Dilemma- Worn Camshaft

I'm in a bit of a dilemma here, and not sure what to do. I had been having some problems with loos of power and missing and finally the car died, had it towed to the shop and replaced the distributer and all seemed good. 35miles later and the same thing happened got it back to the garage, gears in the dist are just sheared off, and my mechanic believes its a worn cam is the culprit. I wanted to check with you guys about what your recommendations/ cost estimates would be for cam and bearing replacement and build . I'd like to keep the car but not really sure if I would want to drop more that 1000 into her. If you guys think it will be more than 1000 I'll most likely selling her and would like to end her to a good home. If interested I'm located in North Central West Virginia.

The Camshaft does not drive the distributor. The Distributor runs off of its own shaft, the auxilary shaft. It is linked to the cam via the timing belt, but there is no real mechanical connection to the camshaft.

You could have a series of things going on here. you could have an oil pump binding up causing stress on the gears.
You have a damaged auxilary shaft. It needs to be pulled and inspected.
The Auxilary shaft bearings could be worn causing excessive play.
I could have been a poor quality gear.

In that first 35 miles, how did you drive the car? Did you baby it, or did you beat on it?

Didn't drive it hard but didn't baby it, drove some around town, got on it a few times to check see if I had still had a miss under load.

Pretty much what Huey said. You can pull the valve cover to check for a worn cam but that is your last problem, not your first.

Your first problem is to get all those gear particles out of the engine and out of the oil pump. You also need to check all the possibilities Huey mentioned. If you don't get the engine cleaned out, a particle will find it's way into the pump, bind it up, and strip out the next set of gears (dist and auxshaft). It's a vicious circle and we have heard of it several times. If your mechanic disagrees with us, find someone else.

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i just did an engine rebuild and can supply and aux shaft, dizzy gear and a cam if your interrested. of course you still need to drop the pan and prb replace your oil pump, or at least clean it.

I would pull the motor and clean the pan and replace the oil pump as a safety measure. Be sure to just get a standard oil pump and not the aftermarket high volume pump. From previous posts I have read here, it causes issues such as stripping the distributor gear.

FYI: the fact that your mechanic suggested its a worn cam is a red flag that he doesnt really know much about these motors. Pete is right that you need to find someone else to work on this particular motor.