Oakdale Precision, Inc.

OAKDALE PRECISION, INC.

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Home / Past Projects / 1925 Buick distributor

1925 Buick distributor

A customer was restoring a special version of a 1925 Buick and asked if we would be able to produce a new distributer body, timing plate, shoulder bolts, and the bushings for the distributor shaft.

The original diecast part was frozen inside the housing which mounts to the motor, and several chunks had fallen off which thankfully the owner still had. After several rounds of cleaning, the part had to be broken in two to remove it from the main housing. Additionally there is a was a timing plate riveted to the bottom of the main body which had to be removed.

The distributor was seized into housing, it had to be broken into two pieces to remove it from housing
The other half, note all the cracks in the part
original timing plate, since distributor was seized into housing they probably welded this extension on for more leverage

The parts were measured by our inspection department, initially on the CMM, but confirmation measurements were also made on the surface plate due to the poor condition of the part. The measurements were quite challenging.

initial measurements on CMM
Note chunk missing and how cracked the old diecast is

The data was fed to engineering, were models and drawings were created. Following customer approval, the job was rolled out onto the shop floor. After multiple fabricating operations, the parts were tumbled for a uniform matt appearance.

We found an anodize color that was a very close match to the original diecast color. Several test pieces were run at different coating thickness to see how thick we needed to have the coating for a good color match and still maintain dimensional tolerances. Following anodize we installed many of the original components for a fitment check.

new distributor with internals installed
fitment check with new bushing installed

We made the timing plate out of stainless (the original was steel) for a nice clean look that wouldn’t corrode and turned the bushings out of Oilite.

new distributor and stainless timing plate

The customer installed the new distributor and the car ran on the first try.

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  • Oakdale Precision, Inc.
  • 7022 North 6th Street
  • Oakdale, MN 55128
Phone: 651-730-7700

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