Hey guys, just wondering what you think about running a gear drive? Loud noisy, quiet, or just the old chain style? What brands you like and have had bad luck with. I really want to go gear drive if I can afford the extra 100 bucks on my 454 build. tongue.gif

I felt the same way when I was building my big block-I wanted that sweet whine of a gear drive. I still like it, but I dont drive it that often, maybe once or twice a month in the winter and every weekend in the summer. If you want it, I say do it or you will regret it and it will be a pain in the *ss to put it in after its in the car. Just keep in mind if you drive it alot, you may get tired of that whine. Mine is a "quiet" pete jackson. Not that quiet.

DON'T DO IT , I had one in my 454 . it got old fast . save up and buy a blower. that way you could have a something to show for that noise
I also had the quiet one . ya right
I sold it for like $20.00 and didn't feel bad about it

Back in the day when I couldn't afford one (or a big block for that fact), I always wanted one. Picked up an almost new Erson single idler setup on ebay for $130.

Will it annoy me?? Dunno?? Sure gonna find out though :-D

click on page 3 of this forum for more veiws

i posted about this on another post....and i would like to say as well i thought it would be "cool" to have one and i got the noisy one.......i liked it and it never did annoy me........i tell ya though it sure is loud to some extent.....when my car would rumble down the road in town....you sure could here that sucker comming from about 1 1/2 blocks away......then you heard my exhaust rumble about 1 block away or so next.......friends and what not said you could here it first comming down the road then the exhaust........i really didnt believe them so i had a friend drive my car and sure enough i then knew what they was talking about.....

for me the only real down fall my hearing isnt the way it use to be and its getting harder to "listen" to my engine for signs of problems with say such loud parts like the solid cams ticking and the gear drive whining and the exhaust thumping.......now-a-days im looking at trying to keep things alittle quieter so i can hear my engine in case of trouble......sign of old age i guess.....lol


the gear drive sure turns heads no matter what engine it is.....when you here it from other cars sure makes your head turn......

from a performance stand point.theres nothing like the old fashion double roller they just really cant be beat........if timing action is close...i lean to the gear drive...specially to keep timing in line......on a really hot engine.......there was some talk about hormonic vibrations in the valve train because of the gear drive.this i can see.has it effected my motors..cant say...havent had problems that im aware of with them.......

cool factor ..still give it a thumbs up for the noise.......having a real blower that whines totally cool and priceless.......lol

jmo again......

i really wouldnt run one at all the added harmonic,s is murder on bearings.. for street run a good roller and save your self some nasty valve train harmonic,s . get a nice rollmaster double roller chain ..

Dang dude, seriously, use the search option. This was discussed not more than two weeks ago.

No offense meant, but bandwidth isn't free for Al and Dot.

I ran a Pete Jackson noisy for years and never had a problem with it. I had 2 chamber flows with no tail pipes so I could`nt even hear it from inside the car. Alot of people talk about the harmonics but I never had a problem with my motor and it had roughly 10k stret miles. When Ii got mine, I did`nt know anything about them except they made a cool noise. 12yrs later now that I know alot more about engine building, I would still run one and probably will put one on my bbc for my 70. The timing chains have gotten better over the years and most of them are just as accurat as a geardrive but they don`t sound as cool.

Well we can search for stuff all the time, I did find some posts but its always nice to "talk" to you dudes ;) I agree though... Im not really looking for the noisey types, I was thinking the "quiet" one would be nice, and its still going to make some noise. Again though, not really looking for the sound so much but to avoid any chain stretch way down the line and just having a nice solid gear drive would be something new and nice to have. There pretty brutal on the bearings?

Ive heard the noisey ones, those suckers talk! Maybe a tad too much for my project. As for a daily driver I think I could live with it but it's tough enough as it is to hear my stereo, and ive got a pretty good sized amp. I did just put in more insulation though...
Anyways, im leaning towards not putting one in, and getting a nice double roller. .... Or the quiet gear drive smile.gif

OK, imho,unless the ride can run 11's,keep the noise on the shelf. Some dude with an 11 sec sleeper will find ya! smile.gif

Cloyes tru-roller or equiv.

