What gear to run with cam

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Robzilla

Robzilla

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I bought a comp cams retrofit hydraulic roller cam from another Abodies member and he said that he ran a stock distributor gear with it. The grind # is 20-810-9. I contacted Comp via email and their tech support says that I need to run a bronze or composite gear. Is anyone else running a Comp retrofit hydraulic cam and what gear are you using?
 
Robzilla said:
I contacted Comp via email and their tech support says that I need to run a bronze or composite gear.
Click to expand...

I don't want to be Captain Obvious but......

Gear selection is important and you should go with what the manufacturer recommends. The wrong gear can lead to gear failure, cam failure or both.

And.... All that material getting shaved off goes into your oiling system.

That leads to engine failure.
 
Typically all the hyd cams, had a cast gear on them. any custom cams i had ground i had a cast gear put on the cam grinder will do that for you if you ask them. Even my solid roller i had Cam Motion did that for me. Then i could run a cast composite dizzy gear. Check with Cam manufacturer and they will tell you what to do. Best way to go.
 
I ended up with a Howard's retro hydraulic roller,for my Magnum. Stock gear ,works nice. Same with Crower.(cam,was too mild).
 
I believe that I should go with what the Comp tech support says but, their tech support has been suspect with past questions/calls before. I was hoping that another member was either using a Comp retrofit cam or had in the past and could tell me what gear they used.
 
There is a video on how to tell which cam shaft you have and which gear you need to run.
My hyd roller (came from crane) has an intergrated cast iron gear on it so I run a hardened intermiate shaft/gear with it.
 
their tech support sometimes is a pos.....i asked the same question, same answer. After discussing with other people i found these cams have a cast core.....easy to see. Then you´re ok with the stock cast iron gear. If it´s a billet core (shiny, machined surface everywhere) then you should use a special gear. Mine (xr286hr) is working flawlessly with the stock intermediate shaft.

Michael
 
360duster said:
their tech support sometimes is a pos.....i asked the same question, same answer. After discussing with other people i found these cams have a cast core.....easy to see. Then you´re ok with the stock cast iron gear. If it´s a billet core (shiny, machined surface everywhere) then you should use a special gear. Mine (xr286hr) is working flawlessly with the stock intermediate shaft.

Michael
Click to expand...

My cam is a Bullet Special Order Billet. The manufacturer recommended a bronze gear which is a high wear item. I've been advised that bronze gears should be regularly checked for wear and changed at 10,000 mile intervals.

Crane Cams sells a composite, steel coated gear that is much more durable for street driven cars. I bought a bronze gear and shaft and also the Crane coated gear from Hugh's Engines. They removed the bronze gear and re-installed (pined) the Crane Gear to the shaft.

The Hugh's Engine Bronze Gear & Shaft......part number HUG 6204

Crane Cams Coated Gear.......part number CRN 69970-1
 
Robzilla said:
I bought a comp cams retrofit hydraulic roller cam from another Abodies member and he said that he ran a stock distributor gear with it. The grind # is 20-810-9. I contacted Comp via email and their tech support says that I need to run a bronze or composite gear. Is anyone else running a Comp retrofit hydraulic cam and what gear are you using?
Click to expand...


We're running the Hughes cam and this drive gear from mancini racing. I always use their stronger gears. I have shown it next to the stock gear. It doesn't neck down as much and is stronger.

View attachment Dist Gear A02 B2.jpg
 
The Comp site says not one word about a special gear on their web site on that cam's page. Nothin. Nada. Zilch.
 
Post a pic of the cam if you can, as previously stated it all depends on what the core is made out of.
 
If you really want to know 100% for sure take the cam to a machine shop and have the hardness of the metal checked. Based off that we will know what material the gear needs to be...

Edit: i'm also curious why are these special soft gears needed with roller cams? Are they made from softer iron?
 
Here you go

[ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pL_p-J2YRts[/ame]
 
all my small blocks had solid cams in them,,and ive run production cam drive gears, never any problems ever,,,,273s all came with solid cams,,,untill 1969 i dont remember any special cam drive gears
 
I also contacted CompCams recently and here is what they said
"The part # you gave me, 20-000-9, will use a bronze gear or a composite distributor gear." I followed up with a call and the person said a cam ending in dash 9 (-9) requires a bronze or composite gear. They can grind a cam on a dash 8 (-8) core and that would be fine with a stock type gear.
 
Looks like composite is the way to go IMO, it has very few drawbacks and best of all you don't have to worry about pieces of it F'-ing up the rest of your engine if it breaks/wears down somehow.
 
I know the Fords run a cast gear with flat tappets, steel gear with hydraulic rollers and bronze gear with solid rollers.
 
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