Rusted Distro Screws

Thought I would change the distributor caps and rotors onthe old 454XLs – should be easy me thinks ! Stopped cold at square one when I discovered all four distro cap screwsare rusted solid. Asked around for theschool solution and got several recommendations.

2. Apply penetrating oil for a few days and back the screws out with light bumps from an impact wrench.

2. Break off the distro cap to provide full access to the screws and apply heat from the blue tip wrench.

2. Remove the distro assembly from the block and give it to a machinist.

2. A combination of all the above (before or after shearing the screws).

Has anybody used any of these techniques and did it work? Other recommendations welcomed.


Thanx,
FL Panhandle

Rust/corrosion typically tightens up the area of both female and male threads, making it difficult for penetrating oils to get where they need to be in short order. That said..... in these cases I think that penetrating oils are somewhat over-rated.

I am a proponant of using heat in these situations.
Heat will gently expand the female threads, break up the corrosion/rust a bit, and will generally allow for screw/bolt removal.
Now would also be the time to apply penetrating oil for lubrication.



Another option may be applying heat while the caps still in place, and not risk breaking something else while trying to break the caps off.
You may melt or damage the caps, but they're going to be replaced anyway.

If that doesn't sound feasible, I like the option that describes removing the distributors from the cylinder block.
Give it a try, and if not successful, visit your local machine shop.


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Shortcuts often lead to problems when working on old boats. I would pull the distributors before applying the "blue tip wrench" (I like that..) Ricardo is right about the risk of breaking other things when heating, cutting, hammering, etc. in close quarters. I know. Once the distributor is out and in a vice it would be a cinch to get the heat in the right place. The only down side would be getting the distributor put back in the correct position (since you can't see and mark the rotor). It is kind of a pain removing the plugs, finding TDC, etc. but I would think if you use a magic marker to mark the distributor body to block relationship, and then mark the gear to distributor body relationship after carefully pulling the distributor, you could put it back correctly the first try. If not, there are a lot of directions on the net about how to correctly orient the distributor.

CaboJohn said:

1.... The only down side would be getting the distributor put back in the correct position
2.... (since you can't see and mark the rotor).

Click to expand...

1... Always bring the crankshaft around to #1 cylinder at TDC C/S before removing a distributor.
This makes it very easy to get the initial advance close enough to fire up on.


2... the old cap will be gone when these are reinstalled.

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I hope you used a good anti-seize!

Jeff

Lanocote. See how it works.