Late this previous spring, I wiped out a dist. gear on one of my 454 Mag EFI's. Never found the "root" cause of the problem, but the air temp was about 65 degrees, water temp was 55 degrees and I don't run a thermostat. Like Madmax said, I think the engine was "too cold"... even though I was cruising for a good 15 - 20 minutes before I opened her up.

-Bayley

You might want to inspect the cam at this point to see if there is any damage to the gear on it at this point. Other points to check cam gear not right to begin with they are not often checked by the cam mfg. they are on the blanks when they get them. I just disasembled a 351C that had a solid roller and waisted the cams gear as well as the bronze dist gear.