Ground up distributor gear
 

My best friends neighbor just recently bought an '89 GT with a new 351 Windsor with about 600 miles on the engine.... After about a week of normal driving, today he got in it and started to drive away when it died... After the usual looking-at-every-part-in-the-engine-before-this-one technique, we saw that the distributor rotor was not spinning while trying to start the car. We pulled the distributor out and saw that the gear was missing chunks of teeth and was completely sheared bare of teeth on one side. The camshaft gear looked ok from what we could see of it.
What do you think would have caused this? Any suggestions for the fix?

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Joe!
1988 GT, 167,000 miles!!! 13.71@105mph Check out my listing! Click here! Or my website:
www.joe4speed.com
1999 Ninja ZX-6R 10.32@135mph!
"What was the best thing before sliced bread?"

Yep, happend to me before. If there is a roller cam in there he will need a steel, or bronze distributer gear. Flat tappet cams use a cast iron gear. I am now using a steel gear and the problem is solved.

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Blown 347 W/Canfield heads, solid roller cam, track times this spring mid 10's or bust

93lx 5.0 daily driver

He should use a steel gear. The gear on the distributor should be as hard as the gear on the camshaft.

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351W 89 Mustang GT Convertible

Don't use anything but a steel gear with a roller cam on Winsor motors! Bronze will break as well. Been there done that. Steel only!

Thanks for the replies! That was the original distributor. Would that have come with bronze or iron gears?
Joe

When I bought my distributor it came with an iron gear.

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351W 89 Mustang GT Convertible