Bulltear Distributor gear help!!!!

[melton83]

I just installed my new bulltear distributor gear on my HEI distributor, and now the rotor doesn't spin as freely as it did before! Is that going to be ok?

[jeepsr4ever]

The gear may cause overtension if you used the wrong shim/washer with it.

[melton83]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't install a washer or anything. I just removed the old distributor gear, slid on the bulltear one, and tapped in the little pin. I can turn the rotor with my hand, but it just doesn't spin as easily as it did. Is it ok to install, or will it eat up my gears? I've already replaced the camshaft gear with the bulltear one.

[melton83]

Also their are two different holes on the end of the distributor to install the pin of the gear. One of them is a little farther out which would allow it to spin freely, but there would be a little gap between the gear and distributor shaft.

[jeepsr4ever]

Hmm dont know what to say...two holes though huh?...hmmm. If it has a little tension it will be fine and wear in but if it is stuck then no you will need to free it up.

[melton83]

OK, thanks for the help jeepsr4ever! Yeah I can spin it with my hand without putting any real effort into it, it's just not as free flowing as it was before. I really hope this works. My original problem was a chewed up cam gear after I rebuilt my 304, so I ordered your matched gear set, and read all the articles about AMC gear oiling. So I'll go ahead and drop the dizzy in now....god I hope this works, starting to become a real pain in me and my wife's ass!!!

[jeepsr4ever]

Did you check to make sure their wasnt casting flash on the large timing gear oiling slot?

[melton83]

After reading the AMC oiling articles...yes I did! Also when I took it apart I noticed that everything (end of camshaft, fule pump ecentric, cam gear) had a little bit of oil on it, so i figured the oiling thing wasn't the problem.

On a second note, I believe I found out what the problem was. On the bottom of my old distributor shaft where it meets the dizzy gear, the shaft indents alot towards the gear, I'm assuming to allow room for the cam gear to mesh up with the dizzy gear. Well my new HEI distributor didn't indent at all, and was pretty much just a thick rod, so to speak, right up to the dizzy gear. After looking at it closer, I noticed at the same position where the cam gear was previously resting against the dizzy gear, the bottom of the dizzy shaft was severally scratched. I think without that indent, the cam gear was just barely hitting the harder metal of the dizzy shaft, causing the chaos. So tomorrow I'm going to take the dizzy into the machine shop and have them grind it down at the end so it matches the old one. I did by the way by the dizzy off ebay, and I don't have a whole lot of experience since this is my first engine rebuild. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance. Thank's to everyone on here for the massive amounts of knowledge, it has definatly helped in my virgin AMC 304 rebuild.

[jeepsr4ever]

Was this a HEI that had a brand new housing or a used housing made to fit AMC?

[1980_Cj7]

Is the problem you are describing like the one I had in this post? It's hard to understand what you are describing without seeing some pics.

http://www.bulltear.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6996&highlight=distributor+wear

https://home.comcast.net/~rwsr50/ComcastOnlineStorage/Distributor_Wear_001.jpg

[melton83]

That looks almost exactly like what happened to my distributor. I'm guessing your cam gear was also destroyed.

[1980_Cj7]

I don't think it was, but I discovered the distributor damage while tearing a completely redone 401 apart after only 300 miles due to the dipstick machine shop installing the timing gear on the cam with the key in the oil groove instead of in the keyway.

Since the front end of the engine wasn't getting any oil, I didn't take any chances and replaced everything, timing set, distributor gears, etc., with new when I redid the engine for the second time.

[melton83]

Well I just got back from the machine shop. They put the HEI on a precision lai, and now the end has the exact same amount of bevel that my old distributor had. Going to FINALLY try it out tonight!