cam gear oiling
 

Any of you guys ever cut a groove, or drilled a hole, in a distributor shaft to add extra oiling to the cam gear? I was thinking of doing this, and positioning the oiling groove so that its aimed at the cam gear.

I drill 3 small holes. One in each end cap of the lifter oil galleys and one in the oil galley going to the front cam bearing. The ones in the lifter galleys caps are to prevent vapor lock of the oil to the front lifters after the motor has sat (like boat motors tend to do. Another one in the cam bearing oil galley so there will be oil behind the cam gear that way the hardened spacer (roller cam) wont burn into the block.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...nname/1_18.jpg

Im talking about the distributor being modified to oil the dist/cam gear better .

I think he is talking about a slot in distributor body to put pressure oil on dist gear to cam gear interface.

I never have but don't run the oring on the lower of the distributor. I figure enough oil will seep by.

MSD dist has the oiler hole, but I never paid much attention to where it was pointed. Then I installed my cam this time around and found the gear was damaged. The dist will go in as a cam sensor so I can orientate the oiler hole right over the gears and should have good lubrication to them. I have done the slot thing before also.. I believe it is a good idea..

i have never done it,also never had any problem with gear ware on cam or dist.i believe the gears get plenty of oil already,jmo.

No o-rings and slot; no issues with bronze dist gear wear on my engines.

I remember crane cams had a tech bulletin about doing the mod/groove. Apparently it helped lube the gears much better, and last much longer, especially when running a high volume oil pump. I seen some guys claim even their bronze gears living much longer after the mod, with a direct spray of oil on the gears.

I know on my 454 vortec truck engine, it was advised to pull the distributor at 100k miles, and take a look at the gear. I pullled mine at 90k miles, and sure enough, the gear was done. The teeth were razor sharp and worn big time.

Just one of those easy mods, i cant see hurting anything?

You have a groove cut in the shaft ?

I put a hole in the bottom lip on the distributor shaft so it squirts oil right on top of the gear.

I cut a small grove in the dist to oil the gear , I've had issues before and never had an issue since I started doing it

I've done a groove to add oil,noticed nothing better in terms of wear compared to the non grooved ones.on msd distr's,I use only the top o-ring.of course the spring seat pressures were never over 225lbs on the solid rollers.and nver saw anything on hydraulics.

Some good info on this mod here. I see some guys have cut a groove in the block to get some addtl oiling to the cam gear.

Makes sense, like guys grooving lifter bores, or lifters, with flat tappet lifters.

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com...ear-wear.1701/

Has nothing to do with valve spring pressures. Roller cams are harder than flat tappet cams and they will eat a standard iron gear. Apparently the GM perf cams like the 454HO and ZZ502 are billet stock and require special dist. gears. I am not sure about the standard production roller cams. I just picked up a 454HO cam for one of my builds and am wondering if all production engines from the roller era come with the hardened dist gear. Where do i find details on the distrib mod for gear oiling?

In the lower 'bushing' then the distributor is positioned in the engine so that the groove is over the cam gear. Sorry for the confusion.

Found this on cranes site

Chevy V-8's, small block, big block, and 90? V-6 engines, all use splash lubrication to oil the distributor gear. Although higher RPM operation provides sufficient lubrication to prevent wear, low speed use can be a problem. The situation can become critical if a high volume oil pump is used. The high volume oil pump was developed for engines where bearing clearances were increased over stock. These work fine in racing engine applications, where extra clearance is provided in the short-block.

However, when a high volume oil pump is used in an engine with stock internal clearances, the increased volume of oil can't flow through the engine fast enough to relieve the back pressure created. This places an increased load on the distributor gear, and leads to accelerated wear.

Once the gear on either an 8620 steel cam or a cast iron cam is worn excessively, the cam itself must be scrapped! There is no repair for this problem, and the only option is to buy a new cam. To eliminate this annoying and expensive problem, we offer a simple, do-it-yourself way to help oil the distributor gear and reduce this accelerated wear in Chevy V-8 and 90? V-6 engines.

On these engines, the lower portion of the distributor housing drops through the oil gallery that supplies oil to the lifters on the passenger side of the engine. Two rings at the bottom of the distributor housing seal the top and bottom of this galley. Oil flows around the distributor, between the two rings.

Solving distributor gear wear is as simple as filing or machining a .030" groove in the bottom ring of the distributor housing. A three cornered file can also be used.

The distributor housing should be grooved in any engine operated for extended periods at low engine RPM. With the distributor installed in the engine - ready to run - the groove should face TOWARDS THE CAMSHAFT. This will provide a reasonable flow of oil to lubricate and cool the distributor gear and cam gear as they operate.

http://www.cranecams.com/bulletins_listview.php?s_id=27

joe,did you find excessive gear wear ?

Seems like an easy cheap mod, I like it.

It is and it doesn't cost you any oil pressure that you will notice.basically just need to scratch the bottom boss.

#winning!
Make gear Distributor gear oiling great again!!