My son has a beautiful '64 Wildcat with a 401 nailhead. She tore up her taiming chain because the gears were worn. He saved his money up to get a bunch of new parts and is ready to put the timing chain and gears on. The problem he has is that he doesn't know where to put the timing marks. I'm not up on any of this. Does anyone out there have any advice or maybe diagrams he can us. I'd rather have him out there working than running the streets. It's refreshing to see a 17 year old who would rather drive a classic than a Honda with a noisy muffler. Thanks for the help, it's appreciated.:beer
On most timing sets, there should be a "dot" on each gear. Get the gear on the crank and turn it so that the "dot" is pointing straight up. You must also pull the number one spark plug out while doing this. When turning the engine you will feel the compression stroke as air will try and push out of the hole. Check the crank gear and get the "dot" at the 12 o'clock position. Now, with the crank gear set, you can put on the chain along with the upper cam gear. Place the cam gear up to the cam. The bolts should only line up one way and it should only fit on the cam one way. You want to be sure to turn the cam so that when the gear is attached to the cam, the "dot" on the cam gear is facing straight down, at 6 o'clock, or directly on top of the "dot" on the crank gear. I guess the easiest way is it should look like this : with the marks lined up vertically. All of this is wrong if a nailhead has another method. But that's the way it's done on a 455. Good luck to your son. Phil
You are correct about the marks Phil, but the cam sprocket slides on the camshaft and is indexed with a keyway, and 1 bolt with a big washer on it screws into the camshaft to retain the gear and fuel pump eccentric, it's a little different than the 455.:bglasses:
