Making cam position sensor for a 351w

[thewestie]

So what did you do?

[Raymond_B]

I just went through the process of making a 351w sensor by combining an explorer body with a V6 shaft. What nobody mentions is that the distributor hole is larger in the 351w compared to the 302 by about 1/16". Without a sleeve to adapt the explorer cam plug, the O ring won't seal properly and it will be close to impossible to center the plug in the hole.

Strange, I do not have that issue at all.

[brianj5600]

Two things wrong with just putting a V6 shaft in an Explorer housing. First the gear does need to be moved slightly. Second, the housing is smaller on a 302 than a 351. It is not a lot, but there is room for movement. The 302 cam sensor housing would probably have worked, but the diameter where it went into the block is smaller on the 302. It moved around more than I liked and even though the hold down clamp would have held it in place, it might have had some bind. I have a friend with a lathe so I cut the top off of Explorer cam sensor and put it on the bottom of a 351w distributor. The 351w distributor had a really long bushing that extends about an inch into the distributor base. There was still enough bushing above the cut that I was able to press the Explorer top on. There is really no load on the Explorer piece of the housing. I just used J&B Weld for extra holding the 2 pieces together, but the bushing pressed into both pieces was plenty solid. The punch is at the line where the two pieces meet. The shaft is from a V6 cam sensor. I am pretty happy with the end result.

[midnite88]

The aerostar 3.8L cam sensor has the right diameter shaft and correct OP drive. The mounting base is the wrong diameter. Machine a small aluminum bushing to make an adapter and walla.

[brianj5600]

Do you have any pictures of the V6 adapter? The 5.0 was looser than I was comfortable with and mating the Explorer top to the 351 bottom was easy for me, a beginner lathe operator.

[Raymond_B]

I do not know if there's simple variance in the housings or you guys are getting different ones, but mine fits the block as it should. No problems.

As far as the gear, of course you do not simply pop the gear in the same place, you need to measure correctly as you would when replacing any gear in a distributor.

I am following this procedure as lined out by Ford.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... Sw&cad=rja

[brianj5600]

I measured both and the 351w housing was 1.53" and the 302 was 1.48".