crane cam gear for fe

[wrench87]

has any one used the new cam gear from crane i believe the part number is 34970-1?. my 445 fe stroker will be done in a few weeks and i need to get a cam gear for my mallory tfi distributor, i have one of keith crafts hydraulic roller cams. comp cams said i have to use a bronze gear, i talked to some one at kc's a while back who said they were having problems with the polimer gears so this is my last option before i buy a bronze gear. crane claims they will work on all cam types i was hoping to hear some good news about this gear any information would be helpfull.

[philminotti]

I also have the Mass-Flo distributor and a KC hydraulic roller cam. I was personally told by Tony at KCR that the distributor gear as received from Mass-Flo is fine. Hopefully someone (Keith?) can definitively weigh in on this controversial subject.

phil

[wrench87]

phil i have the gear in front of me that came with the distributor, the part number is 24903 i called mallory and they said it would not be compatible if my cam was made of 8620 or 9310 steel. i called comp and gave them the serial number and they said it is made with 8620 so i am concerned at one time the tech dept at mallory said it would be ok i dont want to take a chance and wreck a 10k motor. the crane gear is only 75.00 but being fairly new i wanted to see if any one used it with good results.

[Chaplin]

Wrench-
I've got one of the new crane gears in my motor. I'm using it with a custom ground crane hyd roller camshaft. So far I have about 900 miles on it with no problems. I haven't pulled the dist. yet to visually inspect it, but will do so before next spring.

[philminotti]

Wrench-

I totally agree with you about ruining an expensive motor...right there with you. I know KCR has built a least a couple of engines with the Mallory TFI distributor. I'm going to call them this week...

phil

[wrench87]

phil,can you check to see if you have the same gear? it is scribed on the cam gear. what troubles me is i got 2 different answers from mallory one from a phone call to mallory tech, and one from a e mail from mallory tech so i dont know who to believe. if you get an answer from kc please post it. does any one else have any experiences with this gear?.

[philminotti]

wrench-

My distributor gear is the same as yours. I called Mallory tech support today and the guy I talked with said the gear IS compatible with 8620 steel cams but NOT with 9310.

Talk about mixed messages. Geez.

phil

[RICK LAKE]

wrench87 So far my poly gear is working fine. I see no wear marks on it. If you call Crane, Comp, and Isky you will get a different answer from each tech you talk too. If it's a KCR custom cam shaft, Call Kieth and get the gear he runs. You can break the motor in with any gear but have to watch and see if a wear pattern starts. Biggest problem I have seen is the intake manifold is not located in the correct position on the block and the distributor is off center. This causes extra wear on both gears. Having an oil supply to this spot also helps stop any kind of wearing. Run the motor 100 miles and pull the distributor and check. Do this a couple of times and look at the teeth edges. 1 other note, was the camshaft end play checked? This will also per wear parts. Rick L.

[DON BEVERS]

Wrench87-
The only cam core that a stock type cast dist. gear can be used on is a stock type cast flat tappet cam. Any of the billet cam cores will require a bronze (old school) or a composite (new school) gear. This is regardless of the lifter type. Most of my experience is with small blocks, but in my recent Fe Cobra build, I used a billet camshaft. My friends at Comp informed me that the composite gear for the Fe and 351C, same gear, was not available yet. So I used an old bronze gear for the 351C that had the same ID as my new Fe dist.
What I did do was grind a small slot into the block behind the front cam bearing pointed in the direction of the dist. gear. Mind you, a very small slot. This will shoot a constant stream of oil onto the dist. gear for cooling and lubrication.
Distributor gears can wear very quickly and will generally only last a few minutes when incompatable parts are used and oil pressures have been altered.

[philminotti]

Don and Rick-

Wrench is referring to Crane's steel distributor gear that is advertised as being compatible with billet cams. See link below.

http://www.cranecams.com/index.php?s...&lvl=3&prt=113

I think I may run my Mallory distributor "as is" and check it in the first thousand miles or so. If it shows excessive wear, I'll consider switching to the above steel gear or a poly gear. JMO.

phil

[DON BEVERS]

Thanks Phil-
Apparently my contacts at Comp weren't aware of this part 5 mos. ago.
Looks like they actually have two part nos. for the Fe also! I'll have to check it out as the bronze gears do wear over time.

[wrench87]

i was hoping that barry r or kc would chime in , i guess i will run the mallory gear and just keep an eye on it, the e mail i got from malllory said what does comp cams reccomend, they said there gear is made of hardened steel, and they also sell a bronze gear

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by wrench87

... i guess i will run the mallory gear and just keep an eye on it

Whether you go with steel, bronze, or composite you might be interested in this factoid on Mallory roll pins by RobbMc found here: http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182...butor+Gear+Pin

Mallory distributors for Ford engines have been famous for shearing roll pins for 30 years. I tried to get them to do something about it for the entire eleven years I worked there.

