Yup, there's the cause of the roll pin shearing.

 

sigh… back to it

 

You can change an oil pump with the engine still in the chassis. It's not any *fun* but you can certainly do it.

 

I’ve seen some videos yea. That’s what I’m gonna do tomorrow, oil pump probably failed in the best way possible in hindsight, no engine damage just sheared the dizzy and shut the truck off before there was a serious lubrication problem

 

Was wondering what distributor drive gear metal should be? Seems bronze for flat tappet. Steel roller or iron?
pretty sure i used bronze accel dizzy 1988 FI 5.8 (20 years ago cant member)
but had upgraded the cam specific for SD as well, cant remember maybe cam required bronze ?

 

I have no clue either. I got a stock cam and flat tappet lifters. Just got a distributor off the shelf at the parts store.

 

The stock flat tappet camshaft requires a cast iron distributor gear. Which is what I have no doubt you recieved with your distributor. The Bronze gear is for billet steel camshafts, like roller cams.

 

Accel dizzy came with 2 gears bronze or iron Going to pull dizzy to see what metal i used. Thought bronze with roll pin.
back to subject i probably would have used straight cut timing gear set no chain just because i like the noise, trendy idk. It sounds good to me

 

https://www.enginebuildermag.com/200...tributor-gear/

Brass is a soft metal and its not considered something to use for a long time, but it wouldnt ruin a camshaft if you were putting some extreme power or valve train modifications into an engine.(I think)

Cast iron is softer than hardened steel(roller cams use this for distributor I think) and is used for the gear. good lubrication and proper zinc content and break in wear on flat tappet keep components wearing right (as well as good timing) to allow cast iron gear

 

Looks like composite is the way to go. Removes the guessing game if you are not sure about the cam or lifter material/configuration

 

Got the oil pan out today as well as the pump.. check this out



used a crane to get the motor up outta the way, idk how this piston skirt came off but I guess Metallica shrapnel ate the pump apart? Will be taking the oil pump apart in a bit for you guys

 

So I guess the story here is the piston shattered itself to pieces, got stuck in the oil pump, seized the oil pump and broke the distributor. Quite the butterfly effect

 

Yup. That's pretty much exactly what I would bet happened. Which hole has got the broken piston in it?

 

number 8 cylinder. Still intact just missing a skirt. Drivers side most rear cylinder if I got the numbering incorrect.

 

Well, if you get real lucky, you might be able to just buy one piston. You could probably button it back up with a fresh oil pump, if you just needed it to run, but that's really not an option I'd be keen on, if it were my rig.