Gear Drives

[BeerRidgeRacing]

I run the Shaver/Wesmar Gear Drives as I'm sure most do. I'm having a problem with the thrust washers burning until they break causing debris in the oil. If you're familiar with the S/W gear drives the front retaining plate is aluminum that the washer sits against. Twice this year that plate and the washers needed replaced and the second time the washers weren't broken but were purple from the heat. My cam play is always .008" so I'm assuming it's a lack of oil. Any ideas on how to get oil to the front of the gear drive? Thanks!

Obergs are a must!

[billetbirdcage]

Not sure about that drive, but a lot of engine guys use either a oil galley plug that has a small hole drilled in it to help oil a chain or drive. There might also be a mod on the retaining plate with a groove or hole or something that would add oil to that problem area.

Not sure that of much help!

[BeerRidgeRacing]

I'm was thinking of that as well but I didn't know if putting that hole in the oil galley plug would get the oil past the massive cam gear to the front bearings? I'm going to call some engine shops in the area to get some advice. My other idea was to drill and tap my timing cover to accept a squirter like in valve covers or oil pans. haha. I'll try the hole in the plug first.

[rick james]

you need to make sure the back of the water pump is not touching the cam cover could be holding pressure on the cam thrust washer

[BeerRidgeRacing]

Been a while since I was on but I wanted to reply to some threads I've started incase someone else runs across the same issues as myself. We came to find the issue in this case was due to the distributor gear not aligning perfectly in the cam teeth which under load was shoving the cam forward wearing out my thrust washers. This was figured out but an engine builder that told me he sees it occasionally on sprint cars since the pumps are run off the rear of the cam, and when they tighten them down and don't check it they lose all endplay in the cam. When freshening the motor we did a good mock up with the ditributor when setting cam endplay and installing the welsh plug. We haven't had an issue since. Hope this can help someone else in the future!