[Jack21]

Dirty little secrets MSD didn't tell you about.

Using same MSD distributor for 351W w/ Comp Cams hydraulic roller.

You can't use a cast iron dist gear on a steel roller cam. Incompatible metals. And you're finding out why bronze isn't such a great idea either. Not to mention where that bronze is going after it departs the dist gear.

For distances measured in 1/4 miles, I guess there's a use for a bronze gear. 1000's of miles, forget it.

The good news is this. The steel gear Ford uses on their 351W roller motors will work just fine on yours. Ford PN: M-12390-F, ~$11 sounds about right. Tap out the dist gear roll pin with a drift punch, the gear should slide off with little persuasion, if new gear is a little tight, warm it up a little. Slide on, reinstall pin, and you're done.

Another dirty little secret. Everything on this dist is adjustable, right? For 200 bucks, it oughta be, right? Wrong again. The vacuum advance isn't adjustable, it's fixed at about 20 deg crank.

So you set your initial lead at 12 deg, centrifugal at 20 deg, for 32 deg total. Add another 20 deg vacuum (not adjustable) and what do you have? Trouble!!!

What does MSD have to say about this? "Oh, you shouldn't be running any more than 8 - 12 deg vacuum for part throttle cruise. But...we don't make an adjustable one...sorry"

However, since the MSD is essentially a GM distributor on a Ford stalk, the pre-HEI GM adjustable vacuum advance from Accel or Crane (and another $30 at your friendly speed shop) will fix the problem. I'll let you know what, if any, hassles it was installing it tomorrow.