> I was reading on the Cleveland BB about issues with the pin on the cam gear
> shearing and allowing the cam gear to shift. Is this a common issue or one
> more suited to high revving engines?
There are two separate issues. The first is the pin that retains the
distributor gear on the distributor shaft. If the oil pump sucks up a bit of
debris, say from an old umbrella seal, it'll jam and momentarily lock up the
pump. The weak link is usually the pin in the distributor gear, though it can
also be the oil pump driveshaft. The usual preventative measures are to use
a hardened oiil pump driveshaft (FRPP or ARP) and drive a second pin in the
distributor gear (or replace with a hardened pin). If the pin shears or bends,
it'll retards the timing which leads to sluggish performance and overheating,
if the engine manages to continue to run at all.
The second issue is bending of the pin between the timing gear and the cam.
That's usually reserved for high spring loads and the fix is to add a second
pin 180 degrees from the first.
> (Not a motor, an engine, I have a motor in my vacuum cleaner)
My Pantera is motorvated my a FoMoCo (Ford Motor Company) motor :-)
Dan Jones
