Cam Sensor 1x Signal

[shownomercy]

So, car currently is setup to use a vortec distrubtor for cam position and it works.

BUT, it has a wimpy .427 shaft and that worries me for the rebuild. So, question is, can I somehow get a large cam or small cap HEI distributor setup for a 1x cam signal?

Or perhaps machine the top of the shaft to fit the 1x cam reluctor can press on and then machine in some mounting bosses for the sensor.

Any ideas?

[shownomercy]

Almost 8500 views and not even a "stay with teh opti you lame LSX fanboi!!" ...?

[dawdaw]

Big stuff 3 and dual magnetos.

[Catmaigne]

MSD #8514, discontinued and I haven't been able to find much info on it. Should be 1x with a hall sensor if I'm not mistaken. You'd have to contact MSD to find out shaft diameter but it probably isn't the weird .427 LT1/Vortec size. I'm guessing .491.

They say it's "in stock" but I doubt it because it's not on Autoplicity's site (3rd party vendor through Sears).
http://www.sears.com/msd-8514-distri...-SPM7591321408

Don't know of any LT1 dummy drives that aren't .427 though... I would be more concerned with the drive gear holding up more than anything. Doubt the shaft would twist with just the cps bits on it.

[shownomercy]

The shaft drives the oil pump, and in my case that tab sheered right off. Trying to avoid that.

[Catmaigne]

The MSD I mentioned and the Accel 60116 are the only two shelf options I can think of right now that should have the thicker shaft. You'd have to fab something up otherwise. The cheapest route would be to befriend someone with a lathe and have them machine a .427" shaft out of high quality steel as a replacement. Or you could experiment with a few older distributors by mounting the hall sensor in the base, having the top of the shaft machined down to .427, and pressing on the 1x wheel. As long as the shaft doesn't deflect and the sensor is at the right height/angle I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

There's always a .491" hole plug/drive and EFI's CMP bracket (even though I doubt they'll sell it to you without proof of purchase from a 24x kit).

Were you running a HV oil pump or something else to that puts more strain on the drive? Haven't heard of many people breaking the inner tab off with the LT1 dummy and it's usually the plastic/drive gear that breaks. The billet one isn't very common.

[shownomercy]

The thought of asking the machinist at work to create a shaft for me did come across my mind, but, the work lathe has some terrible runnout when doing long stuff. Prob end up costing more in time than a new distributor would

Yes, HV pump, and to be honest, the distributor I believe was loose and allowed to ride up a slight bit so the tab was not engaged completely. Same stress, less area... you know the drill.

So basically brainstorming about overkill ideas until I just say F it and buy a new vortec distributor.

[Catmaigne]

It would be nice to know what kind of steel GM used in the stock dizzy but I'm guessing it's junk steel. A bar of 7/16 4340 is pretty damn cheap (I think straightness depends on where it comes from). So you'd have to machine .4375" down to .427" on at least the gear/wheel parts and then make a tab on the bottom. If the bushings in the distributor have any play you could just have them opened a bit to accommodate the added thickness.

Probably overkill though. Sounds like the tab shearing was a mix of different factors and a chain reaction.

[Mystery Bird]

I have an old opti from a 94 you can have.