Stuck inner cap on helmet distributor

Chris Marshall

Chris Marshall

Senior Member
What's the best way to get a stuck inner cap loose on the helmet style distributor? I want to disassemble and check the vacuum brake with the distributor on the car (33 coupe), but need the cap/wires out of the way. The inner cap doesn't want to come out. I really don't want to pull and reinstall the wires in the car. Any tricks to this?
 
Get one side off and run a steel rod etc thru and knock it off from the inside. They can be pretty tought to loosen without breaking...
 
And if you can't get either side off you might remove the coil and reach down , carefully, with something to tap on the back side of the inner cap. We had to do this on the 39 a couple of years ago.
 
Those inner caps will swell and over time lock themselves in place. When I have one stuck like that, I apply a little penitrating oil around where the cap fits into the aluminum housing. Then I go in behind that cap as Babba or Ralph mentioned, but with a length of wooden or nylon dowel rod against the inside of the cap, and lightly tap on the dowel with a hammer in various places on the inner cap until it comes out. If I deside to reuse that inner cap, I usually lightly sand the OD so it fits neatly back into the housing.
 
I didn't think about pulling the coil. I'll give that a try. Neither side is coming out willingly.

I appreciate the input.

A 1 1/16" crows foot would do the trick for the vacuum brake, but of course my set only goes up to 1".
 
Both sides were stuck on my 1941, I tried to delicately tap them out with a dowel rod through he coil opening but eventually had to remove the distributor and really pound the dowel cracking both inner caps in order to remove them. My new caps fit better. It's not that hard to remove and reinstall the distributor, it helped me to unbolt the distributor wire tubes so I could move them and the outer caps.
 
I always apply a little heat to the housing around the cap when they're stuck . Makes tapping them out a lot easier.
 
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