I'm putting back together my "slow turnover when starting" 1.9L
(http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind1205A&L=vanagon&D=0&P=64115)
with a ground crank and donor case. By far the hardest part so far has been
getting the distributor drive shaft re-installed.

With the engine at #1 TDC and the shaft aligned correctly, it would only go
in about an inch below the block surface. Fiddling with rotating the shaft
or the crank only produced heart-breaking grinding noises and some brass
shavings on the edge of the thrust washers. (Arrg, what have I done?)

My assumption is the thrust washer was hitting the drive gear teeth, keeping
it from going in fully. I was able to install it without the thrust washers.

My solution was to lower the washers in to place with a dental pick (very
risky, I'll admit). The shaft then went in easily like before with the final
alignment matching the picture in Bentlys. I quickly bolted the distributor
in place, vowing to never do this again, and rushed in to message the
collective to see if I'm crazy or not.  Do I need to take this motor apart
again just for the pure joy of it?

Thoughts?