I bought a new distributor with an external coil, to replace my in-cap unit. Well I was cleaning and testing it before I install it and the cap/rotor have some buildup and corrosion on them so I was going to just get a new set for it. Well I couldn't figure out how to get the rotor off. Does it come off?

 

I better respond before Vader digs this up in 4 years....

Just pull.

 

I already tried that

 

Eat some spinach.

Tap it with a rubber mallot. Heat it with a hair dryer. It just slides off, but can sieze up. If that don't work, snap the rotor off and cut off the remaining plastic. Slip some anti-sieze in there when you put a new rotor on.

 

Ok I finally got the stock rotor off, only after soaking it down with some liquid wrench. It was totally rusted on there.

Is there any way to test the ignition module to see if it's good? I looked in both my chilton and haynes' and they only tell how to test the coil...

Also, I noticed some small holes with screens in them in the bottom of the distributor. It seems like these would let moisture up into the distributor (a bad thing). Should I seal these up with grease or something?

 

Didn't spend any time reading it, but the chart in this post will probably show how to test the module.

The screened holes are vents, they are to let the moisture OUT as the engine bay/distributor heats up.

Only problem you will have is humidity, supposedly the "vented" distributors (as opposed to the earlier HEI that doesn't have vents) allow for longer change interval of the cap/rotor. You have humidity issues either way, so having those vents is not doing any harm.