D.U.I. Distributor Gear Teeth Sheared Off

[Anonymous]

Eeek! Last Saturday when about fifty miles from home at 70 mph, I started getting a bit of sputtering in my '64 Falcon wagon, ending in a bang and being stranded in the dark in the middle of nowhere. The drive gear to the distributor had all it's teeth sheared off, but the oil pump still seems to be operational. Anybody ever hear of this problem before with the D.U.I. setup, (which I'm running on my 200) or the stock Duraspark II's? I obviously have to replace the gear, but want to make sure it's going to work out better the second time.

 

[Asa]

have you contacted Mike/AzCoupe yet?
that's what i would do first thing, make sure he's in the loop with this

 

[Anonymous]

Just got the car hauled back into town yesterday, and dropped the pan today, so I'm just getting started trying to figure out what went wrong, and have yet to contact anyone. The engine was just remanufactured this summer, so all the parts are fresh around the distributor as well.

 

[addo]

Some things pop into my thoughts. Firstly excess loading on the oil pump drive shaft, secondly a pump bypass not working and finally an issue with the driven gear on the distributor.

Was the cam replaced at the time of rebuild, or reground?

 

[rbohm]

8) my first thought is did you use a high volume or high pressure oil pump in the rebuild? they have caused similar problems in the past on other ford engines. it is also possible that the distributor gear had a flaw in it.

 

[Anonymous]

As I remember the long-block came with a new cam. I just want my driver back

 

[Anonymous]

It's a basic 'stock' long-block setup (the 'performance' aspect of the engine is the D.U.I. distributor with Live Wires, and a Pacemaker header), so I would assume the oil pump to be 'stock type'... but as many parts as come out of China nowadays, who knows what specs they might be made to.

 

[wsa111]

It's the junk distributor gears which are present in the united states. This added by the too high of oil pressure from the stock melling oil pump.
Mine had 58# hot & i shortened the bypass spring .070" & the pressure dropped to 48# which is what i wanted.

Check your hot oil pressure to see what you have.

The hardness of these gears is probably between 26-30 RC.

The camshaft gear is 42 RC.

I have been preaching this for some time & the only decent gears available are from crow cams in austrailia. They are 45 RC.

I had some AC Delco F719 gears, they tested at RC32 out of the box,then i got them gas nitrided & that got the surface hardness over 40 RC, but the depth of heat treatment is less than .005 deep.
I wanted at least .007-.010" hardness depth.
I am testing this gear right now in my 200 & will let you know the results.

Mike at classic inlines is trying to get some of the crow cams hardened gears, but the shipping still has to be worked out from austrailia. Bill

 

[66Sprinter]

This was a very good buzz topic a month or so ago....Mike does sell the gears now...but not the ozzie one yet. As correctly stated...its a mismatch between hardness of cam and gear. Its also uncommon to request a hardness test at your parts counter, so we all have to stick together with this.

I am very interested in where you got your long block....Washington State or local in MO.?

The DUI company also needs to know this problem too. Might want to call them and find out what they think and exactly what the hardness really is for their gears.

If I remember correctly, the problem may not only be hardness but also thread engagement and angle!

 

[82F100]

warbozz, I talked to AzCoupe and told him about your problem unfortunately he's in Cali. the next couple of days on buisness.He said he would contact you when he gets back. Rich@Classic Inlines

 

[Anonymous]

Jammer- It is a Washington state longblock. I'll try and get a couple pictures up this evening of what's left. No surprise that the best available parts are out of Australia- I already have the Pacemaker header. I do vibratory metal finishing as a little side business, so now I'm wondering if it would be worth it to run the gear through a full polishing cycle, which has some surface hardening and definite burr reduction applications. The machine I have is used by a lot of the NASCAR teams... hmmm.

 

[wsa111]

warbozz, crane cams also offers that process, they call it mikronite.
They even do the work for many nascar teams & warren johnsons pro stock parts, such as differential gears for less friction & other benifits.

The big problem is shipping from austrailia to the USA if you want crow cam gears, & as of right now they refuse to ship to the USA because of customs BS.

Mike, from classic inlines is in the process of checking for better rates from AU.

If they ship out 2# via fedex economy the rate is $125.00.

That price is ridiculous.

Till i check out the gears i had gas nitrided, the best gears seem to be AC Delco F719, they check out at 32 on the rockwell C scale. Bill

 

[Anonymous]

Here's the pics as promised. My camera doesn't have macro, so I couldn't get in real close, but it should be enough to show the 'chunks' that took a bath in the oil pan.

 

[addo]

If it's the small shaft (490 thou) I have a spare new Crow gear in the pack, and could ship in about two hours, if Rich (82F100) or Az will commit to a replacement at actual cost.

 

[82F100]

How old is that unit?

 

[addo]

Not new! It's from later 2002 when I shipped a bunch of stuff to Leroy Poll (you ever going to fit that motor, Leroy?

) - sent one over for another guy's late issue crossflow block and kept this unit.

I bought it for a project that never eventuated, but have kept the thing because it would work for my wagon.

 

[82F100]

Sorry Addo, I meant the distributor

 

[Junk-Falcon]

is that a dui or the duraspark?

 

[82F100]

got a shot of whole distributor?

 

[rbohm]

8) that looks like a DUI, but i cant tell for sure. if it is, then contact mike, or davis unified ignitions for a replacement gear.