Camshaft Eating Distributor Gear

kyphantom · January 16, 2009

I have a 1993 G.M.C. Yukon with a 5.7/ 350, i have just rebuilt the motor and made some upgrades, the upgrades that i have made are i bored the block .030 instaled a set of L98 heads a GM factory LT1 roller cam and a GM factory distributor gear that was susposed to work with the camshaft, the engine has less than 10,000 miles on it since the rebuild, i had to pull the distridutor to fix an oil leak and found that the distributor gear had been eaten by the camshaft. can anyone give me any ideas on how to stop this from happening again? none of the aftermarket companys make a bronze distributor gear for a small shaft GM Distributor. Thanks For Any Info

chrisbmo2000 · January 16, 2009

I have a 1993 G.M.C. Yukon with a 5.7/ 350, i have just rebuilt the motor and made some upgrades, the upgrades that i have made are i bored the block .030 instaled a set of L98 heads a GM factory LT1 roller cam and a GM factory distributor gear that was susposed to work with the camshaft, the engine has less than 10,000 miles on it since the rebuild, i had to pull the distridutor to fix an oil leak and found that the distributor gear had been eaten by the camshaft. can anyone give me any ideas on how to stop this from happening again? none of the aftermarket companys make a bronze distributor gear for a small shaft GM Distributor. Thanks For Any Info

eaten how??? got any pics???? sounds like the gear was not the right one after all but pics will tell the story

Chris

66nova · January 16, 2009

Did you go back with the factory intake? I have had aftermarket intakes that I had to shim or machine to make the distributor fit right. Sounds like the teeth are not meshing correctly. Even if you didn't change intakes you changed heads, fit could be a little different.

Because I don't know if the bronze gear is going to fix the problem by itself.

I would check distributor depth first, then if every thing looks good, I would look for an aftermarket distributor with a bronze gear.

Good luck, and lets see pics of that ride.

txab · January 16, 2009

Did you go back with the factory intake? I have had aftermarket intakes that I had to shim or machine to make the distributor fit right. Sounds like the teeth are not meshing correctly. Even if you didn't change intakes you changed heads, fit could be a little different.

Because I don't know if the bronze gear is going to fix the problem by itself.

I would check distributor depth first, then if every thing looks good, I would look for an aftermarket distributor with a bronze gear.

Good luck, and lets see pics of that ride.

+1

pennzoil29 · January 16, 2009

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What they said.

kyphantom · January 17, 2009

Still has the factory intake and distirbutor, distirbutor height is factory. the best way i can describe the the wear is the teeth on the distirbutor gear are tring to knife edge. tried to take pic of the gear but did not turn out well.

66nova · January 17, 2009

Still has the factory intake and distirbutor, distirbutor height is factory. the best way i can describe the the wear is the teeth on the distirbutor gear are tring to knife edge. tried to take pic of the gear but did not turn out well.

Have you checked the cam gear to see if it messed up too?

kyphantom · January 17, 2009

Not yet, GM said the the cam was a billet with a cast iron distributor drive gear so the factory distributor gear would work, this cam is the one that comes stock in a 1996 Z-28 LT-1 Camaro,

66nova · January 17, 2009

If I were you, I would start a post HERE

There is not a better engine site.

wheelsthatgrip · January 17, 2009

Could the oil pump input shaft be too long? This would cause the distributor to sit higher and also cause an oil leak as you have described. It would also lessen the gear tooth contact and subsequent wear.

Regards,

Keith

jon_883 · January 17, 2009

You probably need a cam button. I had the same problem with my '91 when I rebuilt it about 6 years ago. I converted it to a roller cam and the cam would "walk" forward on deceleration and grind on the distributor gear until it was razor sharp. Look into a cam button.

66nova · January 17, 2009

You probably need a cam button. I had the same problem with my '91 when I rebuilt it about 6 years ago. I converted it to a roller cam and the cam would "walk" forward on deceleration and grind on the distributor gear until it was razor sharp. Look into a cam button.

Good thought.

kyphantom · January 17, 2009

The wear is from top to bottom on the teeth on the gear, and the block that i built was set up from the factory for a roller cam with a cam plate behind the timing gear and i went back with every thing from chevy. the cam, the cam retaining plate ,the roller lifters, and the lifter retaining plate. the oil leak was caused by a bad gasket.