anyone used a gear drive in a cleveland?

I'm currently running a Pete Jackson unit in my 351C and I have had ZERO problems, the timing is dead on and stays consistent all thru the rpm range.

JohnO........Question (because it could be fact or hear-say)..... any noise that comes with the unit?


Bob

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any noise that comes with the unit? Bob[/B]

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I dont have a Cleveland but a gear drive. Everything was quite livable whan using stock steel engine fire wall and fibre glass panel. In order to gain engine acces and lighten the car I made a one piece styren composited with aluminium "fire door".

Then the geardrive noice become a pain.
I live with it as my car is a pain anyway.....

Goran Malmberg

I use a pete jackson quiet gear drive and have absolutly no problems with it.I've got about 10 thousand miles on a 382 stroker.

jeff

I don't have any excessive noise; the engine is loud yet when the doors are closed the wife and I can carry on a coversation. My Pantera has the reduced bulkhead and has some extra insulation so I don't get any gear noise bleeding through.

John O

did you put in insulation on the firewall or between the seats?--just kidding--what type of insulation--fiberglass--or what--?

I had always heard that gear drives ok if you don't run over 5,000rpm, otherwise too hard on valve train. People like the fake blower sound though. People who don't drive them hard don't have much of a problem but people who use their car harder than that avoid them.

FWIW, Let's look at the Physics of a gear drive. There is ONLY one Tooth making contact at any given moment with a single idle gear set-up, two teeth with a dual gear. A roller chain encircles at least half of the teeth on the sprockets. A gear drive has 'backlash'; and so does a chain, maybe more. A gear drive can NOT absorb shock, a Roller chain can and does. A roller chain does not stretch (a myth), it does wear-in and then out, as does a gear drive. A gear drive maintains a 'stricter' accuracy than a chain. 'Most' all the Pros use gear drives in drag racing where the forces are 100% acceleration.(not counting decceleration upon shutting down). Roadracers mostly use chain or belt drives, as the forces are all of acceleration and decceleration.(although, there may be a few who use gear drives, how successful have they been on the roadcourse?). Yes! The noise sounds cool! But could get "old" after a long drive of being 'trapped' in the cockpit with no relief. If you have read Gorans' reply, he discribes the noise as being 'a pain'. It is my opinion ONLY that with the Cam drive being so close behind ones' head, and the difficulty in replacing it; I recommend going with a "True Roller" Chain drive. Regards, Marlin.

With respect to everyone who has responded, the unit on my Pantera makes "some" noise but if you have the bulkhead trim panel insulated with a good foam insulator type material the noise is not heard. As far the comments on the gear drive vs the roller chain I can say that my Pantera is driven both hard and easy and I haven't had problems. The gear drive beats having to change the chain every 20,000 miles or constantly adjusting the timing. MY Humble Opinion...........