Ford conundrum???...

j par said

You know I was talking it over with my engine builder this morning just because it's such a head scratcher and he's a big Ford guy. We were talking about possibly the roll pin in the distributor gear sharing. He said he'd heard of it happening before and retiring it and then completely losing it about 300 miles further... The next time I get into that truck I do want to pull the distributor. Last night after head scratching and finally getting it running and it was getting late I just left it at that but asked him not to drive it very far...

Click to expand...

That would be exactly my concern.
I've shipped a few million parts with roll pins in them and we have issues occasionally. Certain batches just suck. They crack or bend or collapse in some weird way. Friday night shift at the heat treaters I guess.
Coiled pins I've seen collapse and bend, but take a while before they fully let go. When the pin holes are accurate and the pinned part is held tight to the shaft, there's never really a failure. But a sloppy fit or sloppy holes will eat pins like a fat kid at a buffet.
What's the oil pressure like? I'd expect the pin to lose it during a cold start when the oil is super stiff.