Hi i wanted to see what everyone is using for an upgraded oil pump drive gear? Part numbers would be good to as i am having a hard time finding them. Thanks, Kierstyn

 

You're talking about the drive that goes in the valley to turn the oilpump shaft? If so there is no upgrade available. Some have made up a plate to bolt over top in case the plastic mounting ear breaks off.

 

Yes but there are lots of people talking about using some sort of aftermarket gear! But they arent listing the part#.

 

Ever stop to think guys are talking about the gear on the cam?

I am sure some guys have gotten creative and redone the stock syle drive that bolts into the lifter valley but the overwhelming majority of us are using stock ones, and overwhelming majority I would call an understatement.

Folks cause themselves untold hassles trying to reinvent wheels that work just fine, save yourself some hassle and use a stocker with maybe a safety plate added as flame mentioned above.

 

Theoretically it would be the driven gear..... or what we refer to as the distributor gear, even though someone got the bright idea to cut the distributor off the top.

The fact is that many race style billet roller cams should use a bronze gear, but the "stub" shaft is a different diameter than GM distributors. GM used a 0.491" or 0.500" shaft on distributors. LT1 shafts are smaller, so a bushing could be made to use one of the larger aftermarket gears. Comp even makes a composite one that may be a nice addition.

With a stock style cam there is no real need to change it.

 

Thanks i had one get chewed up and trashed the bottom end so we thought about upgrading it.

 

More to the pount would be figuring out why it got chewed up. It is not a random failure but rather far more likely has a cause, like incompatible gear on the cam or the like.

 

I had the cam checked they said it was fine. Maybe the gear was just wore to the stock cam. I found a place that does metal hardening. I may see if they can harden the gear just in case and i am going to be using a new cam to be on the safe side!

 

we used a comp polymer gear and made a bushing to fit inside the id of the polymer gear for the oil pump drive... we also have a lathe in our garage. works great, btw we did this becuse a buddy put a billet cam with the billet gear on the stock oil drive and wondred why it didn't have oil pressure a few months later.

 

If you people used good reputable cam grinders they would come with the right gears and not be a problem. It is when people insist on using garbage and claim it is good that they create these problems for themselves.

 

The cam that I have is the same cam half the people on this site is running or have ran at one point in time! So i dont see that being the problem but as I stated I will be using a new one for my build. Thanks to everyone that have tried to help!

 

It has nothing to do with cams being junk......

A steel billet cam will require a bronze or polymer gear. These will ruin the stock oil pump drive.

Extreme performance applications, using very high spring pressures & aggressive solid roller profiles will not live on a cast core camshaft. There are also some combination cores with the steel core cam that has the cast gear mated to it. These allow the stock oil pump gear, but these cams do not work in all applications.

Now in reference to the original post.... a worn gear may often fail on a new camshaft due to the new gears meshing differently. It is always best to change the gear unless the engine is very low mileage.

 

Thanks that is what i think has happend in my case. We are going to try a new gear with it and see what happens. And for anyone that is reading this that is thinking about a cam swap I would recommend putting in a new gear. It will save you a headache and alot of money for a cheap part! It cost me a bottom end but hey you live you learn!

 

I run a billet cam, it just has the right gear on it.

 

im putting my lt1 back together soon and im putting a crane 227 cam in it. should i get a new gear and if so where should i get it?

 

U must be pretty lucky then 96capricemgr! U have yet to say anything helpful all you do is go around bashing peoples threads. So if you dont mind please step out of my thread!

 

And as for goldmecham yes I would recommend replacing the gear with a new one. It could save you a headache in the end!

 

Like i said before I believe the stock gear has wore to the stock cam and when we put the new cam in it put it in a bind. I had the cam checked and the gear on it was fine had nothing to do with the cam.

 

The EverWear gear plays nicely with the stock oilpump drive. All that needs to be done, if you really want to reinvent the wheel suppose you could get one and adapt it to the oilpump drive as well. Many companies have switched to this as it solves the reliability issues like those you experianced.

 

Thanks alot like I said I had the cam checked it was good so we will give this a try!