993Porsche

Hello Folks, in my attempts to remove my distributor, I ran into a few snags. In the enclosed pics, I'm trying to decide the best place to place the lady's foot. The first pic shows the end of the LF on the right side of the Dist and the other pic shows where the nut that secures the dist to the engine (and on the left side). Which one is correct? Or how did you remove this thing?


Thanks,

Ken

EckFe1

Ken,
tak e a tie down, loop it around the bottom of the housing and make the rest of the loop long enough to clear the hood. I then took a sledge hammer and twisted it around the top of the rope. Took a swing upwards, with a little bit of momentum and the whole thing popped right out.
Make sure you have the engine at TDC with the markers of the distributor on each others marks.
Also, when you drill out the pin, clamp the bottom and top of the shaft together because the shaft is spring loaded. When you get close to drilling through, the spring will tighten the drill bit and make break it apart. Then you have another problem that you don't need.
Good luck,
Ed

993Porsche

Ed, that was the greatest and non obtrusive idea for this type of problem I've seen yet. It worked like a champ. Thanks so much. I didn't have a sledge hammer, but in just a short few strokes, I used a torque wrench to yank that bad boy out. Today and the night before, I soaked it with BP Blaster. Nonetheless, I'm sure many will use your method as a solution for many moons to come.


Cheers,

Ken

993Porsche

Ed how long did it take you to drill that pin out? It's taking me forever. And I'm assuming you're suppose to drill out the complete pin.


Ken

jaholmes

I used a cats paw that I got from the hardware store. You need a small one to get in there. I forget what I used for leverage.

EckFe1

Congrats to the pull Ken. It wasn't my idea, I copied that solution from somebody else and it worked for me right away so I figured I'll pass it on.
I'm sure you already got the pin out by now. It's soft material. I used a long C-clamp to force the spring together.
Same when reassembling. Once the new pin is in, I center punched the other side to prevent it from ever backing out.
Take a good look at all bearings too. Either change them out or repack them with new grease.
Ed

993Porsche

Ok thanks Jim.

It's looking good thus far. Now I'm trying to take that brass plate off on the secondary distributor. The DIY said to dremel the three notches. Is there a way around it?

Ken

EckFe1

Ken,
I took the smallest micro screwdriver I could find and pryed the edges inwards I believe, enough to squezze the plate out. I resealed it afterwards with a bit of silicone. No need to destroy it.

993Porsche

First off, thanks for everyone's support. I couldn't have done this job without all involved. Now that I got the belt on and pin back in. Do I need to mushroom one or both of the ends or will tapping it in as is will do? Also if I do have to mushroom the ends, how in the heck is it done? Every time I've tried, the pin starts coming out of the other side.


Thanks,

Ken

Archilla

Ken,
I put a center punch (the flat side of the punch) on either end of the pin and then applied pressure from both sides in a vice. Easy. If you have flat sided screw drivers you can use those as well. You just need something with a flat surface which is narrow enough to fit in the space between the helical gear and the distributor. Helps if you have another set of hands to hold everything.
Out of curiosity, how hard is it to turn your distributor shaft from the helical gear once it is assembled? I noticed mine was very stiff to turn from the gear once assembled, even though the bearings were fine and everything turned smoothly before pressing the helical gear onto the shaft. I tried removing some of the shims between the helical gear and the distributor, but it didn't really change. Unfortunately I did not spin the distributor before pulling it apart, so I have nothing to compare to.
-Ruben

993Porsche

Ruben that's a great idea. I'll try putting it in a vice between two flat punches tomorrow and smashing it to death. Also the shaft turned just as smoothly as it did before after installing the helical gear. I made sure that I installed the washers the same way as they came out. Man this has been some kind of experience.


Ken

Archilla

Ken,
Interesting. Do you remember how many washers you had on either end of the distributor shaft (at the helical gear end and at the upper bearing end)? If I recall, I had three on either end. Also, how far did you need to press the helical gear on to get the pin hole to line up after you just slid it on by hand? I had to apply a reasonable amount of force (used a press) to get the helical gear down the shaft far enough to get the pin in.
-Ruben

EckFe1

Ken, didn't the kit come with 2 new o-rings? You should change those too. The pin should be cone shaped youll only need to flare it out on one side.

993Porsche

From what I can remember and starting from the cam gear, there are three washers (1 curved and 2 reg). Then with the shaft taken out, you’ll have two washers (1 curved and 1 reg) before the drive cog and then 1 or 2 before the distributer parts. If you can blow up the picture of the washers right before the distr, then that would be the accurate # of spacers/washers at that end. Sorry for the poor picture, I only took it for reference's sake.

Also, I had to press the gear in pretty tightly in order to line up the holes before the pin went in.

Yep it came with two pins. I only used one because my bearings looked/felt really good and that getting that secondary cap to come off was really difficult. And I didn't want to mess it up. And, ok, I'll flare it out on one side.


Ken

993Porsche

Ok, now why can't I get this thing back into the engine? It seems like it won't fully seat into engine.
As I'm inserting the dist, the cap is twisting a little, but it stops before halfway.

Did anyone have to tap their distributor with a rubber mallot to get it in?

Could I have bent the primary shaft while installing the gear using a c-clamp? Is a run-out test reqd?

Any other possiblities?


Ken