What dist. gear is needed for the roller cam 302 and how can you tell them apart? How long will an incorrect gear live? Will there be visible wear on the gear if it's wrong, or only on the cam gear?

 

You need a steel gear, the cast one will eat up and fill the engine with shavings. The steel gear has a smooth surface and the cast gear will look a little rough, like a head or block casting.

 

Ok, I think I have thw wrong gear. I have another distributor with a bronze gear, can I toss that in? I wanted to take the car to NC tomorrow. It needs to be reliable.

 

Bronze will work with either cast or steel cams but it's not usually the best choice. The bronze gears tend to wear out quickly. You could definately use it for now and replace the gear for a steel one when you get some free time.

 

I ran a cast geared distributor for a few minutes in a 331 on an engine stand, it maybe had 5 minutes run time, and it had noticeable wear. This was a fresh reman distributor. Before swapping gears, you might want to just buy the correct distributor instead. New reman distributors run about $55 from Advance Auto Parts, the steel Ford Racing gear is only $10 or so less.

 

Well this cast gear seemed to hold up ok over the last 5 years and 6k, but it was a little shiney on the teeth. I threw in the distributor with the bronze gear, and put the other in the back.

I can check the gear for wear when I get down there, but it's gotta last the 700 mile trip there too.

 

I don't see where a broonze piece would work better being that it's softer than cast.

 

The load from the distributor itself is not the problem it is the load on the gear from the oil pump.

 

I've got one last question I've been dying to ask, any problem using a steel gear on a non-roller cam?

 

Yea the same problem you run into with a cast gear on a steel roller cam. The softer metal gets worn by the harder.

 

Thank-you...steel with roller....cast with non-roller