Ford FE distributor drive gear and pin

[sllib]

Mike;
FWIW, when I did my own engine I heard about this problem and I, too, have a Melling HV pump so I decided to solve it in advance. I went with 3/16" Chevy pins from MSD (I had to take the distributor out to dinner and get it drunk first!). I punched out the 1/8" pins, set the whole mess up in my drill press, aligned the gear on the shaft until a 1/8" bit slid through easily, ran a 3/16" bit SLOWLY through the gear and shaft to cut the hole bigger, then installed the new pin. Works great.
Bill

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by sllib

Mike;
FWIW, when I did my own engine I heard about this problem and I, too, have a Melling HV pump so I decided to solve it in advance. I went with 3/16" Chevy pins from MSD (I had to take the distributor out to dinner and get it drunk first!). I punched out the 1/8" pins, set the whole mess up in my drill press, aligned the gear on the shaft until a 1/8" bit slid through easily, ran a 3/16" bit SLOWLY through the gear and shaft to cut the hole bigger, then installed the new pin. Works great.
Bill

I thought about that too. It's interesting to note the Spirol pins' "Double Shear Strength Minimum" on 3/16" pins is 3150 lbs vs 1400 lbs for 1/8" pins. A few minutes with a drill and the strength more than doubles.

I found an interesting thread where someone actually tested various OEM pins, as well as high-strength pins from McMaster-Carr. The OEM pins were all well under the 1400 pounds specified for the Spirol pins, and the high-strength McMaster-Carr pin well above. The bottom line is he chose to stay with a high-strength 1/8" pin, though there are plenty of opinions supporting the use of 3/16" pins. Worth reading, especially if you want to satisfy your inner geek over a small, yet vital, engine component.

Ford 385 Series Engine Builders Forum: Distributor Gear Roll-Pin Experiment (For Nerds Only))