Thread: 327 Gear Drive

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SHOULD I PUT A CLOYES GEAR DRIVE FOR MY 327 BUILT FOR THE STREET. I LIKE THE SOUND BUT WILL IT RATTLE THE VALVES AND LOOSE COMPRESSION. MY FRIEND HAD A PETE JACKSON ON HIS 327 AND HIS RAN GOOD. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK??

Have to agree with Denny on this one. Are you going to run a loud one or semi quiet?

My SBC-driving friend is trying to talk my son out of the gear drive for his 350.He thinks the gear drives don't last as well and so on. Big lift, big overlap on a hydraulic cam in his 327. Idles with a serious lope at about 1000 - has a pretty high stall TC (something around 3000 RPM). But the same guy pointed at my heavy valve springs on an FE Ford and told me the prematurely dead timing chain had croaked due to the heavy load of the springs.

My reading tells me the gear drive is more accurate/consistent, lasts at least as well as the chain, and the only downside I've found is that on the FE block Fords, you can't run one with the mechanical fuel pump so it's right out for my Shelby. If I can figure out where to mount the fuel pump in the old F100 (I'd rather not have it in the cab with me), I may use the gear drive on the truck.

My son is in high school, and we're building my Dad's '57 Chev 210 Delray for him. He wants an Acura-killer, and the more hot rod noise the better, so it's going to be the gear drive.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong - there are a load of smart folks on this forum - but I'd go with the gear drive if you're going to run high RPM, or going to have a lot of valve spring in there. Other than that, it's personal preference. But I'll be interested to see if anyone has any good case for the gear drives being hard on things.

If you were to attend any hi-performance engine building seminars or schools. Or the PRI show in Indy. You would find that none of the "Pro's" will use a gear drive on a street-strip SBC type motor.

Gear drives transmit all the vibration and harmonics from the lower end. Directly to the valve train. Computer simulations supplied by the big cam retailers. Show how the push rods amplify this vibration/motion to the valve springs. This causes the entire top end of the motor to vibrate like a tuning fork. Not good on already taxed valve train components..

According to those in the know. The best is a Jessel Belt. The next best is a double roller chain.

When asked why they still sell gear drives? "THE KIDS BUY EM" was the answer..