My distributor keeps going through gears. The gear is wearing a lot on the bottom half of the teeth. Is it possible that the distributor is sitting too high? I have no problems setting it into place and the gears appear to mesh fine. Could it be that the hole on the intake was not machined to the proper height. I have also tried three different distributors with all three having the same result. Any way to measure this height with the intake on the engine. This engine is a GM crate motor with now approximately 3,000 miles.This engine has a flat tappet cam so I have pretty much ruled out cam walk. Also this engine has a standard oil pump. I have heard of the grinding or filing the housing to supply the gear with more oil but I want to make sure there is not a setup issue first. Peace out.

 

Sounds like your oil pump is farkled.

How much force does it take to turn the oil pump drive?

 

it turned easily with the long screw driver when I was aligning the oil pump shaft for the distributor install. also seemed fine when I primed the enigne.

 

edit..

So what you're saying is that a flat tappet cam has no chance of walking? Distributor gear wear is usually the first sign of cam walk.

 

Arent crate motors warrantied?

Anyway, could be a misalignment problem. Getting it down more might present a problem, without some creative machining or whatever to fix it. What intake? Did it come with the engine?

 

I am running a dart kool can intake. Is it possible the cam did not break in right and is walking?