Today on Unity Motorsports Garage I talk about the problems I’m having with MIXED UP BOSS. The 429″ Small block Ford with hammerhead performance engines BOSS 429 style heads
I’ve had a hard time with distributor gears since I have built this engine and while it only has 6,200 miles on it it has ruined 3 distributor gears and the Camshaft is done@powellmachineinc @PowellCams are coming to the rescue.
#ford #dragrace #problems
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Make sure you run a pattern on your gears with gear marking compound like you do with a rear end. You might need to adjust the height of it if the pattern is running off the edge or looks bad.
Daniel Powell is very knowledgeable
Hi Andy I know you've invested alot in casper . Would a dry sump and crank trigger ignition like coil on plug totally eliminate. Those conditions wich can be big problems in the tune or a weakest link in chain event.. Good luck andy.. 👍
Do yourself a favor and run an external oil pump. Problem solved!
For just a back wood's hillbilly with a 8th grade education Danny Powell knows his shit!!!!
If you have modified your intake or top of the engine block your distributor gear may not be meshing with the cam gear and needs to be shimmed to raise the distributor and its drive gear. Hope this helps 👍
Great seeing you out enjoying driving Casper👍Gotta say you "need" that extra gear in the E4OD my friend. Hear you on the Ford distributor gear. Both my 5.0 litres gave me grief with those. I can't remember exactly what went wrong on my buddy's Cleveland's dist gear, back in the 70s, but it too had issues. As a small block Mopar guy for 50 years, I was not impressed by having to completely disassemble my Bronco's distributor just to change the PIP in it. We Mopar guys have trouble with distributor shaft wear/wobble, but I'll take that all day, every day, compared to having a Ford gear going through my oiling system and bearings each time it fragments itself. Best of luck getting it sorted. Malcolm Ottawa Valley
Talk to lake speed jr? He might have a different insight. He's really into friction.
Roughly 1991 I built a rowdy 351C engine for street hotrod. I wont name company, but the big MAGNUM cam ate dist gears. Wound up installing a Lunati and never another gear issue, with all things being the same, including distributor (with new gear installed for new cam)
Happy new year to you as well. Always enjoy seeing you drive Casper.
It’s probably a metallurgy incompatibility, but is it possible it’s gear spread? Maybe the hole the distributor itself sits in is larger on the aftermarket block or the OD of the distributor itself is a little small? Letting the gears push away from one another. I’ve thought about drilling the block where the distributor bottoms out and leaving a step for a cage bearing. You could run a fairly tight clearance to help support the distributor at the end and not really worry about wear. Kinda like the pinion support bearing in a 9 inch rear end.
Hi Andy have you heard of Tritec Motorsports. Idid a distributor gear test for them about 10 years ago. I was looking for a polmer gear like i use on my 5.0 engines with billet cam. i had built a couple 460's with billet hydraulic roller cams at around 500-550 hp. I am in Canada and i run these in 79 short box 4×4 mostly highway and driven in winter at -30. I had heard of tritec through the forums at the time so i reached out to them. The agreed it would be a great test for there development of the 460 gear so i had to send them a brand new MSD billet distributor and they installed one of their gears and returned it to me to install in my truck. The test would last 1 year at which point the gear would experience both hot summer use as well as -30 weather. During that test i had made a 2000 mile drive to Whitehorse Yukon and back which involved 15 hours straight driving for 2 days to get 1 there 2 days return. I had no problems with the gear and upon removing the distributor and sending it back to them it looked brand new. They replaced that gear for analysis and returned the distributor with a brand new gear. i ran that distributor in that engine untill it was time to freshen that engine so i put that same distributor into the replacement engine which is a 494 stroker using an old lunati offset ground stroker kit. I ran with that gear for 5 years before it gave out on while pulling my boat back from a fishing trip on Vancouver Island. What finally end the gears life was not worn out gears but it was the pin had turned a1/4 turn in the gear. Another thing is i have always used 10/30 fully synthetic oil. I have not been in contact with tritec for some time because i havent been driving my 460's with the price of fuel here in Canada but i do have the last contact number i used. Tritec Motorsports 1(810)665-3900 Good luck Andy
Hi. With Andy you get the real deal. No bs, the good and the bad. I hope this year has more good than ever before. Andrew
Had this happen 25 years ago with the voo doo cam in a 408, actually locked the engine up. The dizzy gear was half size and sharp as knife blades. Called Holley and was told every new cam needs the dist. Drive gear burnished with a wire wheel before install. Never heard of this, but it got them out of paying for my 5 thousand dollar rebuild. The distributor actually has play in the shaft, you can pull/push it in and out of the base a few thousandths, it's supposed to float ever so slightly up and down. If no play after tightening dist. down could be an issue.
