I've spent the last hour trying to loosen the top screw holding on the distributor cap.
I've tried philips and plain screwdrivers, sockets, wrenches. This can't be rocket science. What's the secret?



Is the bottom screw worse?

I use a 1/4"drive 8mm socket on a swivel. with an extension.

whoever originally put it on probably put it on too tight.

I have had to putt the dizzy before to get the cap screws out. (which required cutting the screws)

Step 1..Remove Hood

Step 2..Apply vise-grips to screw

Step 3..Lightly or medium tap vise-grips with hammer.

Installation should be a snap now but dont over tighten screw.

LOL. Removing the hood seems a little excessive I would stick to just small vise grips and hope for the best... I think on that one I had a deep 8mm that fit it just perfect.

Yeah, maybe needle nosed vice grips could do the trick.
I don't have clearance for sockets on mine. Tomorrow...

Only reason I remove my hood is cause I have a hood clerance prolbem with getting work done close to the rear of the engine...So I try to remove what I can to get the job done and out of the way.

I just use an 1/4 inch 8mm shallow socket and a wobble extension.

The wobble extension allows up to about 18 degrees of bend. just enough to get to that bolt.

I used a stubby 8mm box-end wrench to break mine loose. Only one bolt to pull the whole distributor out of the head if you have to.

Turns out the round nut insert in the cap side came loose, making a bad job worse. Not sure what they had in mind , I couldn't locate anyone with a socket thin-walled enough to go on this bolt, even if it would have worked. I think I'll run a long bolt and square nut backwards so the cap prevents the square nut from turning and I loosen it from the backside.
Two & a half hours later, I finally was able to disintegrate the cap (not what I was trying to do). And shattered the igniter cover in the process. Are those still available anywhere? Expect I can go without it for a while.

bleh... that sucks. You may want to try Allen bolts when you replace the cap. Something like this:

http://littlemachineshop.com/Products/Images/480/480.1527.jpg

Honestly, you may need to find a donor distributor depending on what broke.

Well, wrong name. The coil cover, not igniter cover, is what I broke when I forced off the cap. And all the electrical checks out OK inside the distributor. Running a bolt backwards (there is no more threaded receiver), now it's easy to get inside whenever I need to.
So with new rotor, plugs, cap and backwards bolt firmly in place, it now runs exactly like it used to - perfectly except it won't start unless I push start it. Once it's over 800-1000 rpm, it is flawless. Back to the drawing board. :/

was it running like that before?