[TPR] Fw: Poly Dist Gear???

[cengles at cox.net]

Dear Kirby,

Ah, the voice of experience. The roller cam conversion *continues* to be treacherouse in my opinion. Just when I think that "they" have solved the issues, then the old ones and/or new ones seem to appear in an expensive way in the lap of some poor owner. Sigh.
I just learned today that the roller cam conversion in a Cleveland (and other old Fords, I believe) requires a hardened cam thrust plate! The roller cam can wear right through the ordinary stock one. Sigh, it is always something.
Two dumb questions about your brass gear use, Kirby.
One: as you use the brass gear and all appears to be wearing properly, then what?
Two: if you use a soft brass gear and if it wears abnormally and badly and quickly, then are the kindly and gentle little brass bits better to float around in the oil than hardened steel bits? I think the answer is probably yes, but is the brass so kind that you simply change the gear and the oil and re-start the engine?

Warmest regards, Chuck Engles


---- Kirby Schrader <kirby.schrader at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, I'm hearing all the assumptions, theories, personal experiences, etc. etc., but I'm leaning towards the material side of things.
i.e., although they say they are compatible, they might not be?

I would like to point out that I ran 90psi oil pressure hot in my 351C for 15 years without a problem. Startup cold would peg the 100psi gauge for a good five minutes. Never had any distributor gear problems. Not a single one.
I did not have a roller cam though... It was a flat tappet solid lifter cam ... with triple valve springs. 7000rpm was my shift point of choice.
So I personally rule out the 'too much oil pressure' theory.

Fast forward to the most recent engine in the Pantera.
The steel gear on the hydraulic roller that was in the Pantera looks fine and it will stay in the motor.
The steel gear on the solid roller in the GT40 still looks fine, so it will stay.
I will keep checking them both until I'm confident.

Although I keep hearing about 'compatible' and 'it should work'... This stuff is happening too much and for too long now.

 I'm going with a bronze gear in the new Cleveland going into the Pantera and live with the maintenance issue until I'm confident.

The material they make the roller cams out of is obviously the main problem and getting a distributor gear to mate with it and live is the issue.
Of course, as we all know, the BEST solution is a dry sump motor. No need for a distributor gear!

I rarely hit the rev limiter. The one in the Pantera is so dramatic, it takes your breath away. i.e., the ECU shuts off the fuel.
Yes, I know... it's an ancient Haltech F9a, but it works and I don't care what y'all think.
I can tell you that it is anything but 'soft'. It's more like a launch through the windshield.

The GT40 uses an Electromotive 'soft' setup. It uses fuel and spark. Much for touchy feely.

OK, that's me done ranting for the morning. Man.... that soap box seemed to have grown!


On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 17:25, Charles Engles <cengles at cox.net> wrote:

Dear Dennis and Russ,
 
 
                  I am such a dope.   I hear that the non standard oil pump, i.e. high volume and/or high pressure pumps, puts extra stress on the gear interface.  I guess that I am not  able to appreciate that it would be *that* much greater.   I do however yield to experience.
 
                  I can see that an external pump should solve that problem.  I think that would actually be a dry sump system?
 
                 For the rest of us thinking about the choppy waters of roller cam conversions, it would seem to me that the answer is prevention with gear compatibility, gear fitment (both gear to gear and gear to block), attention to normal oiling passages ; attention to the special oiling hole at the end of the left lifter galley; bushed lifter bores, a good normal volume and pressure oil pump and attention to detail.
 
 
                          Warmest regards,  Chuck Engles: Rookie Engine Builder
 
PS: just now the newest issue of Circle Track has an article “The New School Cleveland”.   No discussion of roller cams, but an interesting Cleveland engine building  article for circle track.
 
 
 
 
From: tpr-bounces at teampanteraracing.com [mailto:tpr-bounces at teampanteraracing.com] On Behalf Of Mad Dog Antenucci
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 3:28 PM
To: tpr at teampanteraracing.com
Subject: [TPR] Fw: Poly Dist Gear???
 
FYI....responses from Russ to the Pope
 
Mad Dawg Antenucci 
Team Pantera Racing 
The 1st & still the only vintage race team in open road racing 
www.teampanteraracing.com
 
 
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: russell fulp <musclebyrussell at hotmail.com>
To: adin at frontier.net
Cc: Dennis Antenucci <teampantera at yahoo.com>
Sent: Mon, June 20, 2011 1:05:12 PM
Subject: RE: Poly Dist Gear???
Answers below in color.

 
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