Quote:
Originally posted by BossCER
How do you guys feel about a Melonized distributor gear vs. a Bronze gear on a roller cam motor??
|
A bronze gear, since it is softer, is going to wear faster, without wearing the gear on the cam. With a steel gear , it will last longer, but you are at risk of wearing/destroying the gear on the cam, therfore ruining the cam. I have used a bronze gear in the past, and after 1000 miles, there was noticible wear, but not nearly to the point of gear failure. So I switched to a steel distributor gear, by Crane cams, and after another 1000 miles, there is no noticible wera at all, on either the distributor or cam gears. I have not yet buffed the leading edges on that cam gear yet.
One thing that is not talked about much, but I have noticed myself, is that the gear on my comp cams roller cam ( a different engine) had sharp leading edges on the teeth, so it was recommended by somebody on this forum, and I did, to use a dremel to buff the edges smooth to the touch. I have not yet ran this motor to see how durable it is. I plan on running a steel distributor gear with it as well. I think I remember in that person's post, that they said they do this on all engines they build with roller cams, and have not seen any wear problems. I wonder how much wear I would have had with the bronze distributor gear in the above engine if I had done this to the cam gear. I think it also depends upon the engine design itself, as some engines may get less
oil to the teeth when running, and have a predisposition to gear wear/failure, such as the sbf.