Removing Distributor

[ModelAMitch]

Hi guys, I’m trying to remove my distributor.. this may be a newbie question, but the screw holding it in place is wedged between my exhaust manifold. I can’t see a way other then needle nose vice grips and crossing my fingers, likely ruining the nut to loosen it off. Do I need to remove the manifold??? I can’t get a wrench in there. I could with the condenser out, but I can’t remove that either because of the manifold. There has to be an easier way. Thank you all

[J Franklin]

Remove the heater cover and you should be better off.

[Marshall V. Daut]

The type of manifold heater that "ModelAMitch" has doesn't separate, like a Sears or Otwell heater does. It is a one-piece affair that must be removed as a unit with the intake manifold. He may have to do just that to get at the distributor lock bolt and nut. He might be able to loosen the 9/16" nut with an open-end wrench, but backing out the bolt (with a slot tip) afterwards may be problematic, unless he can insert a thin jaw vise grips between the backed off nut and the cylinder heading. Then he might be able to back the bolt out far enough to remove the distributor. It is certainly worth the effort trying that first. If it fails, the manifold will have to be pulled off, which will most likely necessitate installing new manifold gaskets when bolted back to the engine block.
Marshall

[Benson]

From the photo it looks like this is an early version of an Otwell manifold heater which has no removable cover.

Save some time.

1. Leave muffler hooked to the manifold.

2. Remove fuel line, linkage and choke rod,

3. Remove the four nuts holding the manifold.

4. Swing the manifold and muffler as a unit, toward you.

5. Now remove the distributor holding bolt.

6. NOTE the bolt holding the distributor MUST be completely removed before pulling up on the distributor.
If the original bolt is installed if you do not remove bolt completely it will catch on the slot in the distributor making it impossible to remove dist.

[Gary WA]

No on manifold! loosen up that nut looks like there is room. use an off set screw driver if needed.

[Marshall V. Daut]

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Actually, that bolt does not need to come all the way out in order to lift the distributor out of the head. Just back it out a little at a time, occasionally lifting the distributor up. You will reach a point where the distributor can be pulled out with the bolt still threaded inside the head. If you completely remove the bolt with that style exhaust heater manifold still bolted to the block, it will be extremely difficult to start the bolt in the hole at that angle and with such little room between the manifold and block - unless you have real, REAL long, thin fingers.
Be sure to take off the cylinder head nut securing the ignition conduit to the head if you have the original type pop-out switch. You can't simply unscrew it from the distributor until the distributor is out of the head. That means, the clamp has to come up off the stud. Be sure to tighten the nut back down immediately or else coolant will leak out around the stud. If you have a replacement ignition conduit, you will be able to unscrew it while the distributor is still in the head. Just loosen the clamp nut so that the conduit can be turned.
Marshall

[Benson]

I have never seen an Otwell heater with a removable cover, Autolite s have removable covers.

The Otwell Model 14 is designed to remove Condenser and distributor without removing the manifold.

There are 3 or 4 OTWELL versions which have various problems.

Also FWIW each Manufacturer of manifold heater uses a different location of the hole in the firewall.

[Marshall V. Daut]

OOPS! Yes, thanks, Benson. You are correct. I should have written "Autolite". Both names start with a vowel.
M.

[Benson]

Loosening # 8 head NUT with coolant in the block will allow coolant to leak into the engine.

[Marshall V. Daut]

Yes, that is another reason to tighten the nut, even if the clamp isn't in place yet. I learned the hard way years ago to put that $%*&^@ nut back while I had the distributor out for repairs during the next week. What a mess the coolant had created when I came back into the garage to re-install the rebuilt distributor because I hadn't put the nut back. Lesson learned!
Marshall

[Benson]

Off topic here:

Marshall, did Intel manufacture the 7001 I 1024 bit MOS memory chip that we used to replace CORE memory on IBM System 370s in the early 70's?

Or was that Itel?

[Marshall V. Daut]

Benson -
I don't know. I started with Intel in 1988 in the video department. I had zero computer knowledge coming in and retired in 2005 with not much more knowledge. I was a video producer in the Chandler, Arizona, Components Training Department, meaning making videos showing employees how to service the 50 million dollar Schlumberger machines and other very expensive manufacturing equipment. So, my actual only contact with new company products was limited mostly to internal fanfare videos. I still only have basic computer skills. To me, in my job as a video producer, the computer was simply a tool towards an end. I never became a computer geek and still don't particularly like the beasts. I should have been born in 1909, not 1949!
Marshall

[Benson]

OK thanks I just wondered if you worked with the chips.

