Question on oil temperature

[bobcowan]

Originally Posted by boblyon1

Matt - just an aside to this thread. I have a 351W stroker in my 633 SPF and learned the hard way that the distributor gear tends to wear if you have a high performance oil pump. I didn't catch it in time and ruined the crank and had to re-build the engine. Good idea to check the distributor gear wear every now and then. My mechanic says the 351W is famous for this problem.

Unfortunatly, this is true. Same with the 302W.

There are a lot of reasons for this, too. In all the research I'v done, I have not been able to point to one thing and say that's what causes it most of the time. But, here's a list of things that seem to be common facters (in no particular order). And, I suspect that if you add 2-3 together, it's more likely to occur.

- Wrong gear. Especially with aftermarket distributers and comp cams gears. I'm a victim of that, but it was my own dumb fault.
-- steel on iron is a bad thing, and wears really fast
-- bronze gears wear fairly quickly (relativly speaking)

- Incorrect installation. Again, especially with aftermarket parts. Builder doesn't check depth and engagement during installation.

- Shear pin breaks/shears: this is pretty common, but usually causes the engine to die uimmediatly, since the distributer also stops turning.
-- shear pin too small
-- oil is too "thick"
-- high pressure oil pump
-- cheap/low quality oil pump, with too much drag
-- over revving the engine with cold oil and an open circuit cooler.

I don't think I'v ever heard of a sheared pin with a high quality (Ford or Melling) high volume pump. I'm sure it must happen somewhere, but it doesn't seem to be much of an issue.

I run a Ford HV/SP pump, ARP billit drive shaft, Mallory Unilite distributer. I get excellent oil pressure with Royal Purple 5W-30. 6 years of driving and racing, never a problem with those components.