Ok guys. Many of you know that I have been building a new 22re to go into my runner. Well I finally get it in today and try to start it up. Its backfiring like the timing is out. No big deal. But before this I realized that the distributor was not seated all the way on the head. So I had to give it a few taps with a rubber mallet to get it to seat the last 3/16's or so. Still no big deal right. But I pulled the distributor out to swap with another one that I had and found that the gear on the distributor was ground down!!!!!!! Both of my distributor gears got destroyed from the Cam gear!! I cannot figure out what is going on here. Everything is new in the block or has been redone. Like the cyl head, block, etc... New engnbldr 268 cam and timing kit. Any help is appreciated guys.

Heres a few pics.

 

Uhh wow!!!!!

It kinda seems to be that the cam is not seated correctly. I'd suggest checking the the caps are tightened correctly and that the cam is seated correctly into the journals

 

It's definitely seated correctly. And not forward or backward too much. Not sure what's up here. It is also a little harder than usual to get the dist in. Requires some light tapping the last 1/16-3/16 of an inch.

 

You buggered up the cam gear by "malleting" the ditributor in.

Why on earth did you thing it was ok to tap the dizzy in?

 

I mean lightly tap. This Isnt my first rodeo. Or 22re rebuild. It would not go in by hand. I wasn't swinging for the cheap seats when it was going in. I could have used the back side of a screwdriver to tap it in.

 

I watched it go in with the VC off. Nothing got boogered up going in. It was all while cranking

 

Let me clarify a few things. I DID not hammer the distributor in, it was gently seated into place, it did not get damaged going in. It did get cranked over quite a bit before I realized that the dist was not totally seated by 1/16-3/16 of an inch. Very very minor. I'm thinking that because the gears were not fully meshed, they got weakened by the cam gear. Therefore when seated fully, the weakened ends got seared off with the force of the gears meshing together.

 

OK, I picked up a third Distributor, Installed it in the head, cranked the engine over by hand with the valve cover off so I could watch what was going on. I did not even get a full revolution around and it started eating off the distributor shaft gears.

Im a little puzzled here.

Its a stock head, Engnbldr 268 Cam and Engnbldr timing kit. The cam gear is stock and does have the washer with it. The cam was seated properly and was able to move freely once torqued down in head.

Any help here is greatly appreciated.

 

Is it possible that the cam gear is to far in or out? Meaning to far towards transmission, or to close to radiator... If that makes sense.

It seems like there may be a spacer/washer added or missing from one side or the other. Because you stated the cam is seated properly, and the distributor can't move up or down, so the cam gear being to far forward or back is the last option.

Can we get pics from the same angle that the distributor goes in? A close up from the driver side of the head/distributor area.

 

Anythings possible at this point. Im just completely stumped. I will try to get some pics today. I am also going to compare the new engine with my old engine. And take some measurements. The stock washer is in there with the engnbldr cam. I was going to call ted ans see if it should be removed or stay in.

Thanks for the advice. I will report back with my findings.

Mark

 

Here's a few pics. Of new and old engine







Here's the new engine. I scribed the bolt with a ruler on the head surface


Old engine. Same procedure

 

Could the new cam sprocket be thicker or thinner, causing the gear to be to far in or out? I'm just sticking possibilities out there, of things to check.

 

I figured out the problem. After a few hours of installing the distributor into my new engine and then the old engine, then the new engine again. I found that the distributor was always sitting 1/16 of an inch out away from seating in the cyl head. I ended up draining out the puddle of oil that collects where the hidden timing cover case bolt sits and Voila!! I had a bolt in there that had a washer on it, causing it to sit about a 1/16th of an inch to high.

Just enough to cause the dist to stick out to far.

What was happening was that the distributor gear was getting bound up between the cam gear and the Timing cover bolt. Therefore causing the gears to be shaved off.

Here are a few pics of the bolt that was the suspect.

Thanks for all the help guys. This was driving me crazy.

Here are a few photos.

The bolt with the washer causing the issues on the left


Heres the top of the Bolt where it was getting worn down from the distributor gears.


Running and driving









Huge huge thanks to my buddy Chris (kornhuskerwizard) I couldnt have done it without your help!!

And to TED (Engnbldr) He was willing to send me a new cam for free to see if that was the issue, if i needed it. What a great guy. He will have my business for life now with customer service like that.


Thanks again guys.

 

Glad you got it fixed bro. Way to stay after it and git er done....

 

Thanks man. I really appreciate the help and engouragent.

 

thanks for posting the fix for this problem... time to go wheeling!!

 

No problem man. I'm glad I was able to figure it out. I seriously need to go wheeling!