[DeTomaso] Fw: Re: Pantera fall down go boo m :<(

Daniel C Jones daniel.c.jones2 at gmail.com
Mon Jun 27 15:12:20 EDT 2011


> Note that Comp Cams list cams that are steel billet and others that are
> compatible with 'standard' distributor gears.

Comp Cams uses a -8 part number austempered ductile iron cam core for their
retrofit hydraulic roller cams and for some (most) of their street solid
roller cams.  A -9 part number 8620 steel cam core is used for the race
solid roller grinds.  Also, some race solid flat tappet cams use austempered
ductile iron cam cores.

> I've never had a distributor gear go bad in a Cleveland either. Except
> every Cleveland I've had to date had a _flat tappet cam_ in it... hydraulic
> or solid.

I had a flat tappet Lunati cam eat a cast iron Mallory distributor gear.
When I started using hydraulic roller gears, I spoke with Keith Craft.
He builds a lot of FE BBF with hydraulic roller cams and uses the Crane
manufactured Ford steel gear on both iron flat tappet and steel roller
tappet cam cores.  He said that several years ago, he started having cam
gear wear problems with standard flat-tappet iron cams from both Comp Cams
and Lunati.  He switched to the Ford steel gears on those camshafts and has
had no more problems.  He told both Comp and Lunati about it but both
companies reacted as if he were crazy.  BTW, he used the 351C part number
M-12390-J p/n gear on FE engines as the MSD distributors he uses have the
0.531" ID shared by 351C and 429/460 BBF.

> Specifically, steel billet roller cams.  Different cam material, so
> distributor gears for cast cams don't like them.

That's correct.  In Mike's case, he was using a steel gear designed for
his steel cam core.

> I've also read that some companies are installing a different gear onto
> the billet cam thereby letting you use the 'old' distributor gear.

Unfortunately, you need to order 50 cores to do that for a 351C.

> Whatever the case, the manufacturer should certainly be telling us what to
> use with which cam.

I especially like when you call the same cam company three times and ask
what type of core they use and get three different answers.

Dan Jones



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