Does anyone know the stock diameter for the distributor shaft for the 1991 5.7L TPI motor? It's for a distributor gear. Can anyone tell me what the best kind of metal to use for a new distributor gear? I know that you can buy bronze, Iron, Aluminum/bronze, carbon ultra-poly, or steel (Im sure there are more options ). What material would be best for street/strip use with lots of highway driving? Thanks for you guys.

 

the best distributor gear material would depend in part on your application and the cam bring used. sorry i don't have a distributor here to measure.

 

The cam is a small base circle (1.050” base circle). The cam is going to be a custom grind but it will be very similar to XR276HR grind. Again the use for the motor is street/strip and moderate highway use. I don’t know if this is going to be enough information to answer the material for a cam gear question. One more question, does a small circle cam use a different size Bearing? Thanks again for you input.

 

billet cam needs a bronze gear, bearings are all the same

 

so is it ok for me to use the stock distributor gear with the small base circle cam (1.050" base)?

 

Cam base size has nothing to do with the distributor gear as far as selection goes.

Call the company making your cam. They will tell you if you need a bronze or an iron gear.

 

My stock 89 distributor shaft measures .427 in width.

 

Stekman, thanks for you input, I called up comp cams and asked them what gear I should get for my small base circle and he just said to go with the steel gear. He also said the same thing that you said about the size of the gear.

89GTA383, thanks for your input!! I did a little searching as well and found that a guy with a 91 tpi also had a .427” shaft also. I also have a question for you, I am wondering when you built you 383 did you have any trouble with your rods clearing the cam? Just wondering, this is the reason why I am going with a small base circle. And when I did a search I found that a guy that used a small base cam was having trouble with his distributor gear getting chewed up. Have you run into any problems like that?

Thanks again for your input you guys!