[Tim Whittaker]

With two hoursrun on my new engineon stands, I ate the distributor gear.Turns out it was acastgear and a high volumepump. Changed the gear to a steel gear ( hyd. Roller cam ) and changed the oil and filter. How do you flush to make sure the system is clean ? Now I'm worried it'someting else and next time I'm going to take out the cam drive Thanks.

 

[Aaron Silidker]

My theroy is that the filings made are super super small and will not affect the engine in a way that it will not work after a short time.

 

[CAPTDON]

Tim
Like said" change your oil and filter"I think we came to the solution that we needed to lube or grease the new dist gear for break in.Watch your oil pressure and run the engine with a good filter and not with the remote filter assy.You said you were running on a test stand? GOOD Try a 5W-30W oil or even a 20w you don't have any load on the engine you just trying to get engine run time.

 

[Tim Whittaker]

My engine has about 2 hrs.run timeon it now. I used Lubriplate on the distributor gear when I pit it in the engine, so I don't think that was my problem. I'm wondering if the engine builder put too much end play in the cam, if that would do it ?
My fear is that if there is something else wrong that the next time, with the steel gear, that I will wipe out the cam gear.
This seems to be a common enoiough problem with SB Fords that you would think that someone knows what the problem is. If the cam wipes out, I'm puttin in a Chevy 350 !!!!

 

[billk]

Tim,
Unless your engine builder properly clearanced the engine for a high volume oil pump, lose the high volume pump. I lunched 2 dist gears and the second one took the cam gear with it. Stock oil pumps are more than adequate.
billk

 

[CAPTDON]

Tim
Billk is on target . I build the loose engine's and don't any problems with the HV oil pumps. If you get tight built engine you try a standard pump. Like I said try a thinner oil till all your new part get to know each other.

 

[Gordon Levy]

You need to go back to a standard oil pump. Check the cam for wear. It is worn you will need to change it. The other thing to look at is the shelf in the block that the dist. gear sets on. It will sometimes wear a grove into it. If this happens you will need to change the block, as this is not repairable.

 

[CobraEarl]

Tim,
Listen to Billk, Captdon and Gordon.

Steel gear and loose the HD/HV/HP Pump.

TO BE SURE you have a steel gear....... My machine shop guy told me to do this.......

Take the old cast gear to your emory wheel. touch it to the grinding wheel (running of course) and watch the sparks. If its cast, there will be a small amount of dull red sparks. Now take your new steel gear to the grinder... Down on the collar where it make no difference, touch that gear to the grinder.... You should get a SHOWER of Brilliant sparks. THAT is HOW YOU KNOW if your gear is cast or steel. If you dont get that shower of brilliant sparks, YOU HAVE ANOTHER CAST ONE. And, they are hard to tell apart, even if you have one of both in your hands.

worked on mine, 15000 miles ago and I returned my HP or HV pump at these guys reccommendation.

SO FAR, SO GOOD,

BTW, the distributor I bought with the CAST GEAR, SHOULD HAVE HAD a steel gear. BUT DID NOT. I had to have the steel gear from my donor adapted to the Duraspark Distributor.

Change oil, filter and pump and ENJOY.

earl

[ September 29, 2002, 09:22 PM: Message edited by: CobraEarl ]

 

[Tim Whittaker]

Thanks for the support guys !!! I changed the pump to a standard pump after talking to Gordon. However, with just two hours of run time on the engine, I took the distributor out just to see if it was OK before starting the motor with the standard pump. That's when I found the bad gear. I sent the distributor back to MSD to have the shaft replaced as it had been drilled twice for the gears. The say that's the limit on the drilled holes.I told them to put on a steel gear and not a cast steel gear. The cam gear looks to be good. Gordon is aware of all the problems I have had with the guy that built the engine. I was just wondering if this might have been caused by the cam being installed wrong with too much end play. Thanks again, I'll see what happens with the new gear and a lighter oil.

 

[CobraEarl]

Originally posted by Tim Whittaker:
.

I was just wondering if this might have been caused by the cam being installed wrong with too much end play. Thanks again,

maybe, but apparently nothing has to be done WRONG for these gears to fail. And with a HD/HV/HP oil pump, they can go VERY QUCIKLY.

Personally, I continue to be amazed at just HOW QUICK these cast gears can fail in our engines.

Do your self a favor, when you get your "STEEL GEAR" check it to make DAMNED SURE its steel.

earl

 

[Uraeus]

I put my new cam in on Friday, and re-installed the timing cover and water pump on Saturday morning. The rest of the weekend was spent remodelling the bathroom (I have to do something for my wife in exchange for the FFR). I still need to drain the oil, re-install the intake and finish reconnecting the carb. I hope this time I have solved my gear-eating problem. I already put in a standard oil pump, but the bolt on the cam drive had worked loose and allowed the cam to walk, hitting adjacent lifters and tearing the sh_t out of the cam. I really hope this solves this problem. Good luck to you.

 

[Wes Tausend]

You might try 5w30 oil also. Most new car specs, including Corvette and other hipo, call for this light oil instead of 10w30 ...and for good reason. The 5 means the oil never gets thicker than straight 5 weight oil when cold (nor thinner than 30w when hot). For many new cars, 5w30 means that oil gets up to the overhead cam quickly and replaces the thin film left there from the last time it ran. Now think about the poor cam gear way up there in the pushrod engine just waiting for a tiny, life-giving splash of oil once in a while. Think about 10w, or worse yet 20w50 "racing oil", that will hardly even pour, let alone splash when cold. Using other than 5w30 can void a warrantee in a new car. My personal opinion is that thick oil can "void" a gear too because the gear gets none ...just when it works the hardest trying to pump thick, cold oil.