What Type of Timing Gear

Cape Codder

Cape Codder

Well-known member
I see there are aluminum timing gears offered by the vendors.
1. Is / was there ever a brass one offered?
2. Does changing to a metal timing gear make more noise than the fiber gear?
3. If an aluminum gear is used how does it fair to meshing with a steel gear as to wear?
4. Lastly, the instructions provided by the vendor description is to have at least .003" lash but no more than .005". What do I do if I can't get those measurements?

Thanks for any and all opinions.
 
I have seen brass offered for sale
I have aluminum gear for 40 years, still can't hear any noise from it, and the engine is quiet enough that the points can be heard

The crankshaft gear wears different with fiber gear, you can't replace just the cam gear with aluminum and expect quiet

There are some oversized gears, it's possible that the main bearings are not centered properly, this could mean new Babbitt--- if inserted another block or going back to Babbitt
 
I bought a 4 dr sedan at Hershey sveral years ago. It had a relative new motor in it. after about 2000 miles I got a noise coming from the timing gear. When I pulled it, it was a fiber gear with and aluminum hub inserted. Hub was loose from the gear. repalace with a fiber gear.
 
I'm pretty sure there are no brass gears offered by any vendor - ever. Bronze, now that's a diferent thing. I wouldn't go anywhere near a gear made of brass but I consider bronze to be the ultimate followed by aluminium, then fibre if longevity is the criteria. Fibre goes up in the rankings if silence is important.
 
We have always used a fiber gear. There mostlikely is a very good reason the car came from the factory that way. The fiber gear is quiet and if something bad were to happen, the fiber gear will fail faster with no metal in the oil pan.
 
When I received my engine from the rebuilder (I did the assembly), the fiber gear had zero backlash at one position and way too much backlash 180* from there. The center must have been miss-machined. I replaced it with an aluminum gear. It was noisy for a while, but it didn't take long to wear in with the crank gear and become unnoticeable.
 
Kurt in NJ said:
There are some oversized gears, it's possible that the main bearings are not centered properly, this could mean new Babbitt--- if inserted another block or going back to Babbitt
Click to expand...

It is a simple matter to sleeve the main line back to standard.
 
I have a bronze timing gear and it makes no noise that I can determine. I also bought the matching steel crank gear at the same time.
 
I have run cast aluminum gears with no problems or noise. Bronze are stronger but more expensive and can be noisy. I do run bronze in my race engines, for the strength. I also use steel crank gears, stock replacements are cast iron. Billet aluminum is stronger than cast, weaker than bronze. The best gears are made by Dan McGeachern dmcgears@yahoo.com
 
What's going on?? 1st it was the head gasket, then the valves, now the timing gear.
Just curious.................
Paul in CT
 
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