Who makes the best timing chain and gear sets?

[buick man]

I thought I would get a good set from Egge Machine. So I ordered and received a cam gear, chain and crank gear manufactured from S.A. Gear Manufacturing Company - Automotive Timing Components out of Bedford Park, Il.

The cam gear appears to be cast and not 100% steel. It lacks the proper dual tapped holes to set my fuel pump essentric into as well. The teeth have brittle edges.

The timing chain looks like a japan made one I had some years back with that tell tale hue to the metal and smooth construction. The link pattern is minimal compared to my OEM one I removed.

The crank gear appears all steel and of good construction.

Has anyone used S.A. for their replacement timing sets. Has anyone heard of problems using the S.A. Gear and Timing Set. I few engine rebuilders have said that they had problems with indexing the cam and S.A. set upon install were off. In addition the timing roll marks were off as much as 1 tooth between the cam gear and the crank gear in one example. Rollmaster appears to have a good set and was smack on when installed. No index problems.

Any thoughts?

I am going to take this set to my machinist and see what he says.

So main question then is who makes the best set?

Thanks in advance.

David

[buick5563]

I have bought several sets (different cars) from Terrill Machine in DeLeon, Texas.

(254) 893-2610

[buick man]

It appears that if you are going to replace your cam gear with a new one, they only come with one large hole for the fuel pump eccentric nowadays. My 57 364 has two small 1/8 inch holes on either lower side for the fuel pump eccentric. If you get the new gear you have to rig up a way to attach your existing fuel pump eccentric or find a newer eccentric that will work on your new gear. The jury is still out on who makes the best stock "quiet" chain and gear setup.

[Guest minkos]

i got the set for my 425 from j&c's parts in north tonawanda NY, so far so good.

Mark

BCA 14421

[old-tank]

Rockauto has what appears to be a good quality chain and crank gear. That is all I replaced on mine 75,00 miles ago. The replacement cam gear lacked the eccentric holes and did not match the old one (off by 1/2 tooth). I sent that one back and used the old one.

Willie

[buick man]

Yeah ol tank that is what I may end up doing as well. My original cam gear as I said, has two small holes and the new ones have just one. Apparently one has to use a different eccentric to mount things up.

Honestly, my cam gear looks pretty good. My original low mileage Roadmaster has a little more than 1/4 inch slag with the original setup on the chain. If you are book tight tech though, all three components should really be changed together. My machinist looked the original parts over and said to clean them up and put them back on. His thoughts are that the original chain can't be matched today in quality and heavy duty construction. He looked over my replacement chain and it is indeed inferior as to density and construction. The original equipment pins are thicker and the chain material is heavier gauge.

Here is a photo of my original gear next to the new replacement one I got. I have read that guys and builders are having a hard time matching and getting the advance and timing **** on cause of the variances in the new setups.

Edited November 8, 2011 by buick man (see edit history)

[buick5563]

I'm up next...

BTW, the set I got from Terrell Machine had the two holes. I bought that set last year. I may see about what they sell this time around.