FE distributor removal!!

Holy crap! The aluminum Mallory will spin the housing in the manifold, but WILL NOT come out of the manifold. The distrib shaft spins correctly with engine rotation. Is it frozen to the oil pump shaft?

Whatever, now what??? I cannot get that sucker out. Anyone have any solutions? BajiBoy.

Reply to
cybull
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I know this doesn't answer your question but I thought I would share my INCREDIBLY STUPID MISTAKE to possibly help someone else.

I did a valve job on my old 352 motor about 15 years ago. I had a lot of trouble getting the distributor to go back in. Finally it slipped into place.

I started the motor, there was a brief HORRIBLE NOISE, then the motor ran smoothly. I fiddled with the timing. I figured everything was cool

- then the lifters starting getting really noisy! I shut it down and looked at the book and realized that I had somehow honked up the oil pump drive shaft.

I ended up taking off the oil pan. I found the bent shaft in the bottom of the pan.

It all turned out OK though, I got it back together and it ran fine for many years - till some numnuts rear-ended me at 50 MPH. But that's a different story.

Reply to
Mort Guffman

I have heard of people having to soak the top where it goes in with liquid wrench type stuff for several days to get them to come out. Do you REALLY want to take it out? If the drive gizmo falls off in the process you'll have to pull the pan to get it and put it back in place when you reinstall the distributor. I just took pretty much all of mine apart on the top end and just left the thing in the engine. My problem turned out to be a bad vacuum advance.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

Yup, had to pull it. The Holly Dominator manifold developed an H2O leak at the back of # 8, where the electrolysis just ate through. I have never seen anything like it! New Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold on the way.

Thanks for the heads up on yankin' the pan to put it all back. I kinds figured that might be the case after I got it out.

The distrib came out after I applied pretty good leverage on it with a prybar, and then began tapping up under the housing with a small ballpean. There are some nice smiley faces on the side where I boogered it up a bit, But it's out, the manifold is being sold the the recycler after photos, and the distrib drive rod fell back through the support hole down in there and won't fit up through it. I guess I gotta get back under it.

By the by, the area below the gear teeth on the distrib has a metal (?) build up, like it got hot and gathered some material off the little support hole. Is it a problem? It may have been like that for years, and I bought it that way. Just don't remember heatin' it up that bad ever.

Any more thoughts?

BajiBoy

Reply to
cybull

I got nuthin on the metal build up.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

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