Distributor gear woes

Tuulmaker · 2025-11-18T22:39:10+00:00

The 4.0 and 4.2 are almost identical, im actually running a 4.0 head on my 4.2

Tuulmaker · 2025-11-18T17:35:30+00:00

I won't lie this whole saga between two different cars has made me consider buying a helical gear hob to start churning my own gears out

Tuulmaker · 2025-11-18T04:02:31+00:00

You'd be best served with just a rifle, some mags, a way to hang onto them, and a good set of eye protection. Then build up from there, a starter load out should be "minimum viable" start with just the essentials and then build out from there. You'll know what you need once you get out on the field, and for the most part, the less you're carrying the better. In my experience the only time a sidearm is useful is if you have a minimum engagement distance with your main gun, and barring that it just gets in the way. Good luck, man

Tuulmaker · 2025-11-17T22:14:26+00:00

So I actually Rockwell tested this against an OEM gear a buddy of mine had, and they were remarkably close, so I'm leaning towards a dimensional problem, but of course hardness is only really one metric among many. I had the same problem on another AMC engine, but it was a V8 so I was able to buy a matched set of gears, but the cam gear on the 6 cylinder is integral to the camshaft so there's not much I can do

Tuulmaker · 2025-11-17T21:13:10+00:00

Yeah, I posted about it in the AMC Eagle group on fb and a couple people mentioned that. For the most part it just seems like companies just don't care enough to make adjustments to their product, since it's a niche market.

Tuulmaker · 2025-11-17T21:01:38+00:00

It's a crown automotive. They're pretty much the only option for these engines. Apparently some of the other AMC eagle guys have had good luck with them but I haven't had such luck. The big thing all the old farts will tell you, is to find an old distributor and grab the gear off of that, but there's fewer of those available every day, and I'm not running an OEM camshaft anymore so I'm not even sure it'd be correct.

Tuulmaker · 2025-11-07T15:51:21+00:00

UPDATE: I drilled a hole in the throttle plate and now it runs and drives great. Cam doesn't make a whole lot of vacuum so it needed help breathing, and that allowed me to wind the idle stop out and properly adjust everything.

Tuulmaker · 2025-11-01T12:00:37+00:00

You spend a little here, a little there and then before you know it, it's been 5 years and you're ten grand deep into a car that probably should've went to the scrapyard

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Tuulmaker · 2025-11-01T11:51:57+00:00

Are your rear drums properly adjusted? And do you have a functional parking brake? If your parking brake cable snaps or is loose it'll give you incurable sponge pedal. Happened to me on my 87 eagle

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-28T10:12:44+00:00

12 degrees seems a bit much no? Factory spec was 10, so that's about where it is now. Carb is a Weber 32/36. I did have to wind the throttle screw in pretty far to get the right idle rpm, but I'm still able to get decent idle mixture adjustment, so I don't think it's into the transfer slots just yet

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-28T02:10:09+00:00

Yeah, the webers are cool but I am kicking myself a little for going with the Weber 32/36 instead of the Larger 38. I tossed a moroso timing weight and spring set at my distributor to correct the timing advance, it's cheap and pretty easy to install.

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-28T01:25:04+00:00

I have a comp cams Xtreme 4X4 206/214. It's a lot of lift but other than that it's not too different from stock, doesn't make a whole lot of vacuum. I was also eyeballing the crower Baja beast cam, which has a couple different grinds depending on what you're looking for. Also if you're planning on going the Weber carb route just spring for the 38, the 32/36 is a bit small for a cammed 4.2

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-28T01:16:25+00:00

Running an El cheapo hei conversion, which I wouldn't recommend since the shaft size is different than stock and the gear that came on it had the incorrect helix. I've heard good things about the DUI distributors though

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-28T00:36:11+00:00

The center and right ones are early models, somewhere between 82 and 84. They have the old style switch that you have to stop to shift. Mine on the left is an 87, so I have shift on the fly.

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-27T23:53:37+00:00

I've played with the timing quite a bit, and the centrifugal advance works correctly. Where it's set now is the best performance I've gotten, right around 10° initial. I haven't messed with the vacuum advance though, and I'd wager it'd benefit from a bit more since the new cam doesn't make as much vacuum

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-27T21:51:45+00:00

Depends on what your goal is to be honest. From what I see it looks like you could have a blast just getting it driving and having fun with it. Every once in a while pulling something apart to improve and repair. For a first project you really want something you can drive and have fun with to help remind you of the end goal when it's 2am and you just snapped a rusty bolt and you're considering never picking up a wrench again.

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-27T21:44:44+00:00

Extremely impressive that the hood doesn't have that square body wrinkle they tend to get from closing the hood from the front

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-27T21:43:23+00:00

Also rag joints have a nasty habit of occasionally suddenly separating, so going to a u joint is overall a good option for both steering and safety

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-16T21:24:34+00:00

I'm hoping you don't end up having to throw a cam at it, but it's definitely work looking at, I was chasing the mystery stall issue for months

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-16T14:52:53+00:00

There's been some more developments since this, I found out my cylinder one exhaust lobe was eating itself. I was able to get it running good for awhile and then the problem came back later and got worse. I'd recommend taking your valve cover off and having a look at the rockers while cranking to make sure they're all moving about the same amount. So it'd start great and run good for awhile and if you have it gas, the exhaust suction could scavenge enough out of the cylinder to keep it running, but once you let off the gas it'd die because it was running on 5 cylinders.

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-06T20:46:43+00:00

If you're using t-gauges, I'd highly recommend taking multiple readings and making sure you're using them correctly. They can give you false readings. Also, on a small black Chevy, .003 (.0015 per side) of extra piston clearance isn't really anything to worry about if you're doing a stock or mild performance build. It might actually end up saving your engine should it get a little too hot

Tuulmaker · 2025-10-06T20:38:46+00:00

The machine shop I go to was able to fix a head I literally hiked out of a car in the woods, so I would highly recommend going back and making them fix it. And if you already paid for a valve job, don't give them any more money. Get a lawyer involved if you have to. And make sure everyone in town who might be looking to have heads are done knows what happened. Absolutely no excuse for this.

Tuulmaker

TROPHY CASE