All,

91 L98 died on the highway last night. Got towed home, checked for fuel, pressure was fine. Did not have spark. Got the coil out and ohm'd out fine. ICM tested fine at autozone. P/U coil also checked out within spec.

I ended up moving the rotor my hand it felt weird. Was able to make it rotate 90* and then pulled it out. Gear was trashed, teeth completely worn down on one half, the others were also worn but not all the way down.

When this car had my stock 350 block with LPE 219 cam, my p/u coil went bad. I bought a remanufactured cardone distributor from autozone in 8/2012. When the 350 was pulled last year, the 219 cam gear and my current distributor gear looked great.

383 block installed/finished 7/2013. Put about 3000 miles on it until dec when I laid it up for the winter. Ran without any issues. Start it up for spring, all is good for maybe 20 miles until last night. This had nothing to do with winter...it was going to happen regardless.

The only thing that changed was the 383 block, which was decked to be cleaned up (I don't know the amount) and the heads were decked to make them 100% flat at an engine shop (also don't know the amount, but the machinist said he barely touched them.)

All other things are the same except a high volume oil pump and the correct shaft (hardened I think).

The cam gear looks fine. I do not think materials of the two gears didn't match up right due to the car being run for a good while as a 350 with the same dist/cam combo and not having any issues. I inspected both during the rebuild and both looked great.

I returned the dist to autozone and was refunded 175.00. I am looking for an aftermarket distributor and shims just in case it's bottoming out in the oil pump shaft, I do not think my old one was bottomed out, as I tested that before it was returned. When flush against the intake, without a gasket, there was up and down play at the point where the rotor bolts to.

I need to get opinions on what distributor to purchase, and what material gear also. What material is the LPE 219 made out of?

Once it runs, I plan on dumping the oil and opening up the filter. The oil was changed just before winter and it only had maybe an hour of run time on the fresh oil. I am hoping the teeth wore down slowly and did not break off...

Thanks and any advice or input is much appreciated...

Mike

 

...... Open up the oil pump and take a peek ... what oil are you running ? ...........

 

My friends truck with 140k did that a couple summers ago, he swapped the dist for a new one from autozone and it's still going.

 

The problem is the high volume oil pump. The extra load from the high volume pump wears out the melonized gear on the distributor. You can prolong the gear life by adding a small groove to the distributor that directs pressurized oil to the distributor gear. Search the net for a drawing of this mod, it is an old racer trick and it works. Another option is to try a new composite gear from Comp Cams, I have been told they will last but my experience with them is limited. I have one of those gears in my 1986 vette but I do not have enough time on it yet to come to any conclusion.

 

If I recall correctly, the MSD distributor I purchased some time ago came with instructions that said not to use synthetic oil for the first xxx miles. But - I don't think that should apply to a Cardone as I have used them before and they had no instructions like that.

 

Lunati Everwear gear from Summit, believe its the .501 size

Drilled this hole in for a direct stream to the gear
Syn fluid no issues.

How much endplay does the cam have in it?

 

I went through two melonized gears with my 383 comp cam motor with HV oil pump (comp rep TOLD me to run melonized....). After the second failure I did more research - changed to the comp cams composite gear and zero problems. It's pricey at around $120. BTW, I shimmed my distributor for endplay, verified it wasn't bottoming out, cut the oiling mod with a dremel, checked cam for endplay, etc, etc. Comp recommends the composite gear when running the billet steel gears.

I won't use comp again in the future after the headaches. I don't want to start the HV oil pump debate either, but if I could go back I would have run a standard pump.

 

I would go with the composite gear.. These are suppose to last a long long time with almost zero wear....Im running an Accel #32100 iron gear in my 383 with a high volume pump, and after 30,000 miles still have very little wear on the gear.. If and when I do have to replace the gear it will be with a composite gear.....WW
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love it. There's been so much propaganda about the "bullet proof" stock small block oiling system which never "needs to or should be modified" that unfortunately a lot of people believe it .

 

You need to go back to the cam and find out is it billet with a billet gear or a pressed on iron gear. If it is billet, you will need to run a bronze gear. I have modified my distributor cutting a groove around .020 deep to lubricate the gear.

 

You can use composite dizzy gears with any cam gear material ( even billet) with virtually no wear, ever....Below is Comp Cams statement....WW

Comp cams Composite gears are the latest in high-tech distributor gears designed around solving the wear issues associated with bronze gears in racing applications.
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OK...thanks everyone.

So the plan of action...Get another Reman Cardone/Delco Distributor and install the composite gear. In the process, research the oiling mod and perform it to the new dist. Drain the oil, cut open the filter, see how much destruction is in there. I do not have the drive to pull the pan, check the pump, change the cam, etc at this time.

This is from the LPE site...All of the Lingenfelter hydraulic roller cams are produced from a hardened steel core with a unique distributor gear. This eliminates the need for a special bronze distributor gear, which must be replaced frequently due to the soft material.

Thanks for all of your help. The correct gear size is .491 for a stock reman dist right?

Mike

 

Mike , yes .491 is the one I used on my Delco Remy distributor...If I can add one more item to your list.... Install a magnetic drain plug in place of your regular plug, this will attract any metel in the pan, which can then be removed next oil change. They also make a magnetic ring that goes around your oil filter to trap and hold metel, this may or may not be needed.........WW

 

SO...

I ordered the reman dist and composite gear.

About this mod to the distributor...

Install the dist, get it lined up right, mark where the cam gear would be. Remove dist, remove the gear, dremel a slot .02-.03 deep for the oil to pass through which would then spray onto the cam/dist gear area. Does anyone have any more detailed pictures? I'm having a somewhat hard time figuring out exactly what to do. I just slot the lower of the two sealing areas correct?

Thanks for everything.

Mike

 

Good easy mod I always do on my hei dist.

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/e...fication_tech/

 

Update...

All is installed and well. Composite gear from comp cams, reman distributor with the oil mod, etc. Oil pressure seems fine, 30-40 psi warmed up, 60 under higher rpms.

Car seems to run much better with low end torque than before. I can only assume the extra slop/play between the gears was hurting performance.

Plan is to run it for 100 miles, change the oil, run it for another 1500, change oil again, pull the distributor and see how the gears look.

Reinstall went really well minus being off one tooth the first try and breaking the tabs on the distributor 3 wire conenctor which I am having a hell of a time finding.

Thanks for everything.

Mike

 

Mike, I had my tabs break also, for the time being just use a small zip tie around the connector to hold them together.......WW

 

Update:

I have since changed the oil again after about 50 miles, and there were shards of the old gear stuck to the magentic drain plug. I did not change the filter at this time, but am going to do another oil change in 50-100 miles and do the filter at that time again.

Everything seems fine as far as oil pressure goes, it has always had a lifter/valvetrain tick at dead cold starts, and it goes away within 20-30 seconds. I am wondering if I should throw a bottle of lucas in with every oil change? My oil pressure is 60+ psi cold and about 20-30 psi full temp. I will be going back to mobil 1 synthetic after the next oil change.

I am wondering if the lucas would help protect the cam and distributor gears and help the tick at cold start. I plan on pulling the distributor after about 1000 miles to check the gears.

Any more input is much appreciated.

 

tick could just be the lifter being bled down. They make a little noise or can til it gets oil pressure and warm. My 5.3 sounds like they are going to come out of the engine for the first minute or two but are healthy
Oil pressure sounds perfectly fine

 

Change the filter. They are only 5 bucks.