Quote:
Originally Posted by geezer#99
Tear it down!
Only way to be sure!
Intake off, pan off!
Full inspection time!
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Even with the intake and pan off I wouldn't be able to see any damage to the cam where the distributor gear meshes up though, the cam would need pulled right? I'm trying to avoid pulling the engine to take out the cam if it can be avoided. I work 70 hour weeks and don't have the time to do it all myself without taking weeks and weeks so I'd have to pay a shop if I want it done quickly.
I am by no means an engine expert. From what I can visualize though, if I were to "look through the engine"
it seems like the metal from the distributor gear that sheered off would either stay on the cam or drop down to the pan. I can't visualize how the metal pieces could go anywhere else in the engine. Can someone that is more familiar with engines chime in on that? If that's true, that's why I'm hoping that after sticking a magnet down in the distributor hole, that I can pull out some of the metal pieces and that the rest would be in the pan out of the way of damaging anything.
If that all goes like it does in my optimistic mind and the metal pieces can be taken out of the equation, then I am down to if the cam is damaged where it engages the distributor gear. That's when I would drop in my old distributor and see if it rotates as you rotate the engine as it should without any play or binding. If not, the cam is obviously screwed, right? And if it does rotate, that would lead more to the cam being okay hopefully, right?
Basically if I am going to have to pull the engine to either inspect this cam or replace it, it's going to either 1) be expensive to have a shop get it done fast or 2) take weeks and weeks with my work schedule and no real garage to work in (working in the driveway on jack stands). I was hoping that someone could give me something more concrete like
"oh no buddy you definitely wrecked the cam because it was a steel distributor gear. Brass would have saved the cam but the steel gear definetly would have caused damage" or
"no the cam is probably okay and the distributor gears are meant to destroy themselves to save the cam. That is why it is so important to use the right distributor gear material. You just need to remove any metal and a new distributor gear."
I honestly don't know enough myself, but want to try what I can before devoting to pulling the engine.