S13 KA24DE Distributor Stuck
 

So I haven't been able to find a solution to this in other threads.
I was trying to take out the distributor in order to swap out my upper timing tensioner, but the damn thing won't come out. I tried prying it out and ended up dislodging the distributor from the shaft, so probably gonna have to get a new one as well.
It's come out about a 1/4 inch, but still stuck. Any ideas? I've tried blasting it with catalyst.

a weird problem. maybe the head was milled without the cover and someone managed to jam it in there

I think you can still remove the upper cover with it stuck in there

The splines on the gears can separate without removing it first? I bought it stock, so I'm pretty sure I'm the first one to really be touching this engine, so it's pretty bizarre that it's so jammed. It'll come out just to the point where the o-ring is, and at that point it seems more likely to break than come out any further.

youd be surprised at how much a ka24de can be messed with after 25 years
and yeah i would think itd come off fairly easy just give it some taps and see if the cover moves