To be fair, the problem started decades ago for the best of intentions. The story goes like this:

Unlike all other domestic makes, stock Ford distributors have gears which are pressed onto the shaft AND pinned with a .125" roll pin. The press fit takes 3/4 of the torque. All other makes of stock distributors have a slip-on gear. Most slip-on gears (including Chebby) use a larger .187" roll pin. The only slip on gears that use the smaller .125" pin are Olds and Mopar. However, unlike Ford, Olds and Mopar gears DO NOT TRANSMIT THE TORQUE REQUIRED TO TURN THE OIL PUMP. Mopar distributors don't even have a gear on the distributor and Olds gears have a hex in the bottom of the gear so the torque required to turn the oil pump is not taken by the roll pin.

In the 1960's when Mallory got into the performance aftermarket in a big way, they originally pressed the Ford gears onto the shaft just like OEM. But besides being a pain in the butt to do on the distributor assembly line, it also makes it very difficult for the customer to change a gear in the field (if the gear is damaged or if the steel gear needs to be replaced with a bronze gear for a roller cam). So, to appease customer complaints and to make the distributors easier to assemble, Mallory quit pressing the Ford distributor gears on the shafts sometime in the 1970's. The problems started soon after that.

About one in four Mallory distributors for Ford engines will suffer a roll pin failure at some point. Thick oil, high volume oil pumps and garbage in the oil pump all make a failure more likely. I ran a Mallory Unilite with the .125 pin for several years in a 289 '65 Fastback and never had a problem. But I ran standard weight oil, stock oil pump and I was lucky.

To be fair to Mallory, some of the newest Mallory competition series distributors for Ford use the larger .187 pin. But most of the common Mallory Ford distributors continue to use a slip-on gear with a .125 pin. Mallory does not really want to change the roll pin size because it would greatly complicate the replacement gear situation for the service department. Plus, the OEM gears would no longer interchange.

To fix the problem, simply drill the holes in the gear and shaft to .187 (3/16) and use a 3/16" roll pin. If you are worried about the shaft being too weak, use a .156 drill and roll pin. But do not rely on the .125 diameter roll pin. Install the larger pin BEFORE the smaller one fails.

[undy]

Keith had me run the Ford Motorsport steel gear in my MSD Pro-Billet dizzy in my KC 482". The engine's running one of Keith's custom Comp Cams hydraulic roller grinds, two years and no gear related problems. I'll be pulling the dizzy in the next few weeks to swap to my dual quad Tunnel Wedge set-up. I'll do a close inspect on the gear at that time.

Dave

[wrench87]

i checked the roll pin it is a .156, the mallory uses a .467 gear so the ford motorsport gear would not work msd must use a larger distributor shaft?. i am running mass flo fuel inj on the 445fe so i am using the distributor that he has custom made with a tfi module.

[philminotti]

I think all this underscores the fact that when you build a racing motor with aftermarket parts, nothing should be taken for granted, ever.

I think I'll review my build notes, come to think of it!

phil

[Keithc8]

You will need to use a steel or bronze gear with the steel core camshafts. The steel is what we use in the street engine because they will wear better over the long haul and not need replaced like a bronze eventually will. The Comp Cams polymier gear will work I just had a few guys strip the gears in the samll blocks but have not tried it on a FE engine. If Crane has a steel gear to fit your distributor that is what I would go with. Good luck, Keith Craft

[wrench87]

keith, have you tried the cam gear that comes with the mallory distributor wich they use in the mass flo fuel injection?.

[Keithc8]

I will check on that for you but I believe like you said that I was told it would work with the camshaft that we are using. I will ask my guys what we have done on the Mass Flow Malory distributor. Thanks, Keith

[Barry_R]

I have a couple hydraulic roller FEs running around with the Crane gear in them. So far no issues, but really not that many miles - maybe 5000 cumulative to date. The MSD billet distributors I like use a .531 shaft and a 460 gear.

To tell the truth I have not had severe wear issues with the bronze gears in FEs. I suspect that the Chevy guys have more issues since they lack the cam thrust control of a Ford. Most of my serious roller stuff sees pretty modest miles - but my own personal car ran for years before I replaced the bronze gear, and I only did it then because I changed distributors.

I have also gone to the larger Chevy roll pin when addressing a shearing problem. That way I can usually salvage the gear and shaft while making for a stronger assembly.