So I've got the distributor out, cap off.. But I'm not sure what to do now. How do the bits come out of the shell?

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1968 Plymouth Barracuda [Daily Driver]
1972 Dodge Dart Swinger [Lent out as Daily Driver to a friend]
2010 Challenger R/T 6 Speed

If you are just replacing the vacuum pod. Disconnect the battery. Clock the engine at TDC. Remove the distributor from the block. The pod is held to the side with 2 phillips head screws (may need to use a wire brush and some brakeclean to access...if they are "stuck" use a set of large pliers to loosen).

Once they are removed, pull the pod away from the body, you will now notice the arm and "peg" that is securing it to the advance plate, use a long slotted screw driver to wedge between the plate and the arm and give a wrist twist (it should not go 90 degrees as that can ruin the plate peg and spring pin holding things together...just get them open a 1/4" or os and you should be able to get it to drop out) and they should separate, allowing the pod to come out the rest of the way. New pod installation in reverse, but....take a moment to put a dab of grease on the peg and about 1/4-1/2" from the peg (synthetic is fine, if you have GP axle grease on hand, that will work too...). You may also need to use the long slotted screwdriver to part the plates and get the peg back into it's hole, reinsert the screws and it's good for now....

Use the timing gun and rev engine up to 2000 rpm and see what the timing is with the advance hose plugged then with it attached....note these down and subtract one from the other...if the arm on the new pod is stamped 6.5x...your results should see a 13 degree timing change with timing light at the crank.

Good Luck,

-D.Idiot

Perfect! Thank you DI. Didn't know I could just pry those two apart to pop it out. Didn't want to break anything. Came out nice and easy once I followed those steps.

This place is a life saver.

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1968 Plymouth Barracuda [Daily Driver]
1972 Dodge Dart Swinger [Lent out as Daily Driver to a friend]
2010 Challenger R/T 6 Speed

That's one project I've been meaning to do...a video to step by step the recon of a distributor and the differences encountered in their guts.

Maybe when things get more stable...