I bought an msd distributor off a person i know. It is a new unit. He said that he changed the gear to a steel gear for a roller cam. The distributor also came with the other gear it had. But im not sure if it is a steel gear. The gear thats on the distributor looks like an iron gear. It is sprayed orange/yellow. Tried to see what i could find on the internet of the orange/yellow spray and found that some companies use colored paint to identify the gear material. Orange/yellow means its steel. What do you guys think? Iron or steel? The other gear in my hand is the one(iron) he had removed. This type gear came on the distributor from msd. But it has a smoother look than the other gear on the distributor.
Iron cams generally have same black coating as removed gear, yet to see a steel cam that same coating...
Lets Get Rid of the Myth of Steel and other Types of Distributor gears and Rite to why this is an Issue,, When Ford Went to the Roller Cam they Changed the Pitch on the Cam and Distributor gear by just a Degree or two,, This will cause the Distributor Gear to wear out and Fail. Now the next Problem is the shaft Diameter between the old breaker point distributors and the Roller cam distributor,, The Proper gear Cost about $70. at Summit Racing and is a Stock Item,, Or You can get a 1985 Mustang 5.0 HO Roller Cam with Standard shift and use the Distributor in the Dura spark cars, Its a Complete Drop in Distributor,, about $62. at Auto zone ,, Has Correct Angle on the Gear for the Roller cam Engines,, Thank You Joe
Depends on the cam and how the gear on the cam is heat treated, not all roller cams need a steel gear. SADI cam cores can have the gear heat treated differently than the lobes. Edelbrock roller cam I had at one time said it was compatable with ALL factory distributor gears. I ran it for several years with a cast gear without problem.
What I've heard is that the factory Ford roller cams are made of steel and therefore need a steel gear. Many of the after market roller cams are cast iron and would use the iron gear.
Again, it depends on how the cam gear is heat treated. The Comp XE cam in my signature is cast (SADI) but needs a steel distributor gear. Best thing is to contact the cam manufacturer and ask. I bought my cam used, emailed Comp with the grind number and they told me to use the factory steel gear. At that time Summit sold the Ford Racing steel gear for around $40. I see Summit now has their own brand for $30.
I'd just get the composite gear it wears good and you don't have to worry about chewing up the cam gear. I had used the steel gear that msd said to use for the roller cam that I have,and it started chewing up the cam so I switched to the composite gear and it works great.
Well Ford Motorsport Gave me the Dope on he Factory Roller cams and Using the non-Roller Distributor in them,, Smoked a few in my day,, and asked some Questions,, Came down to the answer of the angle on the Cam is Slightly different,, and this is the Problem,, When we put the parts in that Ford says to use,, Works Like a Charm. Just Installed a Stroker Engine in My E-150 Recovery Van,, ate the Gear in 60 Miles,, Put in the New Distributor Recommended By My Motor Sport GooRoo and Its has Close to 6K Miles since the Problem,, No Issues,,,
News to me, in 25 years of owning roller cammed 5.0 never heard a word about angles not matching, if that were case dist would be difficult if not impossible to install... I've briefly used iron dist on roller cams and never noted any odd wear, though if run 1000s of miles the dist gear will wear out... Last worn out iron dist gear I saw had around 15K miles on it... With HV/pressure oil pump, gears won't run nearly that distance... It's no different than using guide plates on non hardened push rods, they will wear grooves in them... On plus side, wear pattern makes it easy to measure cam lift...
you need to use the gear that the cam manufacturer recommends, I too have not heard of different gear pitch, the main issue with the ford dist. and cam gear is the minimal amount of oil it gets. I am running a Comp roller cam and they recommended a composite gear. Make sure to use some cam gear lube when you install it