F-Body Europe

Help me out here please. I got a Firechicken in the shop for a distributor cap replacement. It's the one with the cap up behind the waterpump (great engineering, reminds me of some of the work I've done on my Cobra) What kind of iddy biddy socket do you guys use to get the cap off????
Got it all torn down to the dist cap and don't have a socket to fit it. Smallest size I have is 4mm and then some old ignition wrenches but two of the things are recessed so I have to use a socket. Is there some special Pontiac Firechicken tool I need? I'm about ready to crack the old dist. cap off with a small chisel and use vise grips then reinstall new one with new regular bolts. I don't wanna do it though, risky I would think. Any help greatly appreciated.

c'mon dudes and dudettes!!! hasn't anyone changed their distributor cap before? it looks like a female torx socket like a size 5 or something.

C'mon please??? it'ss not a trade scret or something is it? I mean after all, I am a Ford guy trying to fix one of your kind =)

I guess I'll just have to use the old chisel method.

Ok I guess there aren't many mechanics on this BB so I'll fill you guys in .... Had to use a 3mm female torx socket. That there's an expensive tune-up!!!! Gotta love DIS and COP set-ups !

Later

what year was it BB what size and I know there are not to many old BB pontiacs over here.

It was a 94 I think. I told dude about this forum too. He still had a miss at idle after the new wires and cap. Silas told me about the drain hole problem as well. He stopped by to make sure I wasn't sabotaging a Firechicken I guess =) Thanks BTW. I always love to learn the idiosynchrocies of different vehicles. Good info Silas.

Well there is some good supercharger air blowin outside so I'm outa here.

So you rebuilt a opti? Well maybe that is why you didnt get any replys. Its all in your wording.

http://www.charm.net/~mchaney/optisprk/optisprk.htm

now that I think about it, if it was a 93-97 why would this person want to change the rotor? Just because? Was the inside all corroded up, or wet? Seems like alot of work for basically nothing.

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So you rebuilt a opti? Well maybe that is why you didnt get any replys. Its all in your wording.

http://www.charm.net/~mchaney/optisprk/optisprk.htm

now that I think about it, if it was a 93-97 why would this person want to change the rotor? Just because? Was the inside all corroded up, or wet? Seems like alot of work for basically nothing.

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No, did not rebuild opti dude supplied new one and we put it in. He's diagnosing his own Sh&%. A mechanics nightmare if you ask me. Anyway, I don't think it changed the way the car ran. I wasn't the mechanic that actually did the work. However, I did notice a pretty pronounced miss at idle. Dude said he had been spending some cash to get this resolved for a while now.

What do you guys think could've been going on there?
He had new wires installed the previous week and came back with what I previously had been calling the distributor cap and rotor. Opti??? why opti? Haven't read up on this ignition system much. Optical meaning Hall effect switching?? another optical trigger of some sort?
School me up so I can keep your Firechickens feeding on imports in the future =)

did the opti have two vacummn lines running off of it? If not it is the poorer designed 93-94. A opti wont usually show up at idle first, it will start cutting out on you at 4k or more, pretty soon it just will quit.



First is the obvious, were they pre terminated wires? If not throw a multimeter on them and check resistance. Sometimes the opti end doesnt get crimped right. (yeah I've done it alot ) Then I would ground out the ADTL and see if you get any codes, specifically low and high pulse codes/opti related (I'll let you know how if you dont know). There are also 3 grounds that hook to the coil. These are computer grounds that like to break off. If they are, it can cause the car to run like crap.




Basically yes, its a optical distributor, and the big problem with the non vented is water can get in there and corrode things up, and basically blind the sensor. In principle, it is a very good system, however its execution is lacking.

If I think of anything else, I'll drop a line.
Rob

Rob Kick azz pic above looks clean.

also, check the coil wire. People dont usually change it with the plug wires...???? dont know why.

just grab it off there and look for stuff that shouldnt be growing in there. That has been other peoples problems with idle before.

Yo dude thanks for the replies.