Distributor Rebuild Pontiac Fiero Chevrolet V6 2.8

One of the reasons I do this is to save money. It’s only an extra 15mins to do more than replacing with a new reman shaft. Doing it myself I have the option to use Premium Parts, or the cheaper parts that come with a reman distributor shaft.  Rebuilding it yourself, you can use Top of the Line

Parts that will never come pre-installed in a reman distributor shaft, and still spend less than simply buying a reman distributor shaft.

Honestly it took me 3 times longer to do this write up, than it took me to do the entire job.

** Note if you have throttle body coolant lines and an EGR pipe, you may need to remove the module before you can

remove the distributor shaft. In my case it comes out as one piece, as I don’t have an EGR system or Throttle Body Coolant Lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok Fist up, note where you module is pointing.  You can use a camera on your cell phone or digital camera to make it easy. You will need this spot when you put it back together.

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Now remove your distributor cap and note where the rotor is pointing.  Same chance to use that camera again.

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From this angle, you can see why I don’t have an EGR Pipe, my intake is a custom high flow plenum, and the area that the EGR pipe would have been hooked up,

was replaced with a much larger opening.  You can also see the Holly Fuel Pressure regulator on top of the fuel rail, as well as the deleted Throttle Body Coolant lines.

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One more mod is the addition of the heat sink to help keep the Module Cool.   2 years on the last used module.  So we shall see how it does with a new Cheap Module.

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Alright time to start taking this thing apart.

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This is the Roll Pin that you need to remove.  It’s located just below the teeth on the gear.

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See that Black O-Ring, This is the only thing that keeps oil from coming up the distributor shaft, and creating

a nice puddle of oil at the base of your distributor shaft.  If it is cracked at all, or hard, you can pick one up from your local

parts store for about 50 cents.

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Green Corrosion on the Pickup Coil lead. This can show up as a jumpy tach.

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Well back to that roll pin.  I always support the end of the distributor shaft with something.  Then I can use a small punch

To drive the roll pin out. (living near train tracks, there was always a supply of discarded railway spikes.

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You can use pretty much anything small enough to fit into hole in the distributor shaft, so if you don’t have a punch

That’s alright, you can use a large nail, or even a medium head screw driver. Just make sure it’s not a cheap plastic screw

Driver, as the cheap ones tend to break.

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Alright Roll Pin out, now you can slide the gear down like this.  Be Careful of the washers.

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These are the shims you install or remove to take up slop in the shaft.  If your shaft has slop up or down, you have to

Add these shims.  I usually just take some from an old distributor, but can be purchased at your local auto parts store.

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Ok Gear Off, now slide the center out of the distributor shaft. You might have to wiggle and fight, depending on how

much grime has built up inside there.  Mine is only a few years old, so it was fairly clean.

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Down to the nitty gritty so to speak.  Only 2 years and this much rust has built up on the pickup coil.  That

Square Metal Tab, needs to be pried off.  I use a pair of wire cutters to grip it and pull it up from a corner.

Be Careful not to chip the distributor shaft like mine is.  That little lip near the center, is what holds the clip

in place.  If yours is chipped, (or you chip it) don’t freak out, just move the new clip to an area that is not broken. 

I realized while making this gallery, I did not have a photo of how to put the new clip back on. However once

you see how the old one comes off, its pretty easy, just put the new pickup coil on, and snap the new clip down.

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Here you can see the chip a bit better as well as the alignment pin for the new pickup coil.  Note one side is a hole and

one side is a pin.  This way the module can only go in one way. So you can’t mess that up.

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There ya go, totally stripped distributor.

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Now a quick clean up, you won’t have those Philips screw heads in yours as they are just to hold

the heat sink in place.

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VERY VERY IMPORTANT!!! YOU WILL GET A TUBE OF GREASE, ITS FOR THE BOTTOM

OF THE IGNITION MODULE, YOU MUST USE IT.  If you don’t the modules life will be cut in half. 

Its thermal grease to help the module transfer heat out of the electronics.  If you want to get fancy, CPU Thermal

Compound like Arctic Silver 5 works great too.

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Sorry this pic is out of Order, but in order to put the gear back on, you will slide the entire assembly back together and tap

The roll pin back into place.

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Ok once you get the module back in place, you can install the Pickup Coil, noting the pins and clip from earlier.

Then drop the center shaft back in.

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The little fingers should be straight up and down, and the little tangs on the shaft should be almost touching

Those fingers as they pass, you should feel a slight drag as the fingers come close to each other.  This is caused

By the magnet and not from contact. If they are touching, you can bend them out a little. If they are too far apart

More than say the thickness of a playing card, you can bend the fingers on the shaft out slightly.

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Well that’s it, you’re done.  Simple Easy and feel good knowing that you did it yourself.    

Now assuming you were still driving your car before you took all this apart, take your old module and pickup coil, stick them

in a plastic bag, with a 5.5mm ¼ drive socket and nut driver. Put them someplace in your car.  If you ever do have a module

die on the road, you can put your old one back in and avoid a hefty tow bill.