The '39 shut itself down a couple weeks ago as I approached my drive and I towed it up the hill to the house. I have a 1955, 235 cu.in. engine in my 1939 that has about 2000 miles on a professional rebuild. Upon checking, long story short, the distributor gear had sheared off 3 teeth and lost ignition. I turned the engine over while looking at the cam gear and it appeared to be in good shape. I replaced the distributor gear with a NOS one, lubed up the distributor good, I got the engine to TDC, and reinstalled the distributor, I cranked the motor and it fired off for maybe one revolution and wouldn't hit again. Pulled the distributor and the gear was sheared off again. Valves are opening and closing, I can see the cam turning down through the distributor hole. What could be doing this? I will be pulling the pan again to see if I can determine anything but wanted to see if anyone has had this happen to them. I was thinking last night in my slumber before falling asleep that it has to be that the distributor gear is being held fast as the cam continues to spin and take out the gear. Have oil pumps been known to lock up and cause these symptoms?
