early bronco 302 cam/distributor help

[jr74bronco]

hello all ,

first of all this motor is a rebuilt 302 w/ small cam 206/212 w/ points and i,m not a gearhead but i'm learning well started i got it top dead center set the dist. pointed to no. 1 plug had just right and it started but didn't run very well and won't run at idle it run for 5 mins. and quit well try again and no luck so pull dist. and just about all the teeth on the dist. gear were gone so when and got a rebuit dist. and it did the same thing can anybody help me oh it is not a roller cam and the cam in it has a little wore on it i guess because of the two dist. teeth it eat up please help thanks james

[Paul Masley]

The distributor you are using has the wrong gear on the shaft or the cam is not installed with the proper thrust bushing allowing the shaft to travel within the camshaft bearings. Also, if the oil pump rod is too long, the gear will not mesh properly.

Ford used two different gears on the 5.0L and two different shafts.

You can check the cam with the distributor out with a screwdriver, but be careful. It should not move no more that .0025 in either direction.

Without actually seeing the engine internals, it will be hard to say what is causing your problem.