Distributor gear.... is it steel?
 

My 306 currently has an extreme energy Non-roller cam. Obviously the distributor gear that came in the car with the stock roller cam was steel right? I'm going to be swapping to a Compucam 2030 roller cam very soon and I was wondering if anyone knew how I can tell if the gear on my distributor was changed when the non roller cam was installed (before I bought the car), or if I still have a steel one. I'm assuming that if the cam gear looks fine, then it wouldn't be a steel gear, unless the extreme energy cams come with a steel gear too?

Now I'm just confusing myself more by writing this thread!! If you can make out what I'm trying to ask, then please let me know any advise you may have. Thanks in advance,

So what you are sayin is your car has the following: a stock dist., and an aftermarket cam. You want to swap cams again and you need to know if the gear you have will work or not? Is this correct. You can figure out what you have (as far as the gear is concerned) by establishing what type of cam you have, cast or steel. A steel cam requires a steel gear. And a cast cam requires a cast. The steel wont ride on the cast gear because it is to soft. and the cam is much to hard for a steel gear. Once you figure out what type of cam you have you will know what gear you have and if you need to swap one way or the other. I hope this helps.

Brad

well, it looks like I'll have to get a new steel gear for the new cam. Does anyone know if the diameter of the stock distributor shaft is 0.467 or 0.531?

I'm a little lost too. If you have a 5.0 HO motor, (86-95 mustangs did), then it came stock with a roller cam. You shouldn't need to change the distributor gear unless you are installing a flat tappet cam. If you are just swapping to a hotter roller cam you don't need to change the distributor gear.

LOWKEY

Let me start off by saying, you're right. Now let me re-explain my situation in better detail so it's not so darn confusing.

When I bought my 88GT, it had a hydraulic flat tappet cam already in it. The guy that was building the car ran out of cash after having the 306 done, so he opted for a cheaper cam setup with cheaper lifters. I was basically trying to find out if there's any way to figure out if the gear on the distributor was changed with the cam.

Since after some research I found that the cam is cast, and the gear isn't chewed up, I'm thinking it's safe to assume that my gear has been changed from the stock steel one to a cast one to work with the current cam. Now I must get a harder gear for my roller cam that will go in the motor soon. When I looked up the parts at Summit, I found that there are two different size diameter distributor shafts in the 302's. I'm pretty sure that the bigger one 0.531 is the one that I need, but I also see them available for 0.467, 0.468, and 0.469. I'm sure the last three are all one size, just different companys got slightly different measurements (human error)

I hope that makes a little more sense.:D

Now this makes more sense, You jsut have to figure out which diameter shaft you have.

Brad