Kid down the street has a built 350 in 4000# truck, gear drive and a stall. Most annoying sounding piece of***** I ever heard, and I get the privilege of hearing it every morning and every afternoon. I don't think it's that I'm getting old, it's just that I know music when I hear it, and that ain't it!
R _ T R _ _ _ _ R 34, My grandson and I drove the 57 Chevy in my picture.I wish we had a Beatersville show every week. !!!! Tom(Tired Old Man)
Not a fan of the gear drive sound on a street car. My buddy's sounds like an old whining automatic transmission about to give up the ghost.
nope, a lot went to speedway,brodix,summit, jegs, and a lot of other outfits that suplies to sprint car racers.same with the front distributor drive, sold before we could make them.
And to answer the second part of your question, I don't recall anyone running them on the street in '59........more like '69.......
When i swapped out the tired old 327 in my T-Bucket for a 350 GM Goodwrench engine i never even thought about missing the gear drive. As soon as i fired it up, broke the cam in and took it for a drive i knew i was going to miss the gear drive. The 350 is now sitting in a corner of the garage (it'll go in my '56 Chevy) and the T-Bucket is sporting a fresh 327 with a gear drive.
For all I know Pete Jackson may be a great guy, but I wouldn't use one of those floating idler gear drives in any application. If you want or need a gear drive, get a high quality one(expensive) with an adjustable idler. That said, there are few situations where a good quality timing chain isn't the best choice.
had one in my OT nova for a long time got old after about year of heading that whine... also when i pulled it apart the front cam bearing was toast! i guess its a common problem with the gear drives.... dont do it
Gear drives are not my favorite. The gears have no means of cushioning the valve-train. The oem setup had a nylon upper timing gear for a reason. When the gear drives were popular I would take in race engines to freshen up that had these in them. The harmonics from the direct drive gears would pound the front cam bearing, the front main bearing, and the crank snout. The noisy ones are worse. Like said before I would just use a quality chain >>>>.
No better, that was a sound back in the day when you knew it was factory hipo car. Sissy Studes didn't make that sound .
I have a 30 Model A coupe with a SBC and a gear drive with a 60s era theme. No problems with it and it sounds sinister.
Ok , What does the CDC (Center for Disease Control) say about Gear Drives. Are they harmful to our health ? !!!!!!!! LOL. TOM (Tired Old Man)
Ive got a Pete Jackson set up for my roadster . They do rob a lil horsepower but offer the most accurate cam timing... Call me trailer park but I like the sound too....
Clothes pins...love it. Not period correct. I do believe that was your original question. I never liked em but don't sweat the ones who do. Grumpy Jenkins used the OEM nylon gear and morse chain set in his pro stock motors. Think of it as a vibration damper for the valvetrain.
I still miss the noise my m22 trans I had in my 55 chev made... coasting down was mechanical music and upshifting the noise becomes an audible "shift-light" After that car was sold I almost bought an Olds 455 gear drive (which will work on early rockets with little modification) until I was convinced otherwise by 2 pro machinist/engine builders who also pointed out the cam bearing issue along with power-loss both due to increased friction. So I'd suggest getting a noisy trans instead... I've been driving a 63' chev truck with a stock 6 but it has been converted to floor shift 4spd I don't even know what the trans is but its got a stump-puller 1rst gear, a lot of gear noise which makes it somehow more fun to drive even though its not fast at all...
Late 70's is when we first started to "hear" them around here. Guys here ran them back then because that's what Car Craft said was the trick setup not so we'd think they had a blower. Usually the guys with all the "super trick" race parts on their 14 second street car. They normally had MOROSO gold anodized everything and miles and miles of braided steel hose too. I have one I got in a deal on a whole pile of parts, been thinking of putting it in a 4.3 V-6 just for laughs............
Forget about being a Blower Wannabee. If you can't have the real thing forget it. I'd much rather a a dual timing chain set up.
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