Hello all, thinking about putting in a Pete Jackson gear drive...The noisy" model .

Anyone running gear drives ? are they really that noisier ? Are they noisier then the intake noise on a carbed engine?

 

Im running a quiet gear drive (dont make a noisey one for roller cams) and I can still hear the whine a lil. My car is pretty loud as it is so i can only imagine how loud the noisey one will be. Best I can do to answer that question.

 

I've heard them. Some are so loud its just stupid, but some aren't too bad.

IMO, a good double-roller chain is still the way to go on anything streetable.

 

My neightbor has the loud one on his ******. Before I ever saw underneath the hood, I had assumed he was running a blower, the whine is so loud. So if you want people to think you are running a big old blower, get one!

 

If you have a stock computer-controlled engine, won't the knock sensor react to the gear drive whine and retard your timing?

 

KnightWarrior---


I too have heard that is likely to happen.
That was a problem years ago with the later Iron Duke 2.5 fuelie
One of the timing gears were nylon, and when they wore out, ppl replaced them with steel. Then it was steel on steel, and the knock sensor went wacky.

 

It might, it might not. Knock sensors are tuned to hear a specific frequency, so it might "hear" the gears, it might not.

I still think you should just get a double-roller chain. Its cheaper, works just as well (if not better) and its quieter.

 

The loud gear drives can be very loud and annoy the crap out of you. If you like a constant whine that sound like a blower but with no forced induction benefits go for it. If you just want a unit that won’t stretch out like a chain and has a little noise then get a quiet drive. The quiet drive sounds like a stock 300 I 6 unit at low RPM then engine noise tends to drown it out.

 

Even if you do like the whine that the gear drives produce at speed, the rattle noise (caused by clearance between the gears) at idle makes the engine sound like it's ready to fall apart. A lot of people I know have taken them off because of this.

 

Really my 78 F150 with the I6 300 make absolutely no noise what so ever. You would never know that it was gear drive, if you didn't know.

 

My cousin's Ford flathead (239ci) is gear driven too IIRC, and its pretty damn loud.

If you are standing in front of it with the hood open and at idle, it drowns everything else out. Even with the air cleaner off... and that tiny carb makes a hell of an intake noise too. Much louder than my Holley.

 

Some gear drives will send a vibration through the valvetrain causing premature wear on these parts. I did a search on gear drives on the net when building my engine and read a lot of negative articals on them. But they do sound good!!

 

My old 83 Bronco had alot of gear whine especially in granny and second gear. Could have been normal but it might have had somthing to do with the 300k on the set. I miss that fNord.


The PJ gear drive I have in the Malibu (BB 427) doesent sound like its vibrating but its not a sound that would suite the bird IMO.

 

HERE Is an interesting article.....

 

As someone said earlier, a gear drive sounds like you have a blower when you really don't. It's like the guy who takes steriods to look "big and tough" yet can't fight his way out of a wet paper bag.

If you liked to get picked on and lose a lot, go for it.

 

Hmmmm, I got a gear drive and don't get picked on

 

If you got the muscle to back it up, then you don't mind a good scrap. But if you have basically a stock or mild engine, I wouldn't want to be bringing attention to myself.

It's almost as bad as some of those ricers with a basically stock Honda who's only mod consists of a big fart pipe out the rear.

 

ok ok lol,
To clear a couple of things up that were mentioned above.
First wear, I have had a gear drive for over 50k miles with no problems or abnormal wear.
Second you can make a "loud" drive quieter or louder depending on how you install it
Third anybody who knows the diff. can tell if its a gear drive or blower, the gear drive noise is just that...... while true blower whine is made from the air getting trapped between the belt cogs and the drive pulleys

 

oh ya , by the way I guess this is why I don't get pick on for those who didn't get it :

 

You forgot:

4th) They can see the blower sticking out of the hood.

 

That blown engine in your Camaro is amazing! Road Warrior all the way!! What kind of gas milage do you get with that thing? Any detonation problems or overheating? Damn, I wish I could do that to my Z.

 

Thanks, it gets 22mpg highway, in town depends on how I am driving I am running 93 octane with 9lbs boost 7.5:1 static cr with no problems and with the griffin if anything it runs to cool.
This car has had a blower on it since 86