Following Palm's advice, I'm disassembling the Lucas distributor to clean it up. However, I'm at a stopping point trying to get the rotor carrier shaft off the distributor shaft. Palm mentions this as a possible source of trouble, saying that either a spring or a clip holds it on.

The photo below shows my problem (sorry it's out of focus). The device in the center of the shaft certainly isn't a screw, but it doesn't appear to be a clip either. It almost looks like the top of a pop rivet. Palm advises just yanking up, which will probably break the clip, but when I yank up it all just laughs at me...doesn't budge a bit.

I can think of two options offhand, drill it out, or pry against something to get it out.

The other pic is a side view of where I'm at.

Any comments/suggestions?

Thanks!

John
1987 XJS V12, 62,000 miles

 

Yeah, they are tight. There is a plastic collar around the top of the inner shaft, it will break. The downside is that in the future you must be very careful pulling off the rotor as you will pull the outer shaft off the weights. An alternative, if you have the time, is to soak it with penetrating oil and work it back and forth till it frees up. Then add oil to the well and use compressed air to force it down the shaft - keep working it all until it gets nice and loose. It requires patience, but will mean you won't be breaking the plastic retainer clip. However it will never be quite as good as a complete cleaning!

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I've got it soaking in penetrating oil now, so we'll see. I've got so many other things to do to it that I'm really in no hurry. Scrubbing the V clean is no quick task in itself...but the visual improvement is certainly motivational.

Thanks,

John
1987 XJS V12, 62,000 miles

 

Well...36 hours of WD40 did the trick :-). Actually, it was easy. I just sprayed some WD40 into the top hole (where the nylon washer used to be), put the whole thing in a cup so it was held upright, and waited a day and a half. A good twist and it came unstuck.

I went ahead and broke the nylon washer, just because the thought of getting this far and still leaving the job undone seemed unimaginable. So I'll try one of the suggestions in the book to replace the washer.

I do wish I knew how long the springs were supposed to be. I don't think I stretched them, but one never knows.

Thanks,

John
1987 XJS V12, 62,000 miles

 

You probably didn't stretch them, they just appear that way. Make sure you lube the distributor before you reassemble, WD-40 is not a suitable lubricant.

 

No, I'll clean all the WD40 off that I can. I recall that Kirby recommends synthetic motor oil. Any other thoughts on other suitable lubricants for that task?

Thanks,

John
1987 XJS V12, 62,000 miles

 

Synthetic is probably overkill. I don't think it's that critical. Whatever you are using in the engine, if it is synthetic then it can't hurt to lube the dizzy with it too!