Proform gear drive ?
#1
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Car: 88 camaro
Engine: L69 305
Transmission: TH350 3000stall
Axle/Gears: 3.42
Proform gear drive ?
What do you think about Proform gear drive The edelbrock one is 159$ the pete jackson 145$ the summit 119 and the proform is only 83$ is it a good products ...
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Car: 87 gta
Engine: L98
Transmission: 700r4
is your car computer controlled ei knock sensor? if so could cause issues. if not you could get any of them. personally not a fan of proform. at the very least go with the summit brand.
"Why do you want a gear drive?" why answer a ? with another ?.
some people like the sound some like the durability and adjustabilty of them.
personally i would go with a good dual roller chain.
"Why do you want a gear drive?" why answer a ? with another ?.
some people like the sound some like the durability and adjustabilty of them.
personally i would go with a good dual roller chain.
Last edited by mean57; 04-18-2006 at 02:49 PM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
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Car: 85 Berlinetta
Engine: 408 SBC with a S-480 Turbo
Transmission: TH350/Hughes converter (Thank Pete)
Axle/Gears: 3:23 28.5" tire
I know why he wants a gear drive. Probably why I'm wanting one too. You spend 100 bucks on the best quality chain you can find, and, with a hefty roller cam and those 590# plus valve springs, it's all stretched out within a few months. seems like a waste to buy another chain when you could have an un-stretchable gear drive. Anyone else have this dilema?
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Car: 1985 TRANS AM
Engine: 383 SBC
Transmission: T-5
I have a pete jackson gear drive with my set up. it is the quiet version and its pretty cool. I love the whine that it makes. I also am not a fan of proform.You get what you pay for. I have a friend that just graduated from uti and he was telling me that they did dyno testing with the proform geardrive and a double roller chain and found a 40hp difference. the gear drive was the noisey version and he seems to think that the added drag was the difference in power.
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Car: 89 RS
Engine: 305
Transmission: th350
I have the summit version. If you buy one make shure you get a degree wheel. The engine will run without one but since you have something that will never change the settings after you put it in why not make shure it is perfect.
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#8
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Car: 88 camaro
Engine: L69 305
Transmission: TH350 3000stall
Axle/Gears: 3.42
The main reason is that the proform thing include plate lock - bottom - thrust with a less expensive price of a chain with all theses and its suposed to be stronger than a chain. I will run a HV HP oil pump - Race mecanical fuel pump - and my head springs ares 1.55"....so its gone be hard to turn.
Last edited by smoktire; 04-19-2006 at 08:13 AM.
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Car: 1985 TRANS AM
Engine: 383 SBC
Transmission: T-5
Originally Posted by smoktire
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Car: 88 camaro
Engine: L69 305
Transmission: TH350 3000stall
Axle/Gears: 3.42
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Car: 87 IROC L98
Engine: 588 Alcohol BBC
Transmission: Powerglide
Axle/Gears: Ford 9"/31 spline spool/4.86
I made 5 passes down the track with a gear drive. As soon as I got home, the chain is back in. Noisy gear drive is annoying even in a race car.
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Car: '82 Z28
Engine: 350
Transmission: TH400 4,000 stall
Axle/Gears: Currie 9", 4.56 gears
Originally Posted by 88IROC350TPI
chains rule. I also don't trust anything that moves made by Proform.
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Car: 86 firebird with 98 firebird interi
Engine: pump gas 427sbc Dart Lil M 13.5:1
Transmission: Oldani TH400 w/ BTE 9" convertor
Axle/Gears: 31 spline Moser/full spool/4.11Rich
I'll say my Proform water pump was worked great for years streeet/strip, never a problem. The CSR in the truck that costs twice as much has given us troubles on a few occasions.
Gear drives are for great in principal since no slippage/stretching but IMO just scream fast and furious wanna be.
FWIW on the timing chain, opt for the 3 keyed lower crank gear instead of the 9 way crank, alot of guys including myself lost crank snouts with the multi keyed lower crank gears, inital cause was chamfers were not recessed enough and when installing lower gear it would bind and then create small spider cracks in the crank that eventually grew and caused failure. So stick with a time proven reliable double roller with 3 keyed lower gear and you wont have any problems or get looked down on by everybody you pass with a gear drive making that goofy noise.
Gear drives are for great in principal since no slippage/stretching but IMO just scream fast and furious wanna be.
FWIW on the timing chain, opt for the 3 keyed lower crank gear instead of the 9 way crank, alot of guys including myself lost crank snouts with the multi keyed lower crank gears, inital cause was chamfers were not recessed enough and when installing lower gear it would bind and then create small spider cracks in the crank that eventually grew and caused failure. So stick with a time proven reliable double roller with 3 keyed lower gear and you wont have any problems or get looked down on by everybody you pass with a gear drive making that goofy noise.
