Good morning gurus. I rebuilt the 400 in the wife’s 79 f250 a couple years a go. Used a Howard’s roller cam, trickflow heads and few other goodies. It runs really good! I also put a sniper with a hyper spark distributor on it. No issues for 2 years then it quit running all of a sudden. Long story short, the distributor gear is now missing 4 teeth and the others don’t look very good. I used the iron gear as Howard’s recommended. I’m at a lose as to how this happened. There isn’t any adjustment as to how the distributor sits that I can tell. It seems the cam and dist are too engaged by the wear pattern. Any ideas before I replace the gear and move on? Already recovered pieces from the pan and changing the oil. Would the high volume oil pump put added stress on the gear?

 

Roller cams for 335 series Fords will normally require a bronze or composite gear. Cast iron is not compatible with roller cam material.

 

thank you for the reply. This is the gear Howard’s cam (the manufacturer) said to use. I called to confirm before I installed the distributor.

 

Sounds like you need to call the manufacturer and ask what the heck is going on. Like a previous member said, you never use an iron with a roller cam.

 

No need for high volume pump if everything is set up. Did you check to see if you can turn the oil pump? 1 strand of a wire brush or a tiny piece of debris will seize a oil pump, something has to give, oil pump shaft, gear roll pin, gears. Another thought is did you measure the installed height of the gear on distributor. Just a few things to check.

 

I had this same issue with a high volume oil pump on my 351w… killed a couple of gears until I swapped out to a standard oil pump.

There is also an oil galley plug that is right behind the distributor gear. You can drill a .030 hole into that plug and it will spray oil right at the gear and help lubricator it.

I did both on my 351w and haven’t had an issue in 15 years now.

There are lots of sites that will talk about drilling the hole and some variance between .030 - .065

 

this was my first experience with these engines and was less down the internet rabbit hole of high volume pumps. This is what I’m suspecting is the issue but seeing if there’s something else I’m missing. This engine makes a lot of oil pressure. I do believe a standard pump would be sufficient. All that strain has to go somewhere and that great is the weak link. Thank you for the reply

 

thank you for the reply. I’m thinking of pulling the engine this winter to clean up the engine bay. I’ll probably replace the pump with a standard volume and see if that helps

 

When I had my Pontiac engine guy rebuild my 455 with RAIV heads for my 68 400 Firebird. It got a solid roller cam with Harland Sharp rockers. He said a composite gear or bronze on any engine. Not just a poncho. He took his training at Pontiac in the mid 60’s. I went with a composite gear and a place here in WI makes them. The engine is making just shy of 600hp and has been put together for a few years now with no issues.

I’m going to most likely hydraulic roller cam in my spare 460 and I’ll use a composite gear if available.

 

Definitely make sure the oil pump didn't jam for some reason.

Also as mentioned, roller cams are usually steel and you don't want a cast iron gear. Cast iron gears typically wear out the gear on the cam shaft so might check your camshaft gear.

I don't know anything about composite gears. Bronze gears are sacrificial and normally only used in engines where you routinely pull the dizzy. I believe the best choice for a steel cam is a steel gear on the dizzy. Just double check the install and make sure it's at the correct height.

 

I have always used a bronze gear on a roller cam, but Howards says you DO NOT have to. I argued with them and they assured me any quality cam gear is fine. I'm building a L78 396 right now and I'm going to use the standards gear.

Your problem may be combination of things, who made your cam gear? if it's the junk Chinese one that comes on 99% of new distributors there you go. always use MSD or US made equivalent if you're not running a an original one.

High volume oil pumps are for worn out engines. never use one in a good engine unless power loss and extra wear on your cam gear is the goal.

 

I called Howard’s (that’s who made the cam) and they insisted I use the iron gear. I’m also using a Holley (msd) distributor and gear. I think I screwed up going with the higher volume oil pump.

 

I was talking to them about 3 weeks ago, maybe they've changed their tune now, but they say iron, steel or bronze are all fine. but in any event it would be a wear issue not breakage and from what you're saying it's not worn.

An HV pump is a bad idea, but it really shouldn't break a quality gear. I guess if you're going to replace the pump it'll fix the problem whatever it is, but it almost sounds like maybe the pump got some silicone or something in it and bound up.

 

yeah, I fell into the internet rabbit hole on the oil pump. I stayed away from that when I built the LS engine for my 78 GMC. I seem to like to learn the hard way I guess.

 

This fjrom Howard Cams:There are two types of blanks we use on the Cleveland hydraulic rollers.

SADI blanks, which are ductile iron and are run with iron distributor gears or steel blanks, which are run with steel gears.