magnum

I just dropped the pan and changed the chain and gears but you may be right.That why I think a cam bearing may have spun.I worked with a guy who had a 80 something malibu with a pretty hot smallblock that always had low oil pressure.he rebuilt the motor and found the machine shop installed the cam bearings wrong.they were actually restricting oil to the top of the motor,I'm gonna call the MSD tech line tommorow.Their web site says this distributor has an extra groove machined into it to improve oiling the drive gear .Maybe this is not compatable with later model blocks.

magnum

I called the msd tech line today and their response was that they don't make a distributor for the vortec 5.7.They didn't even want to hear about my situation.very nice customer service...

WeaponX

MSD are a bunch of JERKS! Bad history with mine. No customer service ever.

RumRunner

Magnum,

Sounds like there was some miscomunication going on that they may have thought you were dealing with a Vortec Fuel Injected engine. A SBC with Vortec heads uses the exact same distributor. I've got multiple engines here both with, and without Vortec heads that we've used the same distributor. Do you know who you spoke to at MSD?

magnum

I don't know who it was but he didn't want to listen to my question.He just kept saying "we don't make a distributor for the vortec engine".Until just a few months ago I was a body man at a chevy dealer for the last 15 years.Besides the vortec motor in my truck both motors in my boat are based on vortec blocks.I used to be able to buy core motors for 100 bucks but their getting harder to come by.I've got training classes for the next 2 nights so I'll get back on it this weekend.Gonna put the priming tool bagk in and let it run as long as the drill holds up to see if I can get oil up top.

rexone

Sounds to me like there may be a difference in the dist housing diameter if you had oil pressure with the stock dist but don't have now with the MSD. Perhaps someone on the board has a stock dist laying around they could measure for you so you could compare the demension to the MSD housing?

You also said the oil pressure seemed slow to build. Don't think a cam bearing would affect that reading. I suspect oil leakage somewhere. Since the dist is he only thing that you changed to affect oil pressure that's where I'd be focusing first. Breaking a timing chain really shouldn't spin a cam bearing.

RichardCranium572

You sure one of the oil galley plugs behind the timing gear didn't come out?

I'll save it for another thread to explain why those msd efi replacement distributors will cause you to lose power.

magnum

I'm not ruling anythhing out right now.If I was going to keep this truck I'd be building a 383 short block for it but i just want to get rid of it.



Go ahead any way,Enlighten me to the down side of the msd distributor.I'm not very impressed with it right now anyway.

racin fever

Magnum,
Is it possible that the oil relief passage in the distributor housing is not lining up with the oil passage in the block due to the height of your aftermarket intake manifold? You may need an adjustable collar type distributor housing.

hellbents10

Sounds as though when the cam walked it chewed the cam bearings.