Ok, I pulled the cap off, and removed the wires... I pulled the hold down clamp and bolt out.. now how do I get the distributor out? I always thought it just slid up... I pulled, but no give! So what's the deal?

 

there should be a bolt and a c clamp i think...check it out! where it gose into the block

 

Thats the hold down bolt, right? I got it totally out. I stood on the idler arm and pitman arms, and pulled for all I was worth - no go. Any ideas?

 

um.... maby its seased up! dont know ..is your motor a tdc..maby that makes a difference did you try a crow bar yet? try that!

 

Yeah, I spun it around a couple times... no go, still. I'll try a crowbar, see what happens.

 

crow bar sould do the trick..puts some *** behined it!!



crow bar
:hail: :hail:

 

No go on that front, either... I'm gonna pull the damn hood off (need to yank a fender off anyway) and squat press that thing out. If that doesn't work, I'll hook the cherry picker to it!

 

o my *** the carrry picker man your crazy.. haha

 

Yeah, hell, the hood is off... . lemme get some pics.

 

No hold down bolt or clamp...

 

Driver's side of the distrib...

 

And the passanger side (where the hold down bolt is)

What am I missing??

 

After pullng the hood off, and sitting on the plenum (feet up the windshield) and pulling for all I was worth... we have this -

 

Um, ok, after parading around like I'd pulled Excaliber, now I gotta know (since I pulled it out) what is this giant hex shaped rod coming out the bottom? I take it it's the oil pump rod... um... is there gonna be any trouble dropping the rod back in tomorrow morning? Also, I'm going to pick up a new pickup coil tomorrow, as well as a brass cap/rotor combo to complete my ignition tuning (timing chain gets replaced, too!)

 

please post pics of the picup coil swap..bc i will be doing mine soon...thanks. chris

 

Yep the rod is the oil pump drive.
PUT THAT BACK IN NOW!
Next refer to my distributor rebuild article.
This is a bloody simple misson.
All one does is clean (sand paper the shaft by hand & brake cleaner-spray lots of brake cleaner down the distb housing to clear out goop-then let air dry or blow out dry), lube (axle grease film on shaft), check tolerences with eyeball, feel (stick shaft back in housing, move up & down to lube all stuff in housing with fresh grease) & hearing (listen for binding).
Slip back in pin in bottom.
Add new "O" ring & a small block chevy distributor gasket, a bit of black rtv (film on gasket), insert,
START ENGINE.
THEN bring engine back to TDC, break off the timing cover.
PS Be aware of bad harmonic balancers! BE PREPARED to have to obtain a good used one.
Your car will be rewarded with new power & smoother idle & better milage, too!
WORTHWHILE PROJECT!
ADD NEW WATER PUMP TO THE MIX, too! It's in your hands as you remove the timing chain stuff.
Be aware of timing chain housing damage, corossion water passages.
ALSO take brake cleaner to the distributor hole, to remove any left over rubber or film, etc.....
LET THIS AREA DRY OVERNIGHT.

 

Shoot; I wish I saw this before you went through hell, but...

The "interference" was the electrical connector for the cold start fuel injector. Before you drop the distrib back in, un-clip the injector's connector. Squeeze the silver metal wire-clip "in" to the center of the connector, and pull the connector "straight back", it'll come off easily. I had to do this on the junkyard car from which I pulled a distributor from "as a backup" in case I screwed up my first rebuild. It took me an hour or so (man I felt stupid) before I noticed that connector was in the way. I removed the connector, stood on the engine, yanked the distributor up- and out- and scraped my hand on the cowl- and almost fell backwards off the engine! I also had to unclip the connector to get the distributor out of my '86 Firebird.

I prefer to check & adjust the gap between the reluctor and the pole pieces with a valve feeler gauge. Adjust them as close as possible WITHOUT TOUCHING. Before you do so, spin the distributor gear; it'll probably spin without resistance. Then adjust the gap. Then spin the distributor gear again- you should "feel" the magnetic pulses very strongly; meaning, you "helped" by fixing the gaps.

 

I've got her all back together... pics in a second... just gotta find some damn heatsink grease to go ahead and mount the ignition module!

YES! there was almost no pulse.. now good strong pulsing action. I'm liking it

yeah, I found that connector, too. I removed it (Comes out just like the fuel injector plugs) and then sat on the engine and pulled it out. Talk about stuck! I may rebuild this every 10k miles or so, just to be sure it doesn't do that again

 

Yes, that's the new timing chain back there...

 

$30 Dynagear set ups are PERFECT for this engine
REPLACE IDLER/TENSIONER, also!