On my IP 35, it is extremely difficult to change the impeller due to its location on the side of the engine, facing aft, and about 2 inches from the starter. Even though following Hayden's photo essay to drop the starter certainly helps, it is still very hard to get any kind of purchase on the old impeller. So I took an old wood chisel and removed all the impeller vanes by gently pushing it along the impeller shaft at the base of each vane and then pulling them out with a pair of angled needle nose pliers. It is necessary to rotate the impeller to get at all of them, but this can be easily done by turning the engine slightly with the fan belt. After removing all the vanes, the remainder of the old impeller slides right out.
Naturally, this renders the old impeller useless as an emergency spare. But often as not, the old one is no good anyway due to one or more missing vanes. I am sure I am not the only one to have thought of this, but it might help those in a similar situation.
Glenn
Wanderer