I had a PJ gear drive in my car when I got it.. To be honest I really liked the way that it sounded, although all of my gearhead friends said it sounded like I picked up a cat in my belts.... With that said, the first time I pulled the engine, I vowed to remove it, because it was IMPOSSABLE to tune the engine over the wine of the drive.... After much debait, the gear drive is siting on a shelf, & I put a double roller on the car....

I have never heard a "quiet gear drive", but I don't think I would take a chance...As stated above, it is a major PITA to change it when the engine is back in the car...

Scott

gear drives are annoying as hell! To tell you the truth everybody i have seen with one was in high school and barely had 300 horsepower, but it sure sounded cool :(

Can't say I like them too much. The noise is ridiculous, IMHO, and why bother with the added stress to the harmonics of your motor. If you want a supercharger sound, get a supercharger.

Well, I might as well let it be know...I put one in my '69 and have put probably 80,000 miles on it since I originally built the engine. It is an Erson unit. It is pretty quiet. I spent a lot of time setting the gear lash and redrilling the cover, alignment pins to get it set right. When I am cruising on the highway I really don't notice it much over the drone of the exhaust. I have never had a problem with it and quite honestly, at the time I bought it, it was one of the few units that had an o-ringed secondary cover to change cams. This was one of the main reasons I got it. Now there are several others.

Would I put another in?...NO. Why?...I agree with Ddeenis, it just makes it a pain to diagnose problems with all of that noise under the hood.

when I did mine, it was becasue I was young and though they sounded cool. I still don`t mind the sound of them but don`t use one if you just want the sound. They aren`t worth them money or hassel if you just want the sound. A good chain would work great for you. When I said "they don`t sound as cool" before, I was being sarcastic. Don`t do it for the noise.

Yeah I agree, I never really wanted the wine sound. Especially with dropping a new engine in and setting everything and timing things right, it would make it incredibley difficult! There obviously isnt anything wrong with a nice double roller chain, which is where im headed! A gear drive? Maybe a "quiet" one someday.

If your lookin for cool and quiet..........BELT drive :cool:

Belt drive? It's neither a chain nor gear? Not familiar if thats what your saying smile.gif Fill me in!

Here ya go.....
http://img126.exs.cx/img126/4408/beltdrive4ok.jpg

Picture didnt work for me. Not sure if you guys could see it... 8)

funny how people frown at gear drives now!! its your ride ,if ya want it ,do it,opinions are to each his own,facts are facts though, think it over,they are noisy as sin,kinda cool to me,but in some eyes I have poor taste,no really, think it over before hand,it will be a pain to break all those sealed up gaskets lose if ya hate it,look into the belt set ups,thats trick,no noise!! but ya want to be happy,just get a true roller set up,but remember your not building it to make others happy,only yourself-- make the best chioce,you got the scoop in this thread,and a lot of good opinions,good luck :D --67rat
cant please everyone,so ya got to please yourself!!
my spelling-suuuuuuuuucks graemlins/sad.gif

I think im going to get the Edelbrock Kit, Its good up to 6500RPM which is probably more than enough. Part Number 7810

ss chevell fan,I did mine at a much earlyer age also,though it was trick,but Im not tearing it down, not till I have to,and it better not be because of THAT FRIGGIN GEAR DRIVE graemlins/angry.gif --67rat

Originally posted by 67RAT:
ss chevell fan,I did mine at a much earlyer age also,though it was trick,but Im not tearing it down, not till I have to,and it better not be because of THAT FRIGGIN GEAR DRIVE graemlins/angry.gif --67rat I hear you on that. I still love the sound of a geardrive but like you said, people tend to frown on them. Of course everyone frowned on me building a 327 for my old 65 chevelle, untill I was blowing them away. It ran a best of 12.18@114mph on slicks. It was also my daily driver till I put the 4.56 gears in it.

The only whine I want from my engine is from a blower.

Chris.

I've heard them and think the quet ones sound much better than the noisy version. It is still really loud though. You cannot run a gear drive on a modern, fuel injected vehicle due to the damn noise setting off the knock sensor and retarding the timing all the time. That should go to show you how much they disturb the normal harmonics in an engine. Very tough, if not impossible to hear loose rocker arms and header leaks. It's your car, and you should do what you want, but you could spend the money on something you need, not just a novelty item like this. Sure, they don't stretch like a chain, but that usually doesn't cause any problems until you get up over 100K miles, if ever.