I just built my engine with a Lunati Voodoo camshaft and was told directly by their tech -"It should work with any distributor gear. It’s ductile iron. That’s one of the main reasons we use those cores".
I used the melonized gear with mine and have had no problems.

 

Hydraulic rollers usually need the "melonized" gear. This may depend on the metallurgy of the camshaft core.

Solid rollers usually need the bronze gear.

I have had some wear on race engines with the bronze gear. I don't know how that would work out on a street engine.

I would ask them what they recommend for their stuff.

Remember that the primary load on that gear is the oil pump, not the distributor itself.

 

My Lunati cam instructions were very clear that a melonized dist gear is to be used. (Bootlegger hyd. roller)

 

I used a melonized gear (not a Lunati cam) but then having read so many reports of failures on various forums I removed it and swapped for bronze before fire up. I'm still not sure what to think so am interested in any feedback.

 

bronze gear on steel core camshaft...

 

Call and ask Lunati, it depends on the material used to make the cam for the most part. Some (maybe all, I'm not sure 100%) companies offer the ability to be able to use a melonized gear vice bronze with their roller cams and it's an option you can get when ordering the cam.

Phil

 

HYPURR is right, it depends on the cam core metallurgy.

Also I think the older problems with the melonized gears were caused by people selling either cams or gears that weren't what they were claimed to be. The problem was the manufacturer's suppliers - the sellers thought they were selling the right thing. Hopefully that's a problem of the past.

 

Some follow up info on this thread....Called Lunati tech support today....They have their own version of distributer gear that they sell for use with their hydraulic roller cams (of course)...See link: https://www.lunatipower.com/Product.aspx?id=1430&gid=243 I ordered one from Jegs with free shipping....Will be here by Friday.

"Lunati now offers the Everwear distributor gears for most popular applications. The Everwear distributor gears were developed with a new material that has excellent wear characteristics and uses a special nitride process to case harden the gear. The camshaft industry uses primarily 1050, 5150, 5160, 8620 and 8660 materials for most steel cam cores. Now with Everwear distributor gear there are no longer any issues with compatibility of material as the Everwear distributor gears are compatible with all of these materials."

Appreciate everyone's help.

 

$50.00 for a dist gear???????

Holy guacamole

 

I hear 'ya.....Checked Summit and Jegs.....Same price

You think that was expensive The cam cost me nearly $300 https://www.lunatipower.com/Product.aspx?id=2004 So, I'm not taking any chances by combining the wrong parts.

 

The Comp cams roller I recently bought cost about the same.
Bronze gears have a pretty short lifespan on the street, at least the ones I have run.

I wonder if that gear has a longer span and if its compatible

 

Found this at Comp Cams:http://www.cpgnation.com/forum/thre.../forum/threads/properly-matching-your-comp-cams-camshaft-distributor-gear.2316/

 

Nice article - clears up some of the mysteries without just taking some salesman's word for what you need.

 

Another thing to remember is to order the correct diameter gear....Mine was .490"