Terry,

It may be that the oil pump was taken off your engine sometime. When it is put back, it can be put in a tooth off. If you set cylinder #1 to be at top dead center (use the timing marks visible through the window) the distributor rotor should point to the cylinder #1 position on the distributor cap. This should happen with the distributor body in a normal position. If the distributor body is not in a normal position, as seems to be the case with yours, in order for the engine to run, then I think that this is your problem.

Per

It might be because of the camera angle but they look like two different parts.

Jack Clifford used to sell O rings to replace the old gasket. Two of my cars have them since the 70s with no problems. The person who "rebuilt" your distributor might have used the wrong size rings.

Mine was leaking oil out, dribbling down block. I purchased the gasket from Wildrick, and the leak stopped.

This is not uncommon to find. A simple test will give you the answer.
As Per has somewhat described, Remove #1 spark plug, bring the engine up on #1, ready to fire, remove the dist.cap, see where the rotor is pointed?. It should be 1:00, with the spark plug wire in the same place as the rotor is pointing, as per the shop manual.
I expect someone had the oil pump out, didn't get it back where it belonged, and/or the actual spark plug wires were not located correctly to start with, and after the O-pump was re-installed, the firing order was off, and wouldn't dial far enough to make it run or time correctly. Subsequently this is what some do to "fix" the concern.

You guys are correct. I take it that aliening tool J-2794 puts the distributor in the 1:00 position after #1 is at TDC? I layed the good quadrant under the cut one and marked how much metal to remove to get the exact position without cutting all the way through. I only need to remove about a 1/16" to make it work. I know it's the cheesy way to take care of the misaligned pump to dizzy but it will have to do for now. I replaced the vacuum chamber with one off E-bay, supposedly an IAT 2023rn that has 3.5 stamped on the arm only to discover that the original chamber doesn't leak, it was the gasket under the 3/4" fitting holding the spring in was torn. There went $50!!! I did notice that the old vacuum chamber has move travel than the new one and there's no marking numbers on the arm so if I bought the wrong chamber, I can still use the old one. Doug, on your website you show the vacuum chamber spring with a piece of metal laying inside the spring. Mine only had the spring in it, am I missing that part? Thanks Terry

Terry, that round disc should be in your vac adv. Without this thick shim, it lets the vacuum advance come on very quickly, because the spring tension is much less. Too quick can and usually will cause ping and/or performance concerns. It is not uncommon to find thin washers the same diameter as the big one when removing the nut from the vac.adv.. I expect to also add tension to the spring, delaying full advance?. I have a distributor machine Sheldon Rody gave me, came from Jack Miller in Ypsilanti . I haven't had time to use it yet, but plan to in the near future. Once I have it set up and completely operational, I can probably answer questions of this nature with Data. We have lots and lots of Autolite parts and pieces, mostly still in the original boxes.

I went through a box of Hudson stuff and pulled out a used distributor from our '50 C6, it's a 4213-1 and had the disc in the vacuum chamber which I've put in the 4009A distributor. Hopefully most of those discs are the same. It really compresses the inner spring. I researched what chamber should be on a 308 and came up with 2023RN but those numbers are not stamped on the chamber itself, just the 3.5 on the arm. Does the 3.5 represent the amount of advance at a certain RPM? I've never really taken one of these apart, just threw them away when the diaphragm wouldn't hold vacuum. This sure would have been easier had I known about it when I had the body panels off for painting, access wise. Terry

The '51-'56 distributors for the 232,262 and the 308's are all the same type configuration, the only difference being the amount of advance in degrees they allow.
308 '51-'54 3.5 deg
262 '51-'54 5.0
232 '51 -'54 7.5
308 '55-'56 7.5

I point this out because all these will interchange with each other. You can play with the advance a little by installing the 7.5 in your 308. So if you are running extra timing in your 308, it will start easier because the base timing you select, modified vac. advance adds a little extra performance. I expect this is what Hudson engineers had found. I haven't checked the actual advance weights and springs for these different distributors yet, but as mentioned, I will. I plan to share that data with this forum once that happens.
Timing is really a big deal when dealing with flat-heads. It has been my experience, excessive advanced timing will develop a noticeable ping , telling you it is way to fast. TOO much timing can cause damage to the pistons, and numerous other components. If you are drag racing your Hudson, advanced timing isn't as big of a deal, but long distances and steady running down the hwy. can cause un-wanted damage.
The '48-'50 dist.is different from the others listed and nothing interchanges, advance unit, points,condenser,cap,rotor,etc., are all different.

Interesting. My 308 is a late 1955 build. I'll hang onto the old vacuum chamber as it may well be the 7.5 deg. unit even though there's no markings on the arm. I DO know the old chamber has a lot more travel than the 2023RN I bought. Unfortunately, I probably won't find out until spring as the car has now been put away for the winter. Funny how an idle problem can morph into something else. I'll keep plugging away at the small stuff in my unheated garage as temperatures allow.....sigh......

The maximum advance as marked on the arm is achieved by the notch on the arm limiting on the body of the unit. the notch is in a different position for each type.

I put the old chamber back on because ,as Geoff says, there's a limiting "shoulder" that prevents the vacuum arm from traveling too far. This distance is about half on the 2023RN chamber so I'm pretty sure the old one is a 7.5 deg. chamber. After replacing the gasket under the 3/4" fitting, the old chamber holds vacuum. The new one tested fine also.(hand held vacuum pump) I've put the distributor back on the engine and if the weather warms up, I'll start it up (It was only 4 above this morning) to see if anything has changed. final score, $50 for the 2023RN, cut my own chamber gasket, .79 for proper thick o-ring. Terry

Terr y

Something is not right.You have an IAT 4009 distributor right? If you do, then you bought the correct vacuum advance off ebay. The vacuum advance on your distributor is from an IGS. (48 - 50). I haven't fooled around with distributors in a while but I think your "rebuilder" took a bunch of old parts to make 1 worker.

Ed, I have a 4009A, no doubt it's been piece-mealed together but it ran very good up till the small idle problem started. The only part that I can confirm that's from an IGS distributor is the part I put in the vacuum chamber that was missing, ie, the re stricter valve...once again, for lack of a better term. At least I have better seating of the dizzy itself into the block (lower) . i have found several other things that were hacked in that I've corrected as I've slowly learned about Hudsons. Me, putting the piece from the IGS dizzy, puts me in the hack category too, I guess. It comes down to making due with what's on hand.

Doug, weren't you going to post your findings on distributor advance per earlier statements in this thread?  It would be nice to have information on how the vacuum advance, weights, and springs affect the 232, 262, and 308.  I am more interested in the 262 and optimizing its timing.  For example, could it be said that the later 7.5 deg. vacuum advances would be an upgrade and ease the starting of all the aforementioned engines?

Thanks,

Chris