Distributor Gear Wear
Examples of good and bad gear wear
This is a badly worn cam distributor gear. You will note little wear to the distributor gear and knife sharp edges on the cam gear
In this case, the distributor gear is billet steel and the camshaft is softer cast iron This is a material miss-match
In contrast, this is what a distributor gear and cam gear should look like
In this case the cam is Billet steel and the distributor is bronze. If anything wears it will be the distributor gear, resulting in a very minor repair. Ford recommends "like" metals on their engines for longest life. That is, cast iron cam, cast iron distributor gear. Steel billet cam, steel billet distributor gear. Many engine builders go with the softer bronze distributor gear as an added safety measure.
The picture below is to show the difference between a Cast Iron (left) and a Billet Steel gear (right). Disregard color, but note the smooth surface of the Billet Steel as appose to the rough Cast Iron.
