Worn camshaft gear..... HELP!!

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evilunclegrimace

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Thank you very much....I have the intake gaskets and valve cover gaskets already as I was in the process of doing those when I found the camshaft issue. I have 2 questions thought l though:

A) I have ZERO clue what the hades a torsional damper speedy sleeve is and
B) by timing set do you mean the gears that timing chain runs on?
National PN 88176 repair sleeve at Rock auto. $5.61

Yes.
 

someotherguy

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That's some wild cam gear damage; I'd wonder if that and your distributor shaft damage happened by a previous owner attempting to get the distributor re-stabbed by bumping the starter to get the distributor to drop. I've heard people discuss this method but would never personally do it as it sounds super sketch.

If you're losing money by having the truck apart.. some may disagree with me here but I'd say put it back together and run it until you can firm up a good plan for replacement. The damage is already done, ya know?

Richard
 

Schurkey

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A) I have ZERO clue what the hades a torsional damper speedy sleeve is and
B) by timing set do you mean the gears that timing chain runs on?
As said, the "Speedy Sleeve" is a metal repair sleeve that covers the groove worn into the torsional damper hub. If your damper doesn't have a groove worn into it, you don't need the repair sleeve. If the damper is beyond service due to deteriorated rubber, or other damage, you need a damper not a repair sleeve.

Yes, a "timing set" is the chain and two gears/sprockets.

That's some wild cam gear damage; I'd wonder if that and your distributor shaft damage happened by a previous owner attempting to get the distributor re-stabbed by bumping the starter to get the distributor to drop. I've heard people discuss this method but would never personally do it as it sounds super sketch.
That's how I drop most distributors. Never had a problem. Works great.

If you're losing money by having the truck apart.. some may disagree with me here but I'd say put it back together and run it until you can firm up a good plan for replacement. The damage is already done, ya know?

Richard
Some truth to that. The longer it runs with parts destroying themselves, the more grit gets into the oil system and then the bearings. And the greater the chances of being stranded when the distributor quits turning.

But y' gotta do what y' gotta do.
 

someotherguy

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That's how I drop most distributors. Never had a problem. Works great.
It's hard to argue against what's worked for you, but I don't think I could ever do it. I was warned against it by someone that is a near genius-level mechanical wizard. Everyone has their pet peeves whether justified or not, and that is one of his. ;) Then again he prefers the F-word brand though I don't hold that against him, so it's possible he's seen it be a problem on some junky old brand X engine.

Richard
 

DerekTheGreat

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As a dude who stabbed a "new" used engine in his truck once he learned it had a burned exhaust valve, I say put it back together and run it like SoG said. It's certainly a gamble and I don't know if prices changed much, but I got another turd tree-fiddy for ~$450 and had it stabbed in place of the limping one. Been great for nearly five years and 60k miles now.

Soo, you could plan for that while you run that thing until it dies, which could be never or next month. But after reading through PlayingWithTBI's thread about his camshaft woes and crap quality in general, I'd be hesitant to do all that work myself and then have it all eat itself in short order. That and I'm pretty dham lazy, I hate doing things twice.
 

L31MaxExpress

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It's hard to argue against what's worked for you, but I don't think I could ever do it. I was warned against it by someone that is a near genius-level mechanical wizard. Everyone has their pet peeves whether justified or not, and that is one of his. ;) Then again he prefers the F-word brand though I don't hold that against him, so it's possible he's seen it be a problem on some junky old brand X engine.

Richard

I also use the method almost exclusively and have stabbed in the hundreds of them that way now. The gear is already mostly meshed when you spin the engine and it rotates the distibutor gear until it lines up with the oil pump driveshaft which then allows it to drop home. Only way I could see any kind of damage would be in the event of a seized oil pump, but at that point you have bigger issues at hand anyway.

Ford uses a different style of pump drive so it could be a problem but I don't work on many of them because I hate the engineering myself.
 

L31MaxExpress

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Personally I would look for a running 305 that I could get for FREE or next to nothing to drop in and get the truck back making money or a running 350 to build while I got the last miles out of the current 350.
 

Rustjunky67

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Ok guys back to the cam issue.....I pulled it and here's my next question......
Is this obviously difference in lobe wear from one pic to the next? My untrained eye says yes.....
Pics were taken from same angle and distance from cam..... I'm just going by the apparent difference in width of wear (shiny) on the two lobe noses (across face of lobe, not width of lobe).....
And here's a couple of pics of what the gear ACTUALLY looks like..... wow camera can fool you it doesn't look nearly what I thought it would.....
 

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