before you do what has been suggested, look at the dist. and make sure it is not locked
up on something above the manifold. if it was me i would not see the vacuum can hitting
and locking onto something. with me it is always something simple. jim

 

Guys:
I did not receive any Pms . I just checked mailbox. My personal email is darens500@yahoo.com. I will be hitting the garage around 845pm.EST will revert back later tonight.

Regards
Daren

 

Good luck. One of those mechanical mysteries that you will solve.

 

I've been following this thread and had nothing to add so I contacted a friend that made his living working on Chevy for 40 years. First he agreed that it was sludge build up. He says the OP really need to put his *** into the pry bar. If that doesn't get it either the roll pin is coming out or a metal sleeve was used in place of the plastic one and it has rusted in place. OP needs to pull the pan and pump to solve this mystery.

 

Ok used a pry bar. put moderate pressure, nothing. When its up 1/2 inch, the top spins counterclockwise all the way around. clockwise however does not spin. I also put more gumout down shaft. I think I need to remove bronze tach drive gear in dist first before i go any further. I will remove that, try to pull up again and report back this week (as i work during days). Appreciate all your help currently and in the past.

 

OK - stupid question - what is that silver wire ? tube ? going across the base of the distributor in your video ? Why isn't it moved out of the way ? Its clearly running over the top of the distributor flange as you're trying to remove it...

 

The silver wire is the black dist wire (with aluminum silver paint overspray) that is disconnected from coil. My gut from the feel of the tension I am putting on the distributor senses something's wrong. I know this is a simple task. I have disconnected tach cable, hold down bolt, removed coil and removed vac advance can. I feel I got enough gumout down there to work . The distributor position has not moved (rotor location) so despite being able to raise it 1/2 inch the teeth still slide back down. Carb is out of car for rebuild for two weeks . Did not want to drop oil pan in my garage with no lift on my back. Should I focus on removing brass tach gear on distributor (tach works fine when I drive) or focus on tapping on top of distributor lightly after removing weights and butterflies while putting wd 40 down inner shaft? Again not worth dropping pan yet as car ran decent before carb leak developed. Knowing my carb is in a good place (Lars shop) I thought I would send the distributor for good measure as well)

 

I've been building engines for 43 years, probably 95% SBC. You almost certainly have sludge build up holding it in. I believe I understand you to say when you have it up as far as you can you can rotate the rotor fully counterclockwise but not clockwise. Is this correct. This would probably be because you are just clearing the teeth on the distributor and ccw would push them up from the cam whereas cw would pull them down. Spraying down the center shaft is not going to help. You need to spray under the housing about half the distance you can move it up. Any type of dry cleaner here i.e. Carb cleaner will dry out fast causing the dist to stick easily in the build up. You'll need a lubricant here to help keep it from drying, Kroil or any type of spray lube. The vacuum advance plate moving has nothing to do with the housing so it moving is not telling you anything. Removing the tach drive gear will not help either. I would spray the lube in work it back and forth apply pressure with a pry bar only under the flange and continue working back and forth. If you can pull it up far enough to spin the rotor around that should be more than far enough to eliminate the pin being the problem. When the teeth clear the cam gear the pin would still be in that area. Removing the intake is not going to help you'll only be able to raise it as far as you can pull the dist up. With all that said the only other thing I've ever seen that would cause this is oil restrictiors in the back of the block. I doubt you have them but you never know what people have done to cars over the years. If someone installed them after the dist was installed and screwed them in too far that could cause this, but very doubtful. Good luck.

I would only remove the pan as a VERY last resort in that all else has failed and it is totally fubared.

 

Daren,
Lots of possibilities have been mentioned, so I think you need to determine whether the problem is an actual obstruction or just sludge. When you lift it up, take note whether it seems to get "stuck" and requires a little push to get it back down (sludge issue) OR whether it seems to actually hit something solid, noted by a "clank" such as in metal to metal contact.

I'm hoping it's just sludge in which case, it will come out with enough effort. I've had it happen, and I just continue to rotate the distributor CC & CCW (not the main shaft) while pulling and it finally works its way free.

Verne

 

I'll say it one more time and then I'm done: slidehammer.

 

Ok thanks for the recent input. I will buy some Kroil and work on it again tonight in more belief that its crud. I will follow up my results (either way good or bad) with the team. Hopefully good.

 

At this point, I'm thinkin'......GM warrantied crate motor

 

I think you're wasting your time/money with penetrating oil.

 

This is orig engine, with all #s match including powertrain . Car is too nice to change. Next one will be a resto rod.

 

One more thought. I've never seen a pin come out enough to stop the dist, but put it all the way down and turn the engine until the rotor is pointing 180 from current position. The pin will then be pointing away from the cam if it's causing the problem and should not destroy the cam pulling it out.

 

Frankie, I could use the problem that our OP has as an excuse to my wife why I need to build a Dart Little M 380 inch AFR headed roller motor to fix it.

 

If you could get a boroscope in there it may tell you something. That said, I don't see any possible access for one.

 

That is a good thought but I guess I misunderstood way back that he could lift the distributor up enough to clear the cam gear and spin the rotor. Guess not but if it is the pin catching the camshaft, you method is the only way I know cleat the cam. Even then, not sure it will clear the block unless you pry on it and bend the pin.

 

That will take some serious prying and more than a little courage -- should be interesting...
I've always wondered about those pins and I've spread them a bit at times, when installing, to make sure they remain seated...never heard of one coming loose but then I'm trainable...

 

Worth a try at this point.

Never seen a proper ROLL PIN (which has some lateral spring tension to it) come loose. Can't help but wonder if a substitute pin was used instead. That might explain things if it walked out.