Miller,
Good thinking, I have not pulled the distributor yet, may do that before I drop the pan.
Still, a lot of stuff in the filter. Mainly flakes rather than granules. The flakes appear to be copper colored on one side and babbit grey on the other, inclined to think mainly bearings.
The distributor drive gear did look new about 2500 miles ago when I installed the
oil thermostat. Had to pull the distributor to prime the empty thermostat lines and checked out the gear.
With a rollerized cam/lifter/rocker engine, never thought of the wear on the distributor gear...hoped to dodge the bullet of going to the pricey Gibbs type
oil for the ZDDP...
Wonder if bronze is porous and soft enough to not have a problem with lack of protection against scuffing due to high contact pressure.
If the cam is replaced, the gear will go to.
Will try to photograph as many wearing surfaces as I can for a post-mortem.
At this point, it seems I got off easy compared to some of the current mechanical disaster that have befallen some guys with VERY pricey blocks...
Thanks, Pete