I should of started a "Car sitting for a looong *** time" thread, since I'm going through every possible problem you could think of. Some have been posted here, but most I figured out on my own.

Anyways... newest problem is I attempted to make sure my timing was set correctly since I finally have the car on the road with plates... and the distributor is frozen. She won't budge the slightest. My pops gave her a few wacks with a hammer on the metal plate that sits flush with where you drop her in the front cover and the 10mm bolt snugs the two together, then we lost the Leading signal.

I tried swapping out the (ignitor?) on the side of the distributor for a known working one which didn't change anything.

She now idles shitty, backfires, and has no zing to her w/out Leading.

I can't just change out the distributor b/c besides the fact it won't move side to side to adjust the timing it's also stuck in the front cover. I been spraying it up with liquid wrench since yesterday...? I'm ready to drop a slap hammer on the ******...? Any better ideas...

 

There are two 10mm bolts under the flat plate. See if you can get a wrench on them and remove them fully. Then try rotating the dizzy and removing it. Chances are good that salt damage or other corrosion has fused the steel plate to the aluminum of the front cover. By taking out the bolts, you will reduce the plate's ability to sit flat and therefore it will be a whole lot easier to remove everything. If you can't get to both bolts, just it try after removing one.

 

I thought about that while sizing up the next plan of attack...

Turns out all I need was to do was jack her up and wack at it from underneath. Came out no problem'o.

I just hope swapping distributors gives me back the leading signal.

Thanks Jeff.

 

Leading signal did indeed come back...

 

Hammer is last resort on 20+-year-old electronics, not first resort...

 

Yea my pops is a knuckle head sometimes... They say the apple don't fall far from the tree.

 

That leading signal is touchy. Mine always drops connection and then I'm in limp mode for a while, until it comes back. omg what a pain.