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Gear Drive Installation Question...

Lighthorseman

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Firstly, my apologies for cross-posting on other forums, but I'm hoping that casting a wide net will find someone who can answer.

I picked up a gear drive for the 440 in my Road Runner, but when I removed the timing cover, I found that the cam that is installed is a single bolt type with a "key" for alignment. The gear drive appears to require three bolts. Is there some way to install this, or am I completely hooped?

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
I guess you are! There was a reason that they went with three bolts. One bolt sometimes got loose and
it was not pretty. Change the cam if you really want the gear drive. Now, on another point: I have heard
from people who have actually had their engines Dyno'd that there is no performance gain using a gear
drive. As a matter of fact, some guys say that the drive eats up about thirty H.P. just to operate it, and
some of them make alot of noise. My advice is to invest in a three bolt cam, a high quality double roller
chain drive and a Fluid Damper for the crank. Sorry!
 
Hey there, dude...Long time, NO see!
Yeah, I think you are in an "either-or" scenario here.
 
Thanks for the replies! Yes, it's been a while. I have retired (mostly) and moved all the way across the country.

Looks like the gear drive idea, at the very least, is on hold. My primary focus is simply getting the car up and running, so a cam swap can wait for the big picture to be clarified.

I love the sound of a gear drive, and am quite unconcerned about a small HP loss. This car will simply be a fun street car, and in no way am I ever going to need to squeeze out every extra bit of power that I can.
 
What single-bolt-cam motor would ever need a geardrive ?!?! Seems to me its just the noise you're after ... find another way !!
 
Make a cd of an engine with gear drive and put speakers under the hood!:rofl:
 
LOL !!! All noise and no balls. You can go hang out with all the import guys with their turbo wastegates that open at 3000 rpm ... "but they sound cool!".
 
LOL !!! All noise and no balls. You can go hang out with all the import guys with their turbo wastegates that open at 3000 rpm ... "but they sound cool!".

Tolerance, my Canadian brother. There's no need to deride other member's ideas. "Different strokes for different folks" is a good philosophy to live by...JMHO
 
The absolute best engine in my truck, CUMMINS, they are gear driven. So gears are better than chains! Also you can get “quiet” cut cam gears, but I’ve never heard them running myself. I also had a gear drive in my 383, it was loud, but, timing was dead on and I needn’t worry about chain stretch, which was also a 3 bolt cam.
 
I'm putting a Milodon on my 512. I think they sound cool, annoy people and I like the fact that they drown out solid lifter noise :D.
 
All about keeping the cam timing where you set it. Even the best chains stretch some, the SA gear chain on my last 440 retarded the cam a full 2 degrees in less than 5000 miles. Indian (Rolon brand) and Chinese chains are even worse..
 
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