OK, what's the trick to getting the Pick-up coil out of the distributor? The factory shop manual says:
1) To remove pick-up coil, remove retainer and shield.
2) Lift pick-up coil assembly straight up to remove from distributor.

Sounds simple enough......but, I dont have a retainer or shield as pictured in the factory shop manual and this thing won't budge when trying to lift straight up? What am I missing here?
Anyone have a picture of the pick-up coil from their distributor from an Iroc Z so I can tell if mine is supposed to have this retainer and shield as pictured in the shop manual?

 

you have to remove the dist and then remove the gear and take the shaft out

then you can remove the pickup coil.

 

Is it a press fit on the splines of the distributor shaft?

 

No.

It doesn't touch the shaft. The coil sits still in the housing, while the shaft spins.

The center of the coil is below the reluctor which IS on the shaft; the little "star" thing. It cannot come out with the shaft in the way.