timing gear?

oldwoodsman

oldwoodsman

Senior Member
Changed oil yesterday and found what appeared to be parts of fiber gear teeth in the drain plug hollow, so I removed the timing gear side cover and low and behold the tops of the timing gear teeth are rather chewed up.:( The motor was rebuilt in 1992 before my purchasing the car, but I have no Idea what was done or how many miles since. I would like to be able to just change the cam shaft gear as I'm pressed for time before a tour I'm taking in a couple of weeks. Should this and cleaning the oil pan be enough to get me by? Which gear should be purchased for the change, fiber or aluminum? Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks Tim
 
I doubt I'd ever install another fiber gear.
If the crank gear appears to be in good shape, I wouldn't change it. They are a PITA.
 
It would seem like the one that was in there lasted 12 years or so. Would that not be a good choice type?
 
Fred it would be if it was U S A made, but I don't think you can find one of those, the stuff from china is pure crap and its a turkey shoot whether it will last one day or 1 year, don't take any chances on the china crap, go aluminum
 
Last year I installed an aluminum timing gear from Bratton's and I'm very happy with it. I bought the tool to deal with the special nut and after dressing the corners re-installed it. You'll need the gasket kit, thrust spring and cap and the pins that go in the end of the cam shaft.
Good luck.
Al Leach
 
Any thoughts on how to tighten the nut without over stressing the cam gear teeth? If you hold the crank gear all of the nut tightening torque goes thru the fiber gear teeth?
 
why mess around? too much aggravation to change it out. Do it once and do it right never to be done again.
Think Dan McEachern Bronze gear. sweet as can be. Search prev threads on this
 
Thanks for the advise. I would imagine the pan needs to be dropped to clean it or is there another way? Anything else need to be cleaned?
 
Ever the contrarian...

1. I would try and determine why the current fiber gear teeth started to abrade (i.e., the tops of all teeth?; equal "wear" on all teeth?; etc.). In this regard, after removing the fiber gear, inspect the crankshaft gear to see what might be causing the wear before installing a new gear. (I presume you are familiar with how to correctly reset the timing gear marks - after turning the crankshaft to inspect all teeth on the crankshaft gear - when installing the new camshaft gear.)

2. I use a fiber gear and see nothing wrong with them (steer clear of the timing gears with metal center hubs; in my experience they inevitably loosen). Alternatively, some members in our club have installed metal camshaft gears and do not experience the noise associated with some earlier metal gears.

3. If tight in their bores and not out-of-round, I reuse the existing camshaft gear locator pins.

4. In the past 37 years (albeit only 2 Model A's, but I currently have 3 engines; they just seem to accumulate) I've used a carefully folded clean rag wedged between the camshaft and crankshaft gears when torquing the camshaft gear nut with no problems.

[If you don't have a torque wrench, you can 'spot torque' the nut; get the biggest wrench that will fit, attach the largest cheater bar you have and pull on it until you see spots before your eyes.]

And now, just to get all the purists hyperventilating, I drilled and tapped the timing gear side cover for a 3/4" pipe plug that allows for quick inspection of the fiber timing gear teeth with a minimum of fuss. The next modification will be a threaded thrust-adjusting bolt and jam nut through the camshaft thrust plunger dimple.

Oh, and I removed the oil return pipe about 30-something years ago (on my main and spare engines); no leaks, no oil foaming and all excess oil spils over onto the timing gears.
 
why be a contrarian rather than bow before improved materials and methods:)
We always complain about cheap axx chinese crap being made for our cars then when we get a chance to use a skillfully made USA part we find a lame excuse not to....duh.
I paid 2000.00 for a seance with Henry and asked him about a few things, including using the bronze gear. A lotta bucks!!!!!!! And he said, "You go right ahead and use it, the car deserves it"

i have never pulled out a fiber gear of any vintage that wasn't missing pieces/teeth/etc.

The ONLY reason fiber was chosen was to reduce the deafening racket of two steel gears meshing/screaming. Aluminum or bronze eliminate that
 
Speaking from recent experience, if you are going to replace your fiber gear with a metal gear, make sure you have/use a steel (not cast iron) crank gear.

After 20K+ miles with a bronze cam gear and cast iron crank gear, all the teeth on my cast iron crank gear broke off at one time and the car stopped running.

Anecdotal evidence shows that perhaps the cast iron may have been the weaker link.

Hope this helps
 
I installed an aluminum timing gear from Berts's in Denver about 4k miles ago. It is not noisy. You do not have to pull the pan to replace the timing gear. However, because you have fibers in the pan, I would pull the pan and clean it out.
 
Thank you everybody for the input. Attached is a picture of what came out with the oil drain plug. I'll be digging into this in a week or so. It's
time to go fishing now, I guess.
 

Attachments

  • SD530418.JPG
    SD530418.JPG
    207.6 KB · Views: 22
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top