocker cover and all of the spark plugs (to make the engine easier to turn.) Insert a length of wire into cylinder one (through the plug hole), rotate the engine until this wire shows you that the piston is sitting at the top of its stroke. Look at the valves for this cylinder... if they are not closed then you need to rotate the engine one full revolution until the piston is about to start a downwards stroke with both valves closed (firing stroke), and adjust the engine so that the piston is at TDC.

I hope this is of some use to you.

Jamie