Howdy, two questions. What company's cam are you using? Exactly how was the nylon (they're not plastic) gear installed?
Hi, old6. I'm using a new Clifford Performance cam. I know nylon, I shimmed it to .005 clearance, after wiping out the first one that had .090 clearance from stock. It's pinned with a roll pin.
The new distributor gears you've been installing...?? Out of the box do they have the the hole for the roll pin drilled all the way thru the gear? Only drilled thru one side? Not drilled at all?
ClayMart, they're out of the box from Napa, one drilled both sides, two dilled one side, and drilled other side by me.
OK, three things come soonest to mind. Item one .... Now I haven't heard of the Comp Cams problem connected with Clifford offerings, but I don't know whose cams they're selling, so I'll relate the basic problem there, just in case. Some of the aftermarket cams (notably Comp Cams) have been shipped with the dist/pump gear teeth only rough hobbed, not finish polished. These will of course, eat a nylon gear as effectively as a file would. Sooner or later they'll also get through the oil pump gear as well, destroying themselves (and the cam of course) in the process. You can check this directly via a light down through the dist hole for a look at the teeth in question (and perhaps a LIGHT shot of cleaning spray). Where found, the response for some slanters has been to have a stock (read proven) cam recut rather than buy a new (read unproven) stick off the shelf. Others have sent the cam back as often as necessary to get a properly finished one. My own answer (as I like a couple of the Comp Cams profiles) is to hand polish the teeth if Comp hasn't done the job. I have 5 street years on the last one I did, it isn't that difficult .... it is tedious. Item two .... The original dist gears were drilled with the holes slightly offset to the centerline, as was the shaft hole. This offset was slight enough to be missed by assemblers sometimes, resulting in side loading the gear hub at that point, and early failure. Assembled properly they ran fine. The aftermarket dist gears have been manufactured by enough different companies now, that the mounting specs have been confused, guessed at, and in some cases simply assumed from other applications. The net result is that you can't be sure of any of the new roll pin hole locations. The fix is simple, ignore all existing holes. Slide the gear into a position to yield the proper end play, mark for, remove, and drill one hole. Slide back on and drill the second hole right on through the shaft's hole. Item three .... This gear set is oiled only by run-off from the top end, and by splash. You can check the openings that lead the run-off to that point for possible blockage, build-up, casting flash, etc, that may be shunting the oil away. Other than these, the usual possibilities of dist shaft binding at some point of rotation, or binding that only shows up when end loaded, etc, are what's left. ps. Go-twichey, thanks for the picture lesson as well, I've been having'em all hosted so far.
dirt t, no I did not have this problem before the engine was rebuilt, it worked fine. That makes me think the new cam has something to do with this problem. go-twichy, I think maybe my pics are to big by the email I got from the administrator, I will try to resize. old6, alot of good info there, I will try drilling my own holes as you suggest, but first I think I'm going to try a different dist., mainly because I have one coming, just to see if the dist. I have, could be the problem or something else like you said. Thanks, all you guys and keep the ideas coming, I appreciate them all, Bob.
HA! So I'm not the only one who's heard this same information! Another tip, if I might. When you drill the second hole in the gear thru the distributor shaft, either install the roll pin immeadiately or mark a common point on the shaft and the gear so you don't accidently try to put it on 180 degrees out later on!
Thanks ClayMart that makes sense, hopefully if it works , I'll never have to take it off again. Yeah right!
I wish I'd only heard it. Unfortunately I've run slants long enough to've had to deal with the dist gear problems more than once (check out my sig links ).
Hey, it worked. Sorry about the pic quality, I need a new camera. Thanks go-twichyfor the picture learnin.
awww-yea! you did it! now you're un-stopable! so, there's a 4 barrel intake under there. i was wondering how you goy three carbs on it.looking good! but now if you hear someone saying "i can't load pitures" you got to walk them through it!
I do have a question for you though. Do you ever find that thats too much plenum for the carbs. It also looks as if there could be turbulent spots created by the transition in manifolds. I guess what im asking is how does it run for you through out the excelleration band?
Thanks a million go- twichy, now I feel like a real hambster, er hambonian, uh hambperson, whatever, thanks. Now come up with a solution to my original problem, ha. Bob.
Well I think I'm getting more air in than gas, but I'm playing with jets to see what works. As you know I have a problem with keeping it running long enough to fix things, but several times I have taken it out and flogged it, and it will leave two nice black stripes and scare me.
Thanks, I built it to be different and the fact that I have a strange fascination with 6 cylinders since a impressionable youth.
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