I have a ZZ4 shortblock with trickflow heads, carb, etc. The cam is a Comp cam extreme energy hydraulic roller with 230/236 @.50 110 lobe separation.
My problem is that I had a distributor with a steel gear and it got chewed up by the cam gear and slightly wore the cam gear. I installed a bronze distributor gear and the cam chewed it up completely. I am going to get a new cam and a new distributor gear but first I need to know why the cam gear is eating up and wearing out the distributor gear????
I am going to recheck the cam end lash but since it is a ZZ4 block it has the cam plate at the end so I figured a cam button would be useless. The end play is the only thing I can think of that would cause the distributor and cam gear to get wore out within 5k miles.
If anyone has any suggestions as to what the problem could be please let me know, thanks.

While I am on the subject I have one more question, the max lift for the springs on the trickflow heads is .540" is it alright to get a larger cam that has .540" lift or is it bad to run the max lift that the springs are rated at? This is on a daily driver car so the car will get plenty of miles on it.
Thanks for any help/advice.

 

Is that comp cam a standard cam? Or is it one of their steel billet roller cams? If that is the case what was the gear on the distributor? Was it a stock GM distributor with the melonized gear? Or aftermarket with a real steel gear. The reason I ask is because a steel gear is not very popular. In fact Crane is just now offering them as a mate to their steel billet cams using steel gear.

On reason for maybe why the gear is ate up is with the use of a high volume high pressure oil pump. Crane claims with the use of a cam with a cast gear against a cast distributor gear, it can cause premature wear of the gear on both peices. Once the gear is worn changing to a bronze gear will not help, in fact because the cam gear is also wasted it will eat up the bronze gear very quickly. This is the reason why Crane is offering steel distributor gears to mate up with their steel billet cores with a steel gear.

I would get a new cam and a new standard GM distributor gear and try that. The ZZ4 engine is a roller cam ready block so the use of a button is not necessary. The only other thing I can think of that can cause this is if the intake isn't machined properly and the distributor is sitting too high or too low into the block to properly engage the cam gear.

 

about the manifold height. Make sure there isn't excessive clearance next time you tighten the dist. down.
I wouldn't run a .540 cam on a .540 spring. The damage from the springs binding isn't worth it.

 

Thanks for the input guys, I called comp cams and they reccomended a polymer distributor gear. The intake should be the right height, it's just a standard edelbrock performer rpm intake. The first distributor I had was a summit distributor with a steel gear. I'm going to install a new cam and polymer distributor gear and see what happens, atleast the polymer won't destroy a cam.

 

Did Comp give you a part number? Do they sell it?

I had distributor gear problems a while back too, went through two stock type and one bronze. I'm now using a GM melonized gear. so far so good.

Jake

 

I had this problem when i ran the stealth intake. I also had to use the thicker intake gaskets on that intake to get the bolts lines up. That intake was used so it may have been cut. When i went to the RPM intake with my comp cam (hyd)and the summit dist i haven't had any problems. I would double check that the dist sits flat on the intake without the hold down on , just to be sure your not wedging it into the cam gear.

BTW, our track opens up 1st week in April..come on down.

Mike

 

Hey Mike, do you have a roller cam in your motor? I have only had this problem with my roller cam, I had the same intake on a previous engine and the cam was fine so it probably isn't the intake height. How is the track down in Indiana? I'll be doing some drag racing in April as soon as I finish school.

 

JP,

I have a regular hyd cam, as stated in my above post. I simply mentioned this because i had this happen too, and the only difference was the thickness of the intake gasket that i used, just thought it might give you something to look at.

Our track is decent, it's a NHRA track and we have every Friday night T&T for $25 from 4PM till dark. Where do you usually race at ?

Mike

 

Hey Mike, I usually race at Milan dragway or Stanton up here in Michigan. Hopefully We'll be able to race soon.

 

Check you oil pump too.. If for some reason it is binding, you can destroy a cam gear.. Is the oil pump stock, and what pressures are you running?