ford gpa g504

During an attempt to retime my GPA engine, I discovered that the distributor was frozen in the block. I removed both the clinch plate bolt and the bolt securing the clinch plate to the block. The clinch plate origionally was found frozen to the block. I was able to free the plate which now rotates freely on the distributor. I have used PB Blaster freely after heating the distributor boss with a propane torch on and off for three days with no success. Does anyone have any suggestions short of removing the engine again??


Thanks,

Russ

Hi Russ
Do I understand correctly that your distributor is still frozen in the engine block ?
In that case I have the experiance to spray a lot of " IMALL " penetrating oil on distributer / engine seam
and remove the oil pump.
After some time try carefully , without damaging the distributer shaft, with a (wooden) shaft to hammer out the
distributer from the oil pump side.

Bob ( p.m. send)

Still no luck at freeing the distributor. In the GPA, access thru the oil pump hole is impossible with the engine installed. My latest attempt was to modify a 1 1/2" crowfoot open end wrench to cradle the underside of the distributor body. I then made a custom slide hammer which extends thru the hood. I can deliver as much force as I could driving thru the oil pump hole and not fear breaking off the distributor drive tang. Short of explosives, I have run out off ideas. Anyone have any ideas?

What is IMALL? Is it a European product? I can not find it on the Internet.

Hi Russ
I 'm sorry that it didn 't work out !
Yes, with the engine still in place it is a terrible job
Imall is a name for a good penetrating oil that solves rust and stuck items like your distributor.
I had the same problem but I took the engine out and hammered from the oil pump side in combination
with the Imall oil and this worked with my engine.
There must be a same product like Imall in the States.
If you find such a penetrating oil spray it for several days on the seam engine / distributor.
Pharhaps you can try carefully with a big pair of tongs (with teeth) to turn the distributor.
(I don't think that heating with a flame will work and this is risky)
Good luck and please keep us posted with your problem !
Bob

Russ,

An excellent penetrant here in the US is Kroil. You just have to have patience and let the penetrant work. If it were me, I would spray it daily for a week and then try and rotate it with a strap wrench. If it still won't budge then I would talk to a good machinist/welder and they may be able to fabricate something to the put constatnt pressure on the distributor. Otherwise you will have to remove the engine and take it to a machine shop for removal.

Good luck,

Donovan.

I am currently using a product called PB Blaster. I have had excellent luck with this penetrating oil over the years. I will give Kroil a shot if I can locate it. Maybe available on line. Thanks for the tip.

Russ

Eureka!!! I finally removed the distributor without removing the engine. It took a combination of 5 elements. One, a liberal use of PB Blaster. Two, a liberal use of Kroil. Three, use of my slide hammer, refered to in an earlier post. Four, application of torsion thru a fabricated leather strap wrench. And five, patience. Almost three weeks worth. If anyone has a similar problem, I would be happy to share my tool details.

Russ,

Congratulations! The penetrants you used do work if given time. For some less patient people, they attempt to use too much force and something breaks! I would thoughly inspect everything and make sure you do not have a water leak in the distributor tube area which I believe is not that uncommon for these engines but can be fixed relatively easily (see G503 for GPWs and MB Technical Forum).

Good luck,

Donovan

Russ, nice to hear you it worked out fine !
Did you receive my P.M. ?
Bob