[DeTomaso] Pantera fall down go boom :<(

[Daniel C Jones]

Mike's running a Pete Jackson gear drive.  Gear drives are known to transmit
a lot more vibration/energy to the distributor gear than a timing chain.
I know that drive method can have an effect on gear life.  McLain has
a customer
with a solid roller circle track Chevy engine.  With a timing chain,
they had to
change the gear twice a season.  After switching to a belt drive, the
gear was like
new after 3 seasons.  Everything else was the same, same oil pump,
same cam, same
magneto ignition system.  Another builder said he had seen the same
gear wear as
Mike's on a hydraulic flat tappet cam with cast iron gear.  The guy
also had a gear
drive and rode the rev limiter.

> my very amateur question is whether the mechanical function of the hydraulic
> roller cam, which must be a bit different from a flat tappet, is a factor in
> the failure.

That's a possibility.  A flat tappet cam has tapered lobes which put a
fore-and-aft
thrust on the cam.  Rollers do not.  In either case, the 351C has the
same type of
cam retention as an OEM 5.0L with roller cam.

Dan Jones