On my 59's 394, I removed the hold down for the distributor and with some work, freed the distributor so it can rotate. There was some rust but it moves freely now. When I try to lift it out, it only comes up about 3/8 of an inch and stops. The rotor turns a bit as I lift as it should. I've tried gentle tapping with a rawhide mallet but it doesn't want to budge. Afraid to try anything aggressive as I don't want to break it. Ideas? Motor is out and on a stand. Intake manifold and valley pan are off.

 

It's gonna fight you. The O-ring is hitting inside the block and it's not going to be fun getting it out of there. I had to "persuade" the distributor out of a 425 that I tore down for a guy 6 or 7 years ago and we just had to work it to get it out. We had the engine out of the car too so that helped a lot with no firewall to get in the way.

 

Spray some penetrant, then use a block of wood and a couple of light hammer taps to the underside and pop it out!

 

I have good results pouring 2 or 3 ounces of lacquer thinner around the base of the distributor while twisting and pulling upward. Henry

 

sounds like possible that the washer that is on the oil pump drive
shaft may be what's hanging up the removal. The shaft is probably frozen in the bottom on the dist gear and not allowing you to remove the distributor.

if you want to get into it a little more - you can drop the pan and remove the oil pump and see if you can remove the pump drive shaft from the bottom. If not then 2 choices - remove the internal toothed washer
off the shaft and pull out the distributor with shaft or try above recomendations first to see if you can free the shaft from the dist. gear
using some kind of solvent - breaking down the tarnish that has em stuck
together ...

 

I'd rather use carb cleaner than thinner - less chance of explosion!

 

I had the same problem with the distributor in my 455 - it would rotate but didn't want to come out. There wasn't any real way to get penetrant into the shaft where the O ring was, so I put some padding under the dist bowl and used a prybar to pop it up and loose. Turned out it just needed brute force persuasion. Don't give up on it. I know there's the fear of damaging the distributor but they're built strong enough to take that. Sounds like it's been in there for quite some time.

 

I had that problem on my 68 442. I had to beat the thing out with a dead blow (not the easiest thing with the motor in the car). it turned out that the roll pin holding the gear on was half way out and hitting the block. I have never seen that before or since.

 

I am in the proccess of deciding on an hei because mine won't move and don't have time and it needs to switch shops. So I have a '71 anyone hear of problems getting them out?

 

Yup! If you're going to replace it anyway don't worry about the housing. BRUTE FORCE will work to pop it out. Use a 3 ft pry and it will come out! Try wrenching it side to side first to loosen it up - you might have to use a breaker bar to move it if it's really in there tight.

 

AHAH! 3 foot pry bar huh? I've worked on a lot of IH Scouts and I thought I was done with with those but good thing I didn't get rid of them. I keep you guys posted and if I need to use the 3 foot pry bar Ill take pictures!

 

Honest to God, a 3 foot pry did it for my 455! If I'm lying may your car burst into flames! Don't forget to try wrenching it side to side first before prying up on it.

 

I say drop the pan and look up there to see what's holding it in. If it's just build up, then you can also heat the body with a propane tourch.

.

 

Don't force it... Get a bigger hammer!! If the engine is sludged up, then I will assume that you are going to be rebuilding it? If so, then just squirt some lacquer thinner in there, and use the large pry bar, and pry evenly on both sides of the distributor housing.

 

Just checking to see if there was any progress on getting that distributor out. When you pry on it, it will feel like you're using too much force (probably are if it's stuck that good). When it pops loose it will sound like a cap gun going off! I really really doubt the dist gear is keeping it locked in. I think it's the corrosion between metal surfaces that's made it so tight.

Like you already said, it will move side to side. That's half the battle right there. Now pop it loose. I would replace the dist anyway and not worry about damaging this one on the way out.

 

Geez, a 3' pry bar! Believe me just take a small hammer and hit it from the underside of the housing alternating from one side to the other. As mentioned above, if you got it to turn freely thats half the battle! If the oil pump rod comes up with it don't worry, girp it in the center with a vise grips, and tap on the visegrips until it comes out of the dist. Reinstall with a needle nose plyers. This ain't brain surgery!

 

Honest to God, I wish you had been here for that. I bet a dollar you would have just picked up a BFH and smashed it apart - that's how stuck it was and how frustrating too. I know what you mean though about 'on a general average' most distributors will come out without resorting to that kind of violence

 

Were beer and choice words involved????

 

Oh, you were there! Yup, cold beer, a buddy and a few choice words that may or may not have appropriately described the gender or sexual preference of the distributor I really didn't think it was coming out from either the top or the bottom. I already had the pan off and had taken the oil pump rod out. It was totally the flange seal of the distributor that was the problem. I decided it didn't matter if I busted it cause the wire connectors from the battery connector and the tach terminal were alread toast.

Gotta go play in the -30 outside for awhile TTYL.

 

I think you are confusing him with me...

 

Ok, gentlemen choose your weapons. BTW the only WOC (weapons of choice) are the SFH, MFH, BFH, RBFH and PDF. We don't want any 'finessing' on this job...

small
medium
big
really big
pile driver

There's a distributor with your name on it waiting in a block somewhere , or a courtroom filled with dufuses needing to have some brains knocked into them....
on yer mark, get set.......Go!!!

Oh yeah! Just saw this tidbit about lining bars. If you have a 3' pry and use the bent tip to pry? You can exert about 2 tons of pressure depending on your pipes. So you might have to pull that distributor out of the ceiling when it pops out like a missile