Well they're not pushing the composite gears at another $40. You can tell by looking at the gears though that they are surfaced hardened vs. heat treated though. The surface coating gives it away and the hardening isn't hidden by grinding or polishing. Then again it may just be the melon that's hard?? Does it really matter what method is used for hardening as long as it's impregnated in to the gear? That's usually what separates the different surface hardening techniques. The depth at which the metal is hardened and how much the process effects the underlying core.

 

This looks like standard case hardening in salts.

 

Heres an interesting read white https://www.onedirt.com/tech/engine/...compatibility/
It doesnt go into depth on how to tell if its been melonized but it did say for the GM ones they had a slight silver sheen and for all of them it made the surface "slippery"

 

I was just looking up the dist itself for 96 F150 with 5.8 and it is a 1-year monster for most applications but fits 93-96 w/roller cam F150;s only. I did not know they put the RC 5.8 in before 95. Interesting. That doesn't cure your gear problem, but it does give a little insight into the years.

 

OK... so I called MSD. He said that the gear on my MSD is indeed melonized. He kind of chuckled when I told him what Comp Cams told me. He said that the melonized coating is present on the distributor gear and the cam gear are worn in and develop a pattern, and then it's gone.

And for the record, all MSD steel gears receive the coating.

 

Well not too surprising that Comp Cams was just trying to get you to buy their product... Glad you found your answer tho

 

I'm not sure how to take what MSD has told you. Are they saying melonized is just a coating that wears away?

 

Yes, that's what he told me.

EDIT: This is specifically what Comp Cams email said:


MSD said theirs is coated.

 

Sorry White, but that is not true. Looked it up and it is a case hardening process involving salts and nitrocarburizing. Melonite is the proprietary name for the process. I don't know anything about this process but case or surface hardening of ferrous metals usually effects about the first 10 to 30 thousandths of the surface. The hoopla over the new nitriding process is it's good for about 50 thousandths and can be used on some non-ferrous metals. IIRC it's also done at extreme cold temps instead of with heat??? Anyway, The coating which wears away is a byproduct of the melonizing process and the coating is not the melonizing itself.

EDIT: LOL your edit came while writing.

 

I'm not going to worry about it. The cam is the same style as the OEM which can go with a regular steel gear.

The reason I questioned it is because of the bickering going on in the comments for my cam on Summit.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-35-518-8/