Fuzz 401 & other amc buffs! need help

[redhat6161]

i'm sorry if i'm posting this to the wrong section, i'm new here and still learning the forums. i need help with my '79 360.. i was driving to work the other day and the jeep was running great. i came to a stop sign, and went to go, i gave it a little more gas than usual because a car was bearing down on me and pop!! the engine backfired through the carb and died. i tried and tried to restart it but it wasnt happening. a buddy of mine came by to look at it and we decided it was the distributor. we pulled the distributor out and the teeth at the end that engage with the cam were all chewed up. we looked down the hole to see the cam gear and low and behold they were all chewed up too. the distributor wasnt engaging correctly with the cam and the timing is all screwed up. now here's my question, it appears without a doubt that i will need a new distributor gear and cam .. this is not so good. i'm on a tight budget being just out of school and supporting myself for the first time. what is invlolved with changing the cam? is this something that my buddy and i can do? he was mentioning something about having to change the cam bushings. he says if this is the case we cannot do it ourselves because it's too involved. also, he is a chevy guy and is worried about the procedures of doing a cam swap on the amc.. this is my daily driver so i need to get it fixed as soon as possible. has anyone ever heard of this problem? and what is the best way for me to go about fixing it? thanks guys.

[jeepsr4ever]

~~~CHANGE AND DRAIN YOUR OIL IMMEDIATELY!!!~~~

Small gear teeth will ruin your oil pump VERY VERY FAST! run a quart in there and let it drain out to insure the teeth are out. I need to know the history on the motor~ recent rebild? how many miles? Bad timing may have been the culprit. You at least need to take your timing cover off to replace the gears, I am offering new gears for dizzy's and cam's in a matched set this week let me know if i can get you a set, You may be faster going to a local parts store. Its NOT the camshaft, I have never seen a cam allow these problems, It may ba a blocked port in the large timing gear, but chances are if its a non recent rebuild it was due to wear and tear.

[redhat6161]

okay, i will run the quart of oil through it immediately, i understand that the gear shavings will cause damage. i bought the motor about 4 months ago from a guy who said that it had zero miles on it since a rebuild. after taking it to a machine shop to get the flywheel balanced, my machinist told me that the only thing rebuilt about it was that the heads looked to be plained and a piston was replaced along with all of the gaskets. the cam is original and i guess i assume every other thing to be as well. i do not know the actual miles of the motor.i do not understand about changing just the cam gear. sorry, i've never been inside an engine before, i was under the impression that the gear on the end of the cam was cast into it, so it's all one solid piece, if im understanding you correctly i can take that gear off?
when you say It may ba a blocked port in the large timing gear, i'm sorry but this doesnt make sense to me either. i'm not familiar with timing gears, how can i fix this? you say it is Not my cam! does this mean then that it's not as bad as i think? or is that a stupid assumption.thanks for responding so quickly, and as for if you can get me a set of gears, i've spoke to you before about ordering other things, but due to the lack of money for the pretty stuff i havent been able to do that yet, this however is not something pretty and as long as you take a credit card just let me know how much it would be. i like your site alot and would feel very comfortable spending my money here.

[jeepsr4ever]

I want you to save all the money you can! Yes the gears come right off the camshafts. Tomorrow i hope to have some pics i can post here to show you more

[Mudrat]

Redhat,
Welcome to the board for whatever reason (are u into Linux by the way )

MC and others on here can help you out, these guys still amaze me!! To see what a camshaft (cam) and gear looks like - I repeat LOOKS like, you can go to http://www.tellico4x4.com/engine/cam.htm and see pics of both. Its the only pics I could find quickly. I like dealing with Tellico, but you can get better prices and more importantly what you NEED rather than want from MC.

'Rat

[redhat6161]

i have found a lot of information just playing around on this site, that's why this is the first place i've come with my problem. i'm familiar with what the cam looks like and how they work, just not how the gear comes off of there, i always thought they were forged as one piece, i'm glad to hear that the gear is changeable, i just can't see how. looking at the pictures at the tellico site the gear is in the middle of the cam, and doesn't look changeable either. what's involved with changeing the gear? i forgot to mention before, i have an hei distributor that was modified to work on the amc. it's been working good for the last 2 months (as long as i've had it).

[jeepsr4ever]

The gear actually slips on the end of the cam shaft with the gear FACING OUTWARD! the reason i highlight this is because whomever put your engine together probly put the cam gear on wrong

[Mudrat]

I wonder if the person who did the HEI install put the proper gear on the dizzy shaft???
As for the cam gear - I thought you were taling about the timing chain gear. Sorry. The distributor drive gear is forged and cut into the cam and is not replaceable.

Mudrat

[fuzz401]

were at in NJ are you ? and I might have a good set of dizzy and cam gears

how many miles on this rebuild ? i say if more then 500 then it is wear and tear on the gears most times the gears go out is right after start up or not long after that

[redhat6161]

Thanks jeepsr4ever for the detailed picture, looking at that, it clearly looks as though the gear on the end of the cam is replaceable, is mudrat mistaken in saying that it is forged and nonreplaceable or am i confused and he's talking about something else? i'd say there are right around 500 miles on the rebuild. i am in northern new jersey (Bergen county) do you live near or around these parts?