I hate the fact that the hole for the roll pin is not consistently in the same place. Have to redrill each time.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,awesome video,,,,,,,,,,the truck is badASS,,,,,,LOVE THE FUTURE OF DRAG AND DRIVE TYPE DRAG RACING,,,,,,,,,,,,,,say happy new year to DV……..love you both……
We all have our issues, mine has been fuel pressure and some discoloration in my oil that I’m not happy with. Powell Engines has some great videos on camshafts if anyone wants to learn more. Good luck with Casper I know you will get it lined out.
Hi Andy. Hey in this video yoy indicate Howard gave you inconsistent info and there is no resolution. Urge you to take it up a notch and get there attention to get you a resolution Before switch to Powell. Put the pressure on Howard's as a youtube representative for us the public. U have a better chance of a resolution than Joe public like me. Hoping you lean hard and maybe lean on Dv for support. Love your channel and support to ahra gents and seeing u on dvs channel..
Are you having fun with it? Or has it gotton to be to much? The most fun I have is in the lower level stuff. I'm talking engines that are close to stock. 400hp stuff.
Great vidja Andy aawwwooo 🤙🏼 happy happy happy new year
Andy, I run a Schneider Racing solid roller cam with hydraulic roller lifters in a 429. It has a high volume oil pump with stock clearance bearings but has internal oiling mods and runs 50-55 psi running down the road. MSD ready to run distributor. Schneider recommended the bronze gear but I didn’t want to replace it every so often nor did I want the bronze in my oil. Was hesitant on running a melanized gear so I went with a composite distributor gear. I set it up using Fords procedure measuring 4.031”-4.038” with the shaft pulled out as far as it can go. I periodically check it and It’s been trouble free for 3 years and approximately 4500 miles. However it’s not raced but it gets driven quite often in nice weather to shows and cruise-ins and completed the whole 2024 Hot Rod Power Tour. Good luck with resolving the issue. -Brent
The first thing I thought of was the oil galley plug hole, sure between you and Powell cams it will get sorted out. Still sucs though. Happy New Year! Sounds like a busy one for you.
Might be a fitment problem. If you get a new cam try spinning the cam with the distributor in. No valve train or chain. See how it feels.
"That there's an engine tuner by god"….pretty sure he saw his grandparents in Deliverance.
Do Not bend over 'round this man…..just Do NOT
Two things. 1. Oil pump side loading, you have to put the distributor in to install the oil pump and if needed fix the holes in the pump for it not to load the distributor. 2. Most distributors for a SBF don't have a lower bearing to support the shaft. You can fix the housing by putting in a lower bearing or setting it up for a bronze bushing at the bottom to support the shaft.
I remember someone saying they just run brass just to keep the cam side safe. Probably for race car stuff.
Man Andy I ran into this problem with a big block Chevy once. After chewing up 3 gears bronze and melodized on a roller cam. After # 3 we pulled the cam and one of the teeth on the cam didn’t look great. We changed cams and it’s been together 7 years no issues. I hope you get it lined out and can’t wait to see you at the Tailgate Throwdown dude!
Time for an external drive oil pump! Street car stuff LOL!
I have used the same composite distributer gear since 2014 on my big block Chevys
Wow! I can’t believe this video came out. You must have ESP. I have the same problem. In my 408 that is in my jeep ate the cam gear. Luckily I cough it early. I always believe cast on cast, steel on steel. That is no longer true. I now have a composite gear that i think is doing ok but now that i watch this video i wonder if the cam is hurt. I guess i will pull it and look. Thanks for the insight. Just for thought did you cut open your oil filter and look for metal? I did once i discovered my first gear was hurt and found some metal, not much but it did make me sick that my new motor had metal in it. I changed the oil and filter, new comp gear and now no metal in my filter last oil change. Hopefully you haven’t hurt your bearings. Going forward i will only use steel on steel it is trouble free. Good luck and keep us posted.
Ty for the shout out!!, 💯 no issue's with a Hv pump, the only problem with that scenario is thick oil, hv pumps and 10/30, no problem, 20/50 real problem, but I'm sure it was just incompatible gears in the beginning and once it hurt the cam gear there's just really no recovering from it them, on a side note melonizing is a surface harding process, both steel and ductile iron can be melonized, but a steel core cam should run a melonized steel ,bronze or a composite gear.