Which one would be better for a mild build. cam heads intake work, headers, full exhaust. Is it mostly for sound? I have heard cars with really noisy gear drives. Does it help peformance any? last longer than a regular timing chain? Whats the pros/cons here! Thanks fellas


Will

 

I want to know also.

The previous owner put in a "noisy" gear drive. Sounds nice, but I can't imagine anyone who'd want to hear it all the time. I can live with it, but I prefer the full sleeper effect.

 

the gears dont streach,usually installed in old school blower cars they do keep the timing in check,drawback all that friggin noise and the worst part 20+hp loss,seen on a dyno...

 

depends a lot on how you define better, but if it were me i'd run a chain. double roller from cloyes if i was going for all out preformance i'd run a belt drive.

 

No advantage whatsoever to a gear drive in a street motor. There's certainly no California street-legal motor you could build where it would do the slightest bit of good.

The main reason they're so popular is monkey-spank over the noise.

Run a good quality "true roller" (that sounds so stupid.... like "real butter" .... either it is a roller, or it isn't) timing set, not one of the cheap truck chains that looks sort of like a roller but only costs about $20. Those wear and "stretch" worse than a stock-type Link-Belt style of chain.

Cheapest way I know to get a known good quality timing set is a Comp 3100. It's about $45 or so.

 

A gear drive can also trigger the knock sensor as picking up false knock. The car would then pull out timing and you would hurt performance.

 

Alright, sounds like i wont be using the gear drive. Thanks alot for the help guys.

 

Accroding to Cloyes they dont make gear drives for camaros with factory roller cams. The end of the cam has a smaller nose than you average flat tappet cam. So the debate is solved unless you weld the gear drive on.

 

I had a gear drive in my truck engine thats now in the bird. It suited the truck fine but I dident want the noise in this car. I liked it but then again I was use to driving a 300-6 that has a factory gear drive just not as noisy at all speeds.

 

they might not


but others do.

 

Double roller chain is more than enough for the street. They usually have steel gears (not nylon/aluminum like stock) and a heavy duty double row roller chain.

As far as street motors go, they are a much better choice than a gear drive because they are more than strong enough, cheaper, and less noisy than gears are.

 

Comp cams double roller chain - $32.95 at Summit



This will be more than enough for a street motor, and is far cheaper than a gear drive set.

 

this is what i have in my blazer, along w/XR258HR w/comp roller lifters