MGB & GT Forum

The dizzy is stuck in my '74 BGT. I have tried several mechinical means to remove it, have tried soaking it in PB hourly for a couple of days, and for the last week or so I've been soaking it in a 50/50 mix of ATF & acetone. Cannot get it to budge.

I removed the pinch bolt on the clamp, and the two bolts holding the clamp to the block. The clamp is spinning freely.

Any more ideas? I'm to the point now where I don't min buying another, I just want this one off the block.

I have the car up on jackstands so I can get under the car, remove the starter and grab it with an ugly great big pipe wrench, but I'm pretty sure that'll tear it up.

Any more ideas on removing a seized distributor before I pull the engine, chain the dizzy to the back of my bronco and floor it...

---

--
Scruit - Semi-Official MGE CARmudgeon
"Happiness is a warm hump."

Huh. Got an engine crane? Hook it to the thing and gently crank it up, tapping on the surrounding metal GENTLY.

A strap type oil filter wrench might move it without damage.

---

Friends talking around a fire is the history of mankind.

I removed the starter and grabbed the dizzy from the bottom using a set of channel locks and managed to get it moving back and forth about 20deg, but only under great force (I have to re-position my whole body to change which direction I turn it). I doused it in more atf/acetone again to see if that helps free it up more.

---

--
Scruit - Semi-Official MGE CARmudgeon
"Happiness is a warm hump."

Since it is only this thin rubber ring that can block its exit and you are no longer want to save it from destruction, why not apply some heat to the distributor body. Of course remove the heating tap above it first, and do not use a direct flame but a hot air device like a paint stripper, hair blower etc... My guess turning does not help enough, put the clamp back on and put two thick screwdrivers under both sides of the clamp after heating up and cooling down a number of times for leverage...

PS I wonder about the effect by this acetone mixture, fine for freeing metal objects, but will rubber/neo-propene not swell by its application?

Same advice as in the other thread:

http://www.mgexp.com/phorum/read.php?1,2899080,2899080#msg-2899080

I had a stuck dizzy, tried all of the above. Even got kinky and strapped a vibrator(sander) to it. The vibration would hopefully help the penetrating oil to work its way in.

Nothing worked. Yanked the motor and went darkside with a V6.

One person mentioned that it can be the center rod that is stuck down where it drives the oil pump.

Try using the oil on the rod and see if you can get it to work its way down.

Best of luck..

Chuck

---

Chuck
Hamden, CT

79 MGB - Rumpelstiltskin
Just awakened after a 10 year slumber.
GM 60V6 Gen 3 - 3.5L EFI V6 T-5.

I have had success with using a large screwdriver an with a hammer tapping on the area were the vacummn advance goes into the distributor housing. Once you get it to move, work it bach and forth till it comes out. When putting it back apply a light coat of greasr to it before installing.

---

http://www.importandsports.com/

The distributor is off. I learned a few things in the process:

1) The distributor did not survive the process. Using a hammer & drift to try to turn the dizzy back and forth has resulted in a crack through the body of the distributor right where the condenser wiring passes through the side.

2) I'm not the first person to try to remove this distributor. Someone had tried to pry it using the aluminum lip - the lip is well knackered.



3) The PB and ATF/Acetone mix did not get to area where the corrosion happened. It was still bone dry and corroded when it first came loose. It looks wet in the pic but that's because it the neck was still wet tith atf/acetone and the moisture seeped across afterwards. Two weeks of spraying did seemingly nothing to help. Once I cracked the body I figured I might as well go full Hulk Smash mode and just took a 2' piece of square tube and hammered it between the block and the ears where one of the dizzy cap clamps mounts. Got it out in a few seconds. Should have done that first I guess.

I'll ask around to see if any of my buddies has a tig welder that can fix this crack, else I'll replace it.

---

--
Scruit - Semi-Official MGE CARmudgeon
"Happiness is a warm hump."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-01-29 07:58 PM by Scruit.

Graeme
Don't bother trying to fix it- tell me what you need and I will send you one for $20 plus shipping
If you tell me some specs on your engine I can even get it pretty close to correct (Not "Jeff" close but close! )
BillM

Congrats on its removal. After exerting such strong forces even the cheapest of the aftermarket ones will be better than this, I guess its shaft will not turn now without swaying to and fro.
So a 2nd hand Lucas 25D or 45D will be better than you had stuck in the first place.....

For future reference there is a much easier, if fiddly, way to remove a stuck dizzie. Move it as far clockwise as it will go, some gentle persuasion may be required. And then at about the 8 o'clock position you should be able to a large headed screw with a single slot. Undo this and then the metal tube which goes into the block and in which the dizzie sits will simply pull out bringing the dizzie with it. The two can then be separated on the bench. Getting a screwdriver to the screw is awkward but use a screwdriver bit from an electronic screwdriver with a small ratchet and it will move easily, it doesn't go very deep.

I was trying to get to this, but could turn the dizzy CW first. Could get it to go ACW using a hammer and drift under the vacuum advance.

Definitely the advice has to be to put some grease or copaslip on the mating surfaces.

---

--
Scruit - Semi-Official MGE CARmudgeon
"Happiness is a warm hump."

Graeme,
That is an expensive ending, sorry for you.
These OE distributor once rebuiilt by a knowledgeable firm will perform brilliantly for many years.

B

---

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, "What are you doing for others?"

If the cap will clip back on,I don't think I would be concerned about that small crack. Hell clean and grease the shaft,put it back and see if it works ok. It should work fine.

---

http://www.importandsports.com/