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Dist gear: abnormal wear issue.

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Bucknaked Racing

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
so yesterday i went to pull my heads for a fall project port job. when we yanked the msd pro billet dist we noticed some gear wear. i checked the cam and i see shinny spots but i dont see any wear that would make me worry.

the gear on the dist has some polished teeth in one spot. then 180* around it the gear is wore bad. on tooth is about half the with. there are about 3 or 4 teeth that are worn. but only on this one side of the gear.

now the dist is was used in another motor of mine before this one and i didnt notice anything bad when i placed it in this one. this cam has been in this motor since early aug. not too many miles on it. it is a 1990 hyd roller 355.

any ideas as to the strange wear? thanks for the
 
#7 ·
If it is a cast cam, buy a new factory style hardened gear.

If the cam is a steel billet, buy the Everwear gear instead of bronze if it is a street car.

The bronge gears are fast wearing & need periodic replacement

Do you have a high volume oil pump?
 
#11 ·
If the MSD is only a few years old it should've had a melonized gear. Did you use a good bit of break in lube on the dizzy gear when installing?

One thing that you can check easily is to see if it's bottoming out on the oil pump which would screw up the gear mesh. Take the cap and rotor off, then drop it back in without a gasket and install the hold down clamp. Grab the weight plate assembly (not the reluctor setup that the rotor screws to) and see if you can pull up and down on it.
 
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Discussion starter · #12 ·
steiner. thanks for the info. i will try that. the dist is about 10 years old or so.
could the dist being too high cause this problem as well. i do have a pretty good gap between the intake and block at the in the oil valley area.
 
#13 ·
Your best bet would be to slather some anti-seize or grease on the gear, drop it back in, rotate the engine a couple turns, pull it out, and check the mesh pattern.

10 year old MSD probably doesn't have the melonized gear. If you're running the stock cam from the 355 that might be the problem. GM roller cams require a melonized gear and at one time they supplied MSD with theirs although they had to be honed out to fit.
 
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#14 ·
Sounds like Cam Walk to me as well. The Cam should be locked in between .004" to .008" with the Rollers riding in the middle of the Cam Lobes using an Anti-Cam-Walk Device consisting of a Forward Thrust Device and an Anti-Wear-Back Lash Plate. Do not depend on Stock Timing Chain Cover to secure the forward thrust as it will Flex - If So - Re-enforce the Timing Cover against the Water Pump directly in front of the Thrust Device.

Inspect your Cam Distributor Ring Gear - Hope it's not defective as the result of your findings and check that your Distributor Shaft Bearings are still tight.

You can use the STD OEM Distributor Gear on an Cast or Billet Cam with an Everwear Cam Ring Gear. You have to use either a Bronze or Composite Distributor Gear with a Billet Cam Ring Gear.
 
#15 ·
Good advice, Ron. Hope with a '90 roller cam and block he's using the factory retainer plate.
 
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Bucknaked Racing
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