hey guys. My build has gone perfect up until tonight. I need to put an old style 289 distributor on my carb'ed 5.0L. I was trying to switch the distributor gears on the 289 and 5.0L distributors, and ran into a problem... The distributor shafts on the two engines are of different diameters... The 5.0L dist. gear's I.D. is too big for the 289 shaft. What should I do? I'm completely open for suggestions. The distributor from the 289 is a remanufactured replacement (from a 78 granada, I think) and is set up for electronic ignition. What would happen if I ran the regular cast iron dist. gear with the rollercam? I'd rather not order an expensive replacement bronze gear (well, expensive in college student terms, that is). Somebody please give me some advice... I'm dying to get this project finished

 

You could buy the correct gear from MSD. Installation requires measuring and drilling a new hole for the cross pin. A drill jig and high carbon bits work best for this but it can be done free hand if you are steady.

You could buy a remanufactured distributor for a 85 Mustang 5.0 This would be a pre TFI duraspark unit similar to the Granada that has the correct gear for the roller cam.

Change the cam. When building my roller engines I always use a grind from Comp. These are compatable with the early style dist. gears.

I've met folks who were clueless about the gears and had them pull their distributors to inspect the gear. There is an obvious deep wear pattern inside the teeth.

As far as I know the Granada distributor shaft should be the same dia. as the later years. A true 289 from the sixties might be different. I've never had this issue before. Also I don't recommend tring to swap a used gear to another distributor anyway. The installed height may vary and it's easier to just change the whole dist.

 

you have to suck it up and buy the correct gear. Using the wrong gear will last less then 20 miles, I learned the hard way many years ago.

When putting on the new it does need to be the correct hieght as stated above.

 

Hey guys. Thanks for the answers. I think I'm just going to buy a reman distributor. But when I looked at NAPA, they showed distributors with both steel and cast iron gears, both for an 85 mustang... The steel is the one I need, correct? This is the one I'm considering. Is thisdistributor appropriate for a carb'ed, otherwise stock 5.0L roller from an 87 lincoln (not a H.O. motor)? http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPage...odule)+-+Remfd

 

Steel dizzy gear was factory for roller cams. I'm running the MSD steel gear on a Crane 8160 alloy steel roller cam, wear marks are right where they should be. Don't get bronze or you'll be changing dizzy gears all the time if you drive it regularly. Steel gear + steel gear is what all the factory roller cammed engines run, and they have no issues. As long as you're cam and distributor thrust is correct, and you don't have excessive oil pressure(loads the cam/dizzy gear) and there's good oil flow over the gears, you should be fine.