Billet Cam Gear Failure: What's fixed it for you?

DLS has spent lots of time and money on this issue. He is making a new cam gear and distributor/cam sensor gears as a kit to correct the problem. Hopefully this will address the issue. But keep in mind lots of variables can cause this issue (ie bad front cover, bad alignment etc) so that being said, DLS is just offering another option to the solution provided you have a gear issue and not something else. The gears are in the engineering stage at this point.
Things like this show you how dedicated Dan is. He probably has more money wrapped up into these gears then he would probably ever recoup selling them once they are complete.........
 
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Good info here. I think the Dr. was just trying to help. Don't take him the wrong way.
 
Chris's/oil plug drilling solution in the previous post works.

Are you saying that you do now have oil from the external line? Of course, if you did, you've taken care of the oiling issue, and it's alignment.

A friend's SII car here in TX had roller cam bearings and it ate gears do to the lack of lube. Drilled two small holes in each galley plug fixed the problem.

Good luck on your fix.
 
ttypewhite said:
DLS has spent lots of time and money on this issue. He is making a new cam gear and distributor/cam sensor gears as a kit to correct the problem. Hopefully this will address the issue. But keep in mind lots of variables can cause this issue (ie bad front cover, bad alignment etc) so that being said, DLS is just offering another option to the solution provided you have a gear issue and not something else. The gears are in the engineering stage at this point.
Things like this show you how dedicated Dan is. He probably has more money wrapped up into these gears then he would probably ever recoup selling them once they are complete.........
Click to expand...

That is good to know since I will only run the GM gears and they are becoming VERY difficult to find these days. The aftermarket ones I have seen are not the same material or hold up as well.

BTW with on-center motors you have to mill 1/8" off the back of the cover to put the distributor hole in the correct location. When you do this you run the risk of milling off one of the oil pump housing mounting holes. Using the DLS spacer eliminates having to do this and makes getting the alignment correct pretty easy.
 
I did not realize that any of this was a problem until it happend to me. I did not have a oil line set up before. And I was definatly not getting any oil on the gears.
I have a external line set up now but that is getting removed... .and I'll be doing somthing with the cam plugs for oiling.

Some how we need to come up with a procedure for allignment that works. T-chain cover gasket is going to vary in thickness and will affect cam gear position.
Even over time it will change as the gasket crushes.

I've never seen a Flat tappet cam have a gear problem. Even with all the variables of gaskets/different cams ect..... so it's hard for me to see it being all in allignment.

I'll report next week on how the Rockwell tests come back on Flat tappet gear/aftermarket gear and cam sensor gear.. not sure if that will help at all but
it could be usefull information.

Thanks again for your input.. I hope this helps somone fix their engine before it is too late or prevent it from happing at all!!!!
~Scott
 
UR50SLO said:
I did not realize that any of this was a problem until it happend to me. I did not have a oil line set up before. And I was definatly not getting any oil on the gears.
I have a external line set up now but that is getting removed... .and I'll be doing somthing with the cam plugs for oiling.

Some how we need to come up with a procedure for allignment that works. T-chain cover gasket is going to vary in thickness and will affect cam gear position.
Even over time it will change as the gasket crushes.

I've never seen a Flat tappet cam have a gear problem. Even with all the variables of gaskets/different cams ect..... so it's hard for me to see it being all in allignment.

I'll report next week on how the Rockwell tests come back on Flat tappet gear/aftermarket gear and cam sensor gear.. not sure if that will help at all but
it could be usefull information.

Thanks again for your input.. I hope this helps somone fix their engine before it is too late or prevent it from happing at all!!!!
~Scott
Click to expand...

I built that girdled 109 motor I mentioned above in 1997 and just had the roller cam bearing issue this spring in 2009:rolleyes: Even had one fail in BG in 2005 at the 1000' mark, car popped and I happened to look down at the oil pressure gauge and it read ZERO:eek: This was at 145+MPHand believe it or not I didn't hurt the motor:D Putting your ignition timing, oil pump and valvetrain all on that puny little gear is a piss poor design IMO especially for a 7000+rpm motor with a duttwieller hi pressure hi volume oil pump! Hoping to go to a belt drive on the new motor and eliminate all the BS on the nose of the cam for this very reason. The problem is as old as the motors themselves.
 
a redesigned matched cam/ dist gear pair will be available from dls in about two weeks. there were flaws in the design of the cam gear.

im very curious about the lack of oiling issue and will look into that also.
 
Good info here! I chased a cam sensor gear issue for a month. Caused the ecu to lose cam signal at high rpms. I will check the cam gear this winter. I'm running the original factory timing cover still with a felpro gasket. Have not checked to see if there is an alignment issue yet Is the dls fix still need the oil mods?
 
flat tappet cams have a hole drilled in the core to bring oil to the gear through the cam from the back of the timing chain gear machined face, billet cams do not have this hole. That is why flat tappet cams never have issues with the gear.
 
Composite gears--new material gears--alignment issues--all BS

Go to the Stage II section and do a search (Distributor Gear)--I answered a post over 3 years ago with pics as how to fix the problem and why the problem is there to start with. With stock GM gears and earl spraying on the 2 where they mesh will STOP all this wear issues. A few hand tools--some copper tubing and your done. I had my cover off last winter and still zero wear.
 
I did what Chris did as well. I drilled a .040" Hole on the Oil Plug but in a slight angle. Don't know if that did any difference. And since then I don't have that problem anymore. ( 109 Block ). I was changing Cam Gears once a year, and Dave Weber told me this years ago.
Thanks Dave Weber ( Weber Racing Equipment )

Good Luck
 
LOT said:
Go to the Stage II section and do a search (Distributor Gear)--I answered a post over 3 years ago with pics as how to fix the problem and why the problem is there to start with.
Click to expand...

Must have been posted under your alias? Can you dig it up?
 
Sam

Sam Colalillo said:
Must have been posted under your alias? Can you dig it up?
Click to expand...

Lee Thompson here. I recently moved and could not log in under my name. Could not get any help through the board leaders so I created a new log in name. I.E. my initials (LOT). I believe Old Timer had the original post and I replied to it. The title of the post is Distributor Gear. The date is May 03. Hope this helps.
 
norbs said:
flat tappet cams have a hole drilled in the core to bring oil to the gear through the cam from the back of the timing chain gear machined face, billet cams do not have this hole. That is why flat tappet cams never have issues with the gear.
Click to expand...

X2.. this is all there is to it guys. plain and simple.

Run an oil line to squirt oil on the gears and the problem goes away.

The cast core roller cams from full throttle also have the oil hole present on the cam thrust, so those don't wear out either.
 
BEATAV8 said:
The cast core roller cams from full throttle also have the oil hole present on the cam thrust, so those don't wear out either.
Click to expand...

Are you sure? That seems like a blanket statement. I've seen wear on the gears in every application. (ie.camshafts)
 
wear

V6RACER said:
Are you sure? That seems like a blanket statement. I've seen wear on the gears in every application. (ie.camshafts)
Click to expand...

Jason, are you saying you have seen stock factory gears wear? I have not seen factory stuff show any extreme wear--just a shinny spot. Assuming the after market cast rollers have the oil hole @ the correct angle --hole size and such--I don't forsee any wear problems. I don't know how long they have been in service--time will tell--didn't take long for the econo roller to show how good they were. I have not heard any bad news on the latest cast roller altho I wonder how much spring pressure they will withstand.
 
Thank you for posting this info Lee. I was looking into this kind of mod when I got my GN/Vega engine going back together...especially after getting that nice 218/224 roller off of you. Time to start working on the car now that all my work that needs to go on my lift is done. :D
 
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