Slant Six Solid Roller Camshaft
What did you figure out on the gear drive?
I got a CAT 440 dual idler gear drive. I was going to run it as is, but yellow rose and I talked about the play the dual idler gears have back and forth and he was right. I got it all mocked up and when turning the engine back and forth, the idler gears would move probably a few degrees worth of timing before the camshaft would turn, so that was unacceptable. So I decided to modify the set and convert it to a single, fixed idler gear drive. I am going to drill a 3/8 hole through the large idler gear's pinion. Then assemble the three gears and jack them together with a .003 feeler gauge between them. Then I'm going to use the pinion as a guide and drill a 5/16 hole through the front of the block in the timing cover area, tap the hole to 3/8-24 and bolt the pinion and gear down to the block. There' no reason why that shouldn't work. I'm going to find out anyway.
Oh and the cam gears between the 440 and slant six and also both gears are marked differently. I figured out though, that if the crank gear is flipped over, upside down that the gear alignment becomes just about perfect. Then all I did was remark both gears. You can actually use the dual idler system as is if you want, but the block has to be relieved on the passenger's side so the idler gears align evenly. But even though I did relieve the block there and made it fit good, I still decided to make it a fixed single idler system. The worst that can happen is it tears up and I start over. I don't think that'll happen though, because there'll be very little lateral force on the idler gear and pinion.
