Took the intake off the Z28 I just bought that had lost it's oil pressure. The gears on the shaft are mostly gone or chewed up. I had read that when the cam is change that this can happen. Wanted to know what kind of gear replacement you guys recommend? Thanks in advance.

 

you lucked out. hopefully they didn't run it too much and do any real damage.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LT1-L...Q5fAccessories

 

If the cam gear ate it someone used a cam with the wrong gear so just replacing the drive wont fix it for long.
What else do you know about the engine?

 

A chevy cam is a chevy cam. I have seen on here a lot of people with the gear wearing out.

 

Hint: Throw your specs in your sig, too. Helps other people who haven't been paying attention to make a quicker discernment as to what way they can best assist you.

 

It is always a good idea to change the gear when you install a new cam..

 

I figure that they used the same old gear. So should I just go with the factory gear?

 

I would try and find out more information on the motor,,how many miles are on it..IMO I would pull it out and open it up and find out if there is any more damage..It does not take much to smoke a bearing in these motors.How long has it been since the cam swap?

 

Not sure, I am going to put a new gear in it and see what happens. When I bought the car it was started and sounded great. I believe he parked the car once the problem started, been sitting 3 months. Going to put it in and keep fingers crossed.

 

Aftermarket cams can be made with different rear gear materials, some cause problems or need special "distributor" gears others work just fine with the stock drive.

The drive wearing out is usually caused by too much oil pump load from a high volume pump or really thick oil or by a cheap cam with the wrong gear material.

Not long ago one popular vendor sent out cams that would eat the oilpump drive gear in a matter of a few hundred miles, when it happened once it can be called a fluke, when it happens again in 300miles that is the wrong parts.

 

So does any company make a stronger or better gear to use?

 

No one can give you any suggestions unless you pull the cam and see what type of gear is on it.

 

The mounting tab on mine cracked so I just made a custom one from a summit sbc billet gear drive just cut it down to size and welded a billet tab on it I dont have to worry about it getting cracked which is a more common problem than you would think i pulled the gear drive from my buddy's motor when he rebuilt it and his had the same crack along with 2 other buddies of mine. It also come with the bronze gear Ive got pics of it in my photo album if you wanna check it out.

 

Thats a nice part you fabricated there. How long has it been in service since you built it?

 

I thought bronze gears were a wear item. The stock one when used with the right cam gear is basically a life of engine part. The hold down cracking is usually due to overtorqueing.