Found out what the life of the timing gears in my 1951 styline 216 is. Got the smaller gear off. Read everyhting on here and it seems the cam has to be removed to replace the other gear. Anyone know the best was to do this??
The cam has to be removed. This is accomplished by turing it until the retaining screws (philips head)are visable and removing them. Old timer trick; back off adjusters and hold the lifters up with spring loaded clothes pegs. The cam gear needs to be pressed off and reqires support for the fiber gear. By the way make sure you install the retainer behind the new gear, lots of experienced mechanics have forgotten that and make sure it is sitting down in the right place before pressing the gear on. Cool the cam and heat up the gear before pressing it on.
One thing to be very careful of is the retainer, if you don't support it properly and try to press the gear off, the retainer will break. It's cast iron, very fragile. I made a tool to support the retainer, it's a piece of pipe with the ID turned to just slightly larger than the OD of the front cam journal. I put the pipe on the cam behind the retainer, support it on a bearing knife in the press, and press the cam down out of the gear.
Can't you drill and tap two holes in it and use a steering wheel/balancer puller to get it off and drill and tap the cam to use a p/s pump installer to press it back on? I used this on the Pontiac 4cyl gears forever, thought it might be similar to the old Chevy.
You might be able to. The 235 cars came with a fiber gear with a steel hub, while trucks had an aluminum gear. I don't know what the 216 used.
Could be either style gear this many years later. Stock was fiber way back to the early 30s at least.
Years ago when we got paid by the job, we did not remove the cam. We took the oil pan off. You need to do that any way to get the front cover off. Then take a cold chisel and break the gear at the key way. then have some one hold the cam from under the car. then drive the new one on until you have about .004 clearance on the thrust. Then put on a alum gear like the trucks used. If you have not done this before, you would be better off loosing the tappets pull the push rods and lifters, then pull the cam. You should use a press to put the new gear on. Don't forget the thrust plate.
Than** a lot for the replies. Let's see what I can do. I think I'm going to pull the cam just to be safe. Its more work but better safe than sorry. Everything else I've worked on always had a timing chain. Lol. Much appreciated.
I know its been a little while but I figured id post an update. Rocker ***, push rods and lifters lifted right out. Unbolted the cam and everything came out in seconds. The new gear did have to be pressed off and on. It was really on there. No puller in the world that would slide it off. Was a lot easier job than I thought. She's back on the road. Than** again to all the people who helped with the great advise.
I changed a few gears,always pulled the cam.The thrust clearance is set by the spacer that rides inside the thrust plate.The gear gets pressed on until it bottoms out.It's best to heat the aluminum gear to about 350 degrees and then press it on so the soft aluminum doesn't get galled up . I have seen guys try to drive on an aluminum gear cold without a press,it's cluster ****. Can't imagine doing this under the hood with one guy trying to jam the cam in place,and the other guy hammering on the gear without breaking the thrust plate .
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