Newbie needs advice

[REdington]

Long story short is that I found this site and I'm getting "Model A" fever again.
13 years ago I bought a 28 frame (#1781) with a re-stamped engine in it for $50. The engine was stuck, the trany stick froze, but it does have the later (30-31) steering column. When I drug it home, I covered the engine with a cheap tarp and left it in the field. The frame is junk but having some parts that I thought I might need to finish up my 29 tudor. I'm still in need of a engine, so I drug the old frame out this past weekend and dumped a mix of MMO, ATF and seafoam in the cylinders and within a few hours I could turn the engine. It doesn't have a disturber, so I went out to the old 31 s/w fordor that has been sitting out in the field for the last 50 or so years with the head off and laying inside the car and drug the head into the shop. With some work, I got the distributor out of the head and trying to disassemble it and cannot get the points cam off. I've had it soaking in MMO, ATF mixture for a couple of day now and it still will not budge.
If I grind the pin off, will I be able to pull the whole shaft out??? Then I think I can try to use the press to get it off.

Thanks

Rodney

[REdington]

Well I got the shaft out by grinding one end of the pin off and taking the pin out. It looks like the housing is broke but probably useable. Don't know if I will be able to get the screws out and remove the bottom plate.



I will have a lot more questions soon about firing this old engine up.

Rodney

[1931 flamingo]

Mix up some ATF and acetone 50/50 and soak that sucker in it, screws will come out. FWIW
paul in CT

[Brentwood Bob]

the damage to the casting looks bad enough to discard the housing right now. Bob

[REdington]

I will get a different housing and buy a plate kit for it.

Thanks for the help

Rodney

[59mgaguy]

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The Dizzy is save able. You'll need to press out the bushing and press in a new one. If you have the piece that chipped off you can JB weld it back on after replacing the bushing. Most distributors are bad due to the bushing wear and bad lower plate wear. On a scale from 1 to 10 for easy repair I'd say it's an 8.