Update on Hall sensor replacement saga
Thanks to an illustration ("Replacing Hall pick-up") posted by Cleanflametrap, I was finally able to remove the trigger wheel from my distributor (the secret was having two, 5mm-diameter, round-shaft screwdrivers to pry with) and install my new sensor (see a photo of it in place).
Unfortunately, my prying buggered the lower of the two 14mm inner-diameter snap rings (see photo). I've had to order a replacement snap-ring from China or Singapore, or somewhere in Asia, and I'm hoping to have it for Christmas so that I can (excuse the pun) wrap up this repair job that began in early July.
The new sensor (YAY!!!!) came already installed on a new base, eliminating me to have to play blacksmith, drilling out the attaching rivets and then beating in new rivets. There's no apparent damage to the old sensor, but I did clean out a lot of gunk from the inside of distributor, and the screws that hold in place the sensor were rusted in place (success was mine, however, thanks to WD40). I attribute that gunk and rust to the burst upper radiator pipe that I suspect poured water into the distributor, but maybe it's just an accumulation of 31 years of sitting outside.
Whether or not this old, gray lady starts when everything is back in place will likely tell me if my hypothesis was correct. I'll keep the forum updated.
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Distributor w: new sensor by
Tom Fiorina, on Flickr[/IMG]
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snap rings by
Tom Fiorina, on Flickr[/IMG]
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old Hall sensor by
Tom Fiorina, on Flickr[/IMG]
PS: I nearly had a heart attack when I thought that I had lost the tiny rod that holds the trigger wheel in place on the distributor shaft. I swept every inch of my office/newly designated workshop floor, twice... This effort included moving a piano, desk and a 95-pound labrador. However, I finally determined that the rod, which had squirted out of the small, plastic tweezers that I had confiscated from one of my son's bug-collecting kits like an errant, miniature missile, had lodged in the vice that was holding the distributor while I worked on it.