Distributor gear dry

dlowe01 · #1 (**permalink**) 03-08-2004, 08:02 PM

I started my new motor up yesterday for the 25 min. cam break in period. Well the break in only lasted about 10 min. because the engine was running rough and lots of black smoke. I shut it down because I figured I had the valves a little tight and was going to loosen them up some. At this point I pulled the distributor and noticed that the gear looked awfull dry, as in very little oil on it. Took a flash light and looked down into the hole and the gear on the cam looked compleatly dry. The dist. gear looks as if it has some slight wear marks between the splines. This is a dist. from my other engine and the marks were not there before. The engine was reading about 60psi oil preasure during break in. The cam on the other motor was a Crane and this one is a Comp Cams. The distributor is a MSD. Any one have any ideas as to why there would not be any oil on the gears?????

Bruce Edwards · #2 (**permalink**) 03-08-2004, 08:08 PM

Sounds like it was not oiled before start up. It is splash feed oil. If you do not change the rpm around during the brake in the oil may not be getting kicked around enough to lube the gear. We use motor honey or the like on the cam gear since it sticks like glue and will take a fair amount of use before it starts to break down. If it ran for 10 min it should run for more. If it is blowing black that is a fuel problem. Check the float level.

Bruce Edwards · #3 (**permalink**) 03-08-2004, 08:09 PM

Sorry forgot to ask. Are you getting oil to the top of the engine?? The rockers are filling up in the pocket?

dlowe01 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-08-2004, 08:58 PM

Yes, I pulled a valve cover and the rockers had plenty of oil on them. I did put the comp cams assembly lube on the gears at build up. Another question that is probably not related to the oil problem is I know I have seen before in some other posts about people having problems with there distributer gear wearing out very quickly because it is not compatiable with the cam. Do you know anything about that???

Mr.Fixit · #5 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 08:14 AM

If you have a roller cam, you need a steel or bronze distributor gear, regular cast iron will not last with a roller cam. If you have a non-roller cam run the cast iron gear. The gear height is another issue that frequently causes problems. The gear is sometimes too low on the distributor shaft (for the motor in question) and it puts a heavy preload on the oil pump, and eventually tears up the distributor gear.

Bruce Edwards · #6 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 08:27 AM

As in the above post that is only a problem if you have changed the cam to a different style than what you took out.

sllib · #7 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 01:41 PM

For the record, Comp Cams now has a polymer dist. gear that looks bullet proof. I have only seen it advertised for Chebbies, but it's probably available for Fords too. I used to run a plastic rear sprocket on a monsterized Z-1 Kawasaki and if it works and lasts like that sprocket I'm in.
Bill Stradtner

ItBites · #8 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 04:01 PM

To add to the compatibility discussion, most steel roller cams can now be obtained with an iron gear that is compatible with the standard distributor gear.

I used to go thru bronze gears real fast (in the old days) but have used steel roller cams with iron gears exclusively for the past seven or eight or more years and have no problems with stock MSD distributor gears

machineman · #9 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 05:50 PM

Prelube is a must. and there is an oil hole feeding off the front cam jornial going to the bottom of the dist. shaft and oil is forced out under the gear &out the bottom if the clearence on the dist. is not right (o) clearence on oil can get get under the gear.

dlowe01 · #10 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 06:54 PM

Machineman, I am not sure I follow what you are saying. You say the clearence on the distributer gear, are you refering to clerence between the dist gear and the gear on the cam or what???? By the way, it is a non roller cam and the gear is the iron gear that came on the distributer. Again, I only ran the moter about 10 min. between 2000 and 2500 rpm. So.. it seems like it should have been getting oil to it. I can't start it back up again untill I get a new starter in a few days because the stock starter I was using is toast. I just hate to run it very long if it is not getting oil to that gear, don't want any metal shavings in a new motor....... Do you think it would be safe If I pre lubed the cam gear again and then ran it for another 10 to 15 min. to finish breaking the cam in and then pulled it again to examine???????

Bruce Edwards · #11 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 07:08 PM

Machineman is correct. There is a feed hole for the gear. I had forgotten that. Sorry my Doc changed my meds and I am not as sharp as I sould be. It is a small hole and may be pluged with crap. If you have a small mirror you may be able to see it.
Sorry I missed that one. Not like me most days.

dlowe01 · #12 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 07:12 PM

Are you referring to the feed hole in the cam? If so, I don't know how it could be blocked, because everything on the engine is new with the exception of the heads and the distributer.

Bruce Edwards · #13 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 07:18 PM

No it is in the block it self.

Jeff Hamilton · #14 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 07:21 PM

There is another problem (other than cam not matched to gear)with SBF and high volume or high pressure pumps. This has killed several distributor gears in SBFs.
Jeff Hamilton

Bruce Edwards · #15 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 07:23 PM

What is the other problem??

Jeff Hamilton · #16 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 07:26 PM

The HV / HP oil pump put to much pressure on the gear.
Jeff Hamilton

Bruce Edwards · #17 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 07:31 PM

Jeff, Do not take this wriong but that is an old wives tale. Check Mellings web site for info on HV/HP pumps and cam wear. It clearly shows that the HV/HP pump does not add any more wear or strain on the cam or distributer gear. Any oil not needed by the engine is pushed out the bypass just like on your stock pump.

Jeff Hamilton · #18 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 07:42 PM

Bruce, I won't take it wrong.
I got 2 gears in the shop from last summer. Both from high volume pump SBF. Both cars are fine today with new gear and stock pumps. I seen my first gear fail in 1989. The Ford dealer I worked for had circle track car that ate a gear up before he could finish a race. After replacing a lot of parts it turned out a pump was the problem. I'm not saying all HV /HP pumps will do this. I have seen 4 bad gears because of HV / HP pumps. I know one guy put 2 gears on before he came here. After a stock pump and gear change he has 2 years on that gear. When the car died he stuck a used distributor in it along the road to get it home. He didn't make it.
Jeff Hamilton

Bruce Edwards · #19 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 07:51 PM

Jeff, I have been building enigines since I was 15 and have always used HV pumps in the engines I build and have never had a gear drive failure. At my current age that is a lot of engines. I am not sure why any of the ones you have seen failed. I have several customers with over 100,000 on there engines and they are still going strong. We use them on Dodge, Chevy, and Fords and I would never use anything else. The safty margine they provide is well worth the extra cost to me to be sure that when my customer kicks the rpms up the oil will still be there.

Jeff Hamilton · #20 (**permalink**) 03-09-2004, 07:53 PM

OK,
Thanks
Jeff Hamilton