timing chain gear disinegrated

[coop]

1970 F250 390 I am swapping in a new cam, when I removed the timing cover I couldn't believe what I saw. Ford put a plastic tooth covering on the aluminum cam gear and half of the plastic is gone and there was a hell of a lot of slack in the chain. I managed to remove most of the plastic pieces from the oil pan by scraping the bottom with a piece of wire and then vacuuming it out. Should i be worried about this the engine is still in the truck. Any suggestions on what do if anything?

[fordman]

they all do that with those plastic gears. it is something everyone has to deal with. you can jack the enigne up and remove the pan to clean it all out. you could also drain the oil and use another quart ported directly into the pan to flush more of the plastic out.

[TheEskimo]

The plastic covering the gear teeth was to keep any timing noise down in the engine when the vehicle was new. I know they did it to my '85 T-Bird, but I had no idea it went back that far. Wonder when they started doing that

[FORDification]

That's right....it was a noise-reduction effort. However, years of wear and heat will take it's toll, and the plastic will start coming off. Unfortunately, those plastic pieces tend to get caught up in the oil pump's intake screen. This can cause low oil pressure problems. I'd strongly suggest dropping the oil pan so that you can check the pickup screen, and clean it out.

[390F100]

I remember having this conversation a while back here about the same thing, but yes it was in an effort to eliminate excess noise...