Oil pump / distributor gear will not come out from the top

Dana67Dart said

Did you try to rotate the gear in the reverse direction with a flat screwdriver?

IIRC that is a factory procedure to reset the gear to the direction you want.

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I was able to do that with mine when I went from the MSD distributor back to the OE style, went easily. You would be best to pull the intake if it comes to that, dropping the pan won't make it any easier and would be more work.