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Car: 86 firebird with 98 firebird interi
Engine: pump gas 427sbc Dart Lil M 13.5:1
Transmission: Oldani TH400 w/ BTE 9" convertor
Axle/Gears: 31 spline Moser/full spool/4.11Rich
I would at least take a roloc disc and featherdown that sharp end before the chamfer begins..kinda blend the chamfer into the back of the gear on the flat surface. Dont hog into it, just enough to smooth it a bit.
I dont have pictures of mine since I threw it all in the garbage, but after hearing from a few guys with similiar problems I doubled checked my lower gear and it too had a chamfer much like that one, so guess it's a crap shoot. Only seems to be a problem on sbc cranks since the guys running bbc or the guys using sbc with bbc snout dont have this crank snapping trouble.
I dont have pictures of mine since I threw it all in the garbage, but after hearing from a few guys with similiar problems I doubled checked my lower gear and it too had a chamfer much like that one, so guess it's a crap shoot. Only seems to be a problem on sbc cranks since the guys running bbc or the guys using sbc with bbc snout dont have this crank snapping trouble.
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Car: 88 camaro
Engine: L69 305
Transmission: TH350 3000stall
Axle/Gears: 3.42
Thanks i will put some dye on the snout R&R the sproket & take a looks at the prints to see how much i need to remove
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Car: 86 firebird with 98 firebird interi
Engine: pump gas 427sbc Dart Lil M 13.5:1
Transmission: Oldani TH400 w/ BTE 9" convertor
Axle/Gears: 31 spline Moser/full spool/4.11Rich
Smoke, if you could possibly take some snap shots of what you find I would be very interested to see how it fits out of the box and/if any clearance mods are needed to get it to seat fully without causing any pre-load/bind issues. I know it's not always handy to have a camera around during the heat of things, but this topic is very interesting to me to see if any changes have been made and what brand to look into for the next unit since I do like the adjustibilty of the 9 way sprocket as opposed to bushings with traditional timing sets. At this point I'm leaning towards dry belt but I dont hve anybody around here running them on the street so I hate to take a chance of losing a belt and doing this new valvetrain dance again.
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Car: 1987 Camaro
Engine: 406
Transmission: Powerglide
Axle/Gears: Moser 31 spline / 4.86
I run the cloyes hex-adjust double roller. Works reallly well being able to fine tune your cam degree. Hasnt stretched any in the year and a half its been in.
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Car: 1984 Z28
Engine: Alky 360
Transmission: TH400, Freakshow 9.5"
Axle/Gears: 9" 4.71
A 40 hp difference between a gear driva and a chain? Are you sure everthing was lined up right? Just wonering cause if it was, I'm running a PJ gear drive and that thing will be out of there in a heartbeat if it's eating that much power. Anyone have any numbers on the track to back anything like that up? Please let me know!!!
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Car: 88 camaro
Engine: L69 305
Transmission: TH350 3000stall
Axle/Gears: 3.42
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Car: 86 firebird with 98 firebird interi
Engine: pump gas 427sbc Dart Lil M 13.5:1
Transmission: Oldani TH400 w/ BTE 9" convertor
Axle/Gears: 31 spline Moser/full spool/4.11Rich
Very interesting, thanks for taking the time to point that out as I'm sure it will definately help alot of people with the excellent visual and give me something to personally check should i opt out for another multi keyed lower gear.
While it doe'snt seem like much, I believe that's all it would take once you hammer it into place to start the process of spidering and ultimate failure in the long run. I'm sure it's hit and miss like so many other problems, but I've read of this crank snout snapping off too many times for it to be a fluke deal and your picture helps add fuel to the fire of a plausable reason of it.
While it doe'snt seem like much, I believe that's all it would take once you hammer it into place to start the process of spidering and ultimate failure in the long run. I'm sure it's hit and miss like so many other problems, but I've read of this crank snout snapping off too many times for it to be a fluke deal and your picture helps add fuel to the fire of a plausable reason of it.
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Car: 88 camaro
Engine: L69 305
Transmission: TH350 3000stall
Axle/Gears: 3.42
Yes its food for the tougt...i still have my dye idea i will let you know the results with the pics when i will finally have the time to does it
#24
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Car: 88 camaro
Engine: L69 305
Transmission: TH350 3000stall
Axle/Gears: 3.42
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A timing chain is more accurate if you buy a real true roller set up its about half the price of a gear drive if you have to have a gear drive stick with a quality made product like a Pete Jackson.
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Car: 1984 Trans Am
Engine: broken 385sbc
Transmission: G-Force rebuilt T-5
Axle/Gears: Currie 9" Ford 4.30:1
this timing set requires alot of grinding on the block for clearance on the cam gear.. i didnt want to grind that much outta my block so i opted for a comp magnum double roller.. works like a charm and only costs $33.. i run a comp 306S solid flat tappet..
#27
gear drives are crap, casues alot of spark scatter, have seen it on a ignition scope. proform are cheap chinease made copies of good products.
if i use a chain i use the adjust true roller billet set from sa, but i mainly use jesel belt drives.
if i use a chain i use the adjust true roller billet set from sa, but i mainly use jesel belt drives.
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