Fellas, I need some advice on a camshaft timing gear install. Here's the story so far: 261 motor, new camshaft and new aluminum timing gear, with new thrust plate and spacer.

I heated the gear in a pan per the Cloyes instructions and got it down as far as I could. By the time the timing gear was around two thirds on it had cooled and I had to get it seated using a block of wood and mallet. When seated the measurement between the thrust plate and cam shoulder was far too large to be within spec of .003". It was more like .020".

I took it to a machine shop and they tried to press it on a little further, but no go, it was seated as far as it would go. We talked about the spacer ring and realized I had installed it upside down. There was no mention of direction in the manual as one side of the ring is chamfered. I took note of the chamfer direction when I pulled the old gear off, so I thought I had it right. Hopefully installing it the correct way will account for the .017" difference.

I had the machine shop press the gear off (so I could flip the spacer), which he mentioned came off easily. He was concerned about reusing the gear based on that. My question is should I reuse this new gear or play it safe and buy a new set?

Any advice is welcome, and thanks in advance.

I recommend getting a new gear.
Heat it in the oven on the rack to 475 for about 20 min. Have everything ready and it should almost slide on. Keep a rubber hammer or a dead blow handy with some thick gloves. Tom

Thanks for the advice Tom. I think my other mistake the first time around was trying to heat the gear in boiling water. I just don't think it got hot enough.

One more question: Cloyes sells the cam gear separately and since my crank gear (I bought them as a set) is brand new, can I get away with buying a new cam gear only? Or should I just spring for a new set and be done with it?

Thanks again- Mark.

Also put your cam in the freezer overnight beforehand. You should be okay with just the cam gear.