[ModelAMitch]

Thanks everybody for your input.
I’m at work now, but I’m pretty sure my ignition cable is not attached to any head studs.
I guess I need to remove the manifolds, like Marshall said in post #6 it will be extremely difficult to back the slotted screw out with the manifolds there.
I definitely have an exhaust leak around the manifold and this manifold will prevent me from doing any distributor repairs on the side of the road in the future.. so I think it would be beneficial to find a non heater style manifold to replace the one I have. Since mine will also need machining and new gaskets, I may as well do that work to a non heater style manifold.

[Marshall V. Daut]

You might want to hold off ordering a new exhaust manifold until you can remove yours and inspect the port alignment across the top. They must be in perfect alignment. Often the back port droops as much as 1/8", which will lead to gasket blowouts and ticking exhaust leak sounds. Generally, those aftermarket heater manifolds like yours are more robust than the Ford manifolds and don't have the tendency to droop like Ford manifolds. I have yet to come across an aftermarket heater exhaust manifold like yours that does droop in the rear. It seems like 9 out of 10 Ford manifolds I see on driver Model A's do droop because gland rings had not been installed by a previous owner so that the weight of the muffler pulling down on the back of the manifold causes it to droop in the rear after hundreds or thousands of heating-cooling cycles. Yours might be a case where someone neglected to install gland rings in the exhaust manifold and only blew out the gasket while the manifold ports themselves are still lined up properly. No gasket made of any material will last long without those gland rings in place. Ford eliminated them for a short time in 1929 to save a buck, but customer and dealer complaints of blown gaskets made him decide to return to installing the glands. You might get lucky and discover your exhaust manifold ports are still in alignment across their tops.
To test for this, lay a METAL straight edge (not a wooden paint stir stick or a wooden ruler) across the tops of the ports, aligning 1, 2 and 3 first. Then see if #4's top port also aligns with the other three. If it is below the straight edge, chances are the rear of the manifold is drooping and consequently the glands cannot be installed.
In my experience, the only gaskets worth using behind the exhaust manifold are the copper ones. The cardboard gaskets blow out real soon, even with the glands in place. They are not made like the ones available years ago. You might as well use toilet paper. I also have had no luck with the long one-piece shiny silver gasket. I could never get even a straight manifold to seal satisfactorily with that gasket. The copper gaskets are more expensive, of course, but well worth the money.
If you are concerned about future distributor removal with your heater exhaust manifold in place, why not mark the place where the lock bolt is directly across from the manifold and drill a hole through manifold so that you can put a flat blade screwdriver through the manifold to loosen the bolt? You can reach the nut between the manifold and engine block with a 9/16" wrench to loosen it slightly, so you only need to be able to access the slot in the bolt through the manifold. The hole need only be big enough for the screwdriver blade to be inserted through the top of the manifold. Exhaust fumes will not escape through this hole because the exhaust area of the manifold is separate from the top where the heat goes through. The rear moving air through the radiator will push the heat past the hole at a speed where you will not be losing heating efficiency. You could also tap a thread in the manifold hole on the outside of the manifold and plug it until you need to remove the distributor again. But how often will you need to do that once it's been rebuilt? Only the changing the condenser would require distributor removal. Changing the points can be done without distributor removal.
Marshall

[J Franklin]

A distributor repair on the side of the road rarely includes removing the distributor unless things go really bad and then it will need to be replaced.

[Big hammer]

I have an Ottwell flat top heater ,when you get the dizzy out and then going back, just lightly tighten the center slotted screw and then the jam nut lightly tight! You can remove the dizzy along the road with a long wrench and a 90* screwdriver! The jam nut will hold the screw tight !

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by Benson

Loosing # 8 head bolt with coolant in the block will allow coolant to leak into the engine.

I very much doubt that! I once had not one, but TWO head studs pull out of the block. It was a newly rebuilt engine with several helicoils used for the head studs. As it turned out, a couple more should have been used. I rang a mechanic friend who had the gear to put in the needed coils at his workshop, 23 miles from my home. I expressed concern about driving the car at all, let alone that far with 2 head studs lose. He assured me it would be fine so off I went. I arrived without a problem, removed the head and inserted the helicoils, refit the head (new gasket) and headed home. That head is still there today, about 50,000 miles later, most of them with the motor working hard (towing)

[larrys40]

Mitch
Benson and Marshall are super on it. All the points they noted are spot on and excellent. You may need to regasket the manifold . If it is it was leaking previously a manifold planing may be in order to make it flat.
Larry Shepard

[ModelAMitch]

Awesome, thanks guys. Ill look into drilling a hole through the heater portion of the exhaust manifold in order to slip a screw driver through it.

I'll also remove the manifolds and check with a straight edge, see if I can get some exhaust glands.

I've read about roadside distributor repairs, but have no idea how common they are. I've only logged maybe 30-40 miles on my A before the repairs started rolling in.
Thanks guys from the info.