When I started my new 496 last summer I used a bronze distributor gear with the comp hydraulic roller cam. I'm now getting ready for this season and I'm wondering if I should install one of comp cams new composite distributor gears. This is suppose to be a far superior gear than the bronze as far as wear. I was wondering if anyone has used this and if they had any problems. Price of the gear is 135.00. I talked to comp cams tech line today and the tech. strongly suggeted running this gear. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

My experience with them is they work great on dry sump engines but I have seen them fail very rapidly in engines with distributor gear driven oil pumps-- especially if it's a high volume pump and/or thick oil is used. I've seen two break on initial startup, and about another 8 fail very shortly after installation. They just don't seem to be able to handle the load of an oil pump.

Feel free to try one; if it works, great, and it will probably be the last gear you buy. Just be prepared of the possibility of being out $135 in short order.

A better solution, although a bit hard now that your engine is together is to get a cam core with a cast iron gear on it, and run a GM Melonized iron distributor gear; the combo will last nearly forever if aligned properly.

Troy