Straight cut timing gears?? Any out there?

G

gavinnz

Senior Member
Does anyone know if someone still makes straight cut timing gears for the flathead?
I read about some in a book but when I looked them up I could not find the maker...
Or does some have an old set laying around they would part with?
Regards
Gavin
 
The angle of the gears is used to keep the crank thrust in the right direction. You'd have to rig up an end float limiter if you could get straight cut gears. I must admit I've never heard of any, or even thought of it before.

Mart.
 
Which series of V8 do you have, ie 8BA or earlier? Thrust is important to the cam in either style for different distributors. Straight cut gears provide no thrust either way so the cam wanders around. If you want noise just add more throttle.
 
Straight cut gear sets are being used in flathead Ford engines at Bonneville so the gears are available if you can find who makes them. Before Im asked no i dont use them LOL
Ronnieroadster
 
Ronnieroadster said:
Straight cut gear sets are being used in flathead Ford engines at Bonneville so the gears are available if you can find who makes them. Before Im asked no i dont use them LOL
Ronnieroadster
Click to expand...
Ronnie, any idea what the advantage would be, slightly less drag?
 
Supposedly you run them on the later overheads to replace the timing chain to achieve a more valve timing because there is no chain stretch. There would be no advantage to them on a flathead that already has gears. I ran a Pete Jackson gear drive setup in a Mustang, It sounded really cool but I doubt it made that much difference over a chain. With those 289 gears you have idler gears between the crank and cam gear. You have to machine the front timing cover to give the idler gears the correct end play. I probably drove them 50K miles without any problems.
 
I have been using them in flathead Ford race engines since the 50's.
Dan McEachern makes them commercially.

I make my own with a 3 degree angle for thrust.
I have run Dan's straight spur gears and the cam did not "walk" but I have both thrust surfaces pressure oiled.

And, yes, you can notice more power on the dyno. Not enough to bother with on a street engine for the added cost though.
 
The first 32 V8 engines had straight cut gears, not sure when they switched to the ahgle cut gears. But they didn't last long. Too bad Walt isn't around, he'd know.
 
So it seems the secret is out, yes I do make steel straight cut timing gear sets for flatheads. I 1st made these for Jay Steele at Taylor Engine in Whittier, Ca for a reverse flow engine he was building for a customer to be run at the salt. The advantage is to these is that there is no thrust load on the engine due to the straight cut teeth. Although its a slight amount of power loss, it is a loss that can be used to possibly get another few MPH. Yea, ya gotta deal with thrust issues on the cam, but these engines tend to be so highly modified that the thrust issue is trivial. Noise wise, if everything is set up correctly they are not much louder than a stock setup. Going to try and post a picture of a set. If ya have any questions, my e-mail is dmcgearsatyahoodotcom. Dan
 

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