[Speargun]

9000 miles on a BOP composite gear.
Is this normal wear?





This is the cap after 9000 miles.
What's going on here? The center button fell out after I pulled the cap.




At one point I had a ton of advance, 50*?, when the dizzy slipped.

MSD ready to run
MSD 6AL
NGK BKR7ES gapped @ .044".

[surfsama]

I'm not sure what the service life of the composite gear is but I would think factors like a rough cam gear mating surface, high pressure oil pump, high viscosity oil, etc. will deteriorate a distributor gear faster. My BOP gear looked like that after <3000 miles.

On a side note, looks like it's sitting a little deep in the hole.

[Speargun]

Originally Posted by surfsama

I'm not sure what the service life of the composite gear is but I would think factors like a rough cam gear mating surface, high pressure oil pump, high viscosity oil, etc. will deteriorate a distributor gear faster. My BOP gear looked like that after <3000 miles.

On a side note, looks like it's sitting a little deep in the hole.

The wear is at the bottom of the gear, the roll pin goes below the gear, so I thought that it might be riding a bit high on the cam gear.
Not really sure that there is anything that I can do about it though, short of machining the mounting surface, since the dizzy doesn't have an adjustable mounting collar.

[Schurkey]

1. I'd be unhappy about the condition of the composite gear. Mind you, I've never used one. I thought they were recommended for dry-sump engines so they had no load from the oil pump--but I haven't researched that.

2. Is that a Made-In-China MSD distributor cap? I ordered a MSD cap for a vehicle, when it showed up the damned thing was Communist Crap. I sent it back. Gave it a negative review at Summit, which they wouldn't post.

[surfsama]

Yep, I didn't notice the orientation of the gear. Might try (assuming you haven't and you have the gap) experiment with shimming it down a bit.

Cliff Ruggles has written about his success keeping the composite and bronze gears in his builds looking new by meticulously dressing-out the cam gear. Unfortunately, dressing a cam gear isn't an option unless it's sitting on your bench or you pull the cam out of your engine.

I got less than 3k on mine before it looked like yours. Before I replaced it I installed a steel gear and ran that for a week then switched to a bronze gear for a few hundred miles and recently reinstalled a new composite gear. I'll check it after I put some miles on it to see how it's holding-up.

Regarding the distributor cap - 9K miles on a cap seems like a decent amount of time. I typically change them out between 3-4K.

[64speed]

The composite gear thing has me worried because I want the benefits of a roller cam but at the same time I don’t want to be yanking my distributor every 3k miles. I will be running the sniper with timing control so getting that all back in order each time seems like a bitch. Is there any guaranteed way to get this to not be an issue or are you just stuck with it. I have heard there are cams out there that take the standard gear but I don’t know who makes them

[tom s]

I have not had to replace any BOP poly gear.I have checked them often.I only run a 60lb pump.Tom

[Cliff R]

The distributor cap is fine, take a pocket knife and scrape off the build up and put another 20,000 miles on it, then do it again.

No experience with one of those gears but it's a cheap enough part a new one wouldn't be a bad idea. $100 or so part in a very expensive engine seems like good insurance to me.......Cliff

[grivera]

Originally Posted by 64speed

The composite gear thing has me worried because I want the benefits of a roller cam but at the same time I don’t want to be yanking my distributor every 3k miles. I will be running the sniper with timing control so getting that all back in order each time seems like a bitch. Is there any guaranteed way to get this to not be an issue or are you just stuck with it. I have heard there are cams out there that take the standard gear but I don’t know who makes them

Yes - do an advanced search on the topic, narrowing down by Cliff R. He has indicated many times over what he does to prep the roller cam's gears.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

The distributor cap is fine, take a pocket knife and scrape off the build up and put another 20,000 miles on it, then do it again

Button fell out of the center/coil post

Clay

[73ta]

Originally Posted by tom s

I have not had to replace any BOP poly gear.I have checked them often.I only run a 60lb pump.Tom

I had wear problems with low miles on the bronze style gear. Been running the BOP poly gear for years with no problems. 60lb pump with the oil gallery plg mod to lube it better.

[4zpeed]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

Button fell out of the center/coil post

Clay

Nuttin to do but toss it.



Frank

[gke60]

Originally Posted by 4zpeed

Nuttin to do but toss it.



Frank

I have had 3 MSD caps do that in the last few years.