Stupid Distributor Questions

Another trick to get the drive out is a piece of metal clothes hanger wire, bent in a U, with a 90° bend on each "leg". It's small enough to be bent on an angle and fit in the teeth of the gear... So being careful, you can fish it out in one try. To see if the bushing or drive is bad, take a screw drive with no distributor in place, and try t wiggle the drive in the block side to side, in the direction 90° from the cam centerline. Rotating a hair is ok, no lateral movement is allowed. If you have any, pull it and replace the drive and bushing. The new bushing will need burnishing once it's installed to properly size it for the drive.