Rotor arms

anti slip gloves grab with fingers ad pull , mole grips if you can get them in foot of a small set of pincers under the lip .

You could crack the rest with a fine nail punch if your nifty with a hammer

Take the distributor off and bring it to somewhere with power? You'll also have better access to it, and be less likely to damage the shaft.

That's not likely to happen, due to where it is on the engine.

It's buried deep in the engine bay and access is restricted by coolant hoses.

A large roundhead nail, use the head as a lever under the rotor arm or a cranked flat head screwdriver

Sounds like all the more reason to remove it.

After reading the thread resurrection from 1999, I had to check the date on this post - in 2015 this is like a dictionary definition of "cheerful optimism"!

I haven't had/seen/played with a dizzie in 15 years. My last car (J-reg) with one only just had it; a bit later and they went to double ended coil packs.

I wonder when the last non-V8[1] mainstream production car rolled off the line with one?

(Whoops, forgot the useful contribution)

Rotor arms are usually fairly brittle so I'd try an automatic centre punch - bit more controlled than a hammer. Or a tacking hammer and punch/screwdriver. If you're looking at the end of the rotor stem, going down between the stem and arm would burst it nicely.

Some Alfa rotor arms are glued on from the factory with epoxy glue, Alfa dealers sell distributor complete, no arms as a spare part. Don't know if this applies to yours, but it seems likely.

I knew there must be a good reason for not getting one!

My local mechanic has ordered a pair of rotor arms from his supplier - they'll be there by now, so I just have to get back to the car and try it - I *think* it'll fire up on the top distributor, so I may not need to get the lower one off...

Not sure what I did last time - I must have managed to break the upper arm off and replace it with a push-on version.

But it's not *that* long ago, I'd regularly pick up caps and arms at Halfords!

Or maybe it was, and I'm just getting old.

I've found that. I think I did something 6 weeks ago and it's 6 months. It's worse with cars. A friend and me went thru the DVLA lookup checking on our old cars. It didn't feel long since we'd sold them but without exception they've all been off the road for years.

But on a practical note, Halfords /have/ wound back the range of stuff they stock. The individual socket cupboards have been thinned out. They don't sell individual ratchet spanners. The filter shelves seem to be half the size they were.

I have a steel rule somewhere with 1/64ths marked. Can I still buy one, or have they rationalised to 1/32nds, or even 1/16ths? ;-)

Don't forget that Metrifuction took place some time ago...

axminster 2.51 plus 1 pound postage

Not in the USA it didn't.

You would think that with a recession there would be more demand for tools and parts for DIY.

This is a UK newsgroup, however.

After all that - and sourcing 2 rotor arms via my local mechanic - the actual issue was a sticky fuel pump.

Argh!