Ford 302/351W Distributor Gear Height Addendum MSD Pro BIllet 

Yes ... Many don't have respect for the machining side of engine building or rather how far you actually have to go. A lot of people in the car game may assume things about engines or know about bolt ons to cam swaps (i frown at the thought of swapping a cam onto worn bearings or performance cam with non performance bearings. This decision should be made from the block up ideally). The reality is it's a serious business in dealing with mechanical engineering... It's not so much things that are dangerous so much as longevity or splitting hairs in performance. A 302 small block or even a GM 350 build is nearly fail proof if you follow basic instructions but there's always something more to do it the right way. If you see some of my other videos I also do intensive porting on this project that required a lot of work and research from veteran masters. To me I can't afford to lose the engine so every little detail I follow by the book or take advice from master techs. It's hot rodding (some may frown at my epoxied top end) but more importantly correct machining. So the thing with this video is that it's not that either MSD or Ford is wrong because if you follow the MSD instruction the tolerance should fall within what Ford calls for. They just explain it differently but when I spoke to an MSD tech is he obviously only had the answer of going by what's on the sheet. I would tend to go with the fact that Ford also manufactured the block and designed it specifically. I also read forums where techs said they would get many engines they would check where the gear was and it'd be maybe .05" floating above the block thrust surface. However the Ford setup calls for you to hold the gear against the block while checking upward play... And yes hopefully I read it all correctly 🤣 . But there's a reason there is a thrust surface machined into the block and there's a reason you will find deeper distances in a block with more miles. It's a wear surface. Might a gear last longer if set to no contact? Maybe.. but how long with the distributor hold (billet special and strong shaft or not) while the cam teeth are pulling the gear downward? I'd rather not risk losing a distributor versus setting up a designed wear surface .. block has a thrust surface and distributor gear have a thrust face... But yeah I'm glad I came back to that and I'm glad I "blue printed" my shaft distance. I think it came from checking out my ARP distributor drive shaft and realizing I had to move the little washer then began thinking on geometry of it. But gain.. I can't afford to lose it and I just started a new bachelor's degree program so I'll be broke and can't work that many hours. As far as the oil pan pickup yes that's also true. My personal application is a street van so I actually restored the factory tube with a brand new but stock oil pan. I did make it a fancy oil pan though with a temp sensor bung now and a heating pad. If I were building something for road race I would absolutely be using baffles and expanded capacity. And distance from pickup is also important to prevent starvation. Windage / crank scraper would obviously aid in this if distance is not thought of. Interestingly enough this build was running a girdle / windage tray / crank scraper .. I ended up selling it and ARP studs .. was a bit overkill .. still running ARP main bolts and i kept the crank scraper. Setting up the one piece gasket and putting ultra black RTV to sandwich the uneven surface of the scraper and block was a mess so hopefully no leaks ... But I would definitely grab up a Canton crank scraper for how cheap they are.. you get some good oil control and a few percentage hp increase from about 3000+ rpm. A lot of people think windage/ crank scrapers only show power at like 7000 and it's just not true. Firstly they are oil control devices and why even modern minivans use this stuff... But yes they still show power improvements through the band obv even more the higher you are. Depends on weight of rotating assembly also .. heavier stock rods and what not will see more benefit than lighter.

@@DS-mo6md Yes, when you look into the "why's and How's" and care about doing the job correctly there are important details everywhere. I did end up watching a few more of your videos, including the modified intake manifold...how's it holding up? And you're right about Oil Control. depending on the usage application some of these oil control items could be considered overkill, however they always provide some level of benefit...usage application determines if it'w worth it. I do have a custom Kevko oil pan, Windage, Girdle, but not a scraper; doubt there's room for it. Those with bigger budgets of course go Dry Sump. No money but with a good mind and hands has invented a hell of a lot, especially in the Gear Head world.

@@chestrockwell8328 it's not running yet, just long block on engine stand. I haven't updated in a while but yeah the big thing is the side face of the plenum was sealed back together with only epoxy.. liberal amount and I have to re check thickness in a couple areas but according to my sources it should be fine. It's fiber reinforced so there is aluminum grindings or swarf mixed into it. Yeah my lifters are lunati micro trol too