When Ford went to roller cams in 1985, they also went to steel distributor gears on the 302.
This is true, except for a short period in the early production when Ford actually utilized bronze gears! I always wondered who was responsible for the durability testing on this engineering? Well anyway, that didn't last long (pun intended) and Ford had to scramble to develop the steel driven gear.
Scott.
One cam manufacturer (CMC) went so far as to design a two piece cam that had a separate cast gear section on a steel roller core to insure compatibility with existing cast gear ignitions.
We used to see these most commonly on the big-block Chevy's in the race boats; apparently as the boats when leaving the water, exposing the props, the engines would flare up in R.P.M.'s, then re-entering the water would snap the R.P.M.'s back down, this raised havoc with the bronze distributor gears making for very unreliable service.
Scott.
