[Half-Inch Stud]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

Keep in mind that these roller cams are hardened forged steel and have machined distributor drive gear teeth, unless you have a cast gear pressed on the cam and pay extra for it. Crane roller cams came that way, or they used to. Most factory roller cams are cast steel, so they work fine and don't require a bronze or polymer gear.

Anyhow, the machining process leaves tooling marks on the drive gear and can leave a very sharp "knife" edge on the gear drive teeth. Both will wear out and/or chew up the BOP composite gear if you don't take steps to prevent it.

...

Here we "polish" the drive gear by bead blasting it with ultra fine glass beads after removing any sharp edges on the drive teeth with a jewelers file. ZERO issues with any of our roller cam engines using BOP gears after doing this. On my own engine .......lives just fine, and has been in perfect shape every time we have pulled the distributor to inspect it.......Cliff

So, if i stop by at your pub, can i buy a few pints while you take my Roller cam back and prep the gear? How long would it take, are we talking like 2 or 3 pints?

[ta man]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

So, if i stop by at your pub, can i buy a few pints while you take my Roller cam back and prep the gear? How long would it take, are we talking like 2 or 3 pints?

If you took A QUAD and waited you would be pretty drunk!

[Cliff R]

I build Quads on weekends for cash if you want to cut the wait time down some!

Been doing a lot of them in recent years, after EVERYONE else available to the owners has had a stab at them. Just finished up a 1970 Corvette Q-jet for a local guy a couple of weekends ago. I enjoy getting to meet folks and see their cars and hear the stories behind them. Had a 1968 Hurst Olds in here last summer, very rare and 455 powered.

Prepping a distributor gear is child's play. I wouldn't run a roller with any type of distributor gear on it without making sure the distributor drive gear is smooth and free of any "rough" areas, tooling marks, sharp teeth edges, etc.......Cliff

[gtofreek]

I think he meant 4 pints of beer as "A QUAD".

[Formulajones]

Must be a Canadian thing because where I come from a "Quad" means a 4 wheel ATV vehicle.

[ta man]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Must be a Canadian thing because where I come from a "Quad" means a 4 wheel ATV vehicle.

LOL yes we have atv's called quad's up here too!

[Formulajones]

....

[Cliff R]

I don't drink any more.............don't drink any less either!

I do prefer a good bourbon these days instead of beer........LOL.....Cliff

[steve25]

A Bronze gear will not help, and it will just likely ware even faster!
You need to plan on pulling the Cam and polishing over the gear on its end I am sorry to say.
If I was in your Shoes that's the only way I would get 100% releaf on the issue!

[surfsama]

Originally Posted by steve25

A Bronze gear will not help, and it will just likely ware even faster!
You need to plan on pulling the Cam and polishing over the gear on its end I am sorry to say.
If I was in your Shoes that's the only way I would get 100% releaf on the issue!

I agree however, it will be a winter project as my summer dance card is filled.
I'll run the bronze for a 100 miles and check it and then just keep an eye on it.

Thinking outside of the box for a moment, what about running an iron gear for an hour or two to wear down some of the high spots? Don't flame me - just a thought.

[Cliff R]

I had a 455 Super Duty engine come in here for rebuilding last summer with an iron gear running on a Comp custom ground solid roller cam. The cam and distributor gear looked fine so at least for the short time the engine ran they were getting along pretty good together......Cliff

[steve25]

Have at with the iron gear deal ,but stick a bunch of real strong Neo type magnets to the side of the pan besides running a magnetic drain plug if your not doing such already!

[KEN CROCIE]

FJ: Who sells the Mellonised gear for Pontiac. I agree with the Monkey business. If you cant find a good lobe design out of a thousand or so (Crane specializes in iron gear rollers) lobes Crane offers , you're kidding yourself.

[surfsama]

Originally Posted by KEN CROCIE

FJ: Who sells the Mellonised gear for Pontiac. I agree with the Monkey business. If you cant find a good lobe design out of a thousand or so (Crane specializes in iron gear rollers) lobes Crane offers , you're kidding yourself.

Just to be clear, we're talking about the distributor gear. I could not find a mellonized distributor gear for my year (1969) 428 engine.

The cam is installed and works fantastic so no issues with specs. My issue is not having the "tribal knowledge" at the time of purchase to have an iron drive gear installed or the steel drive gear deburrd, filed, bead-blasted, etc.

[Lee]

Dave Ray has converted a bunch of distributors for me over the years, and has had the gears melonized for me on several. I don't know who he used for the service, but it seems like he only charged about $10 for the service.

I've not seen anyplace else offer them.

[surfsama]

Originally Posted by Lee

Dave Ray has converted a bunch of distributors for me over the years, and has had the gears melonized for me on several. I don't know who he used for the service, but it seems like he only charged about $10 for the service.

I've not seen anyplace else offer them.

Email set to Dave. Thanks!

[Lee]

Originally Posted by surfsama

Email set to Dave. Thanks!

You are welcome, but be patient! Dave has been hard to get ahold of lately.

[surfsama]

Originally Posted by Lee

You are welcome, but be patient! Dave has been hard to get ahold of lately.

I ended-up giving him a call and he picked right up (he was at the hardware store). A really sharp guy and very personable to speak with.
Bottom-line, a melonized distributor gear will wear out too so no solution there. Dang.

I emailed Dave at SDPerformance (cam supplier) and he wrote back saying they have been running an iron geared distributor during break-in lately to smooth-over the cam gears a bit. So, I guess it wasn't so out-of-the-box. I'll probably run an iron gear for a couple of hours and check again.

[tom s]

I know Joe Sherman has broke in at least one of my engines in on the dyno with a stock gear on a billet roller,he said he has done it for years,not because he though it was good for the cam just that he did not have a dist in house with a poly or bronze gear and had never seen a issue with short time on them.Tom

[DevoBuzz]

Thats what I did. Ran stock gear a couple hundred miles before switching to the polymer gear. Seems to have worked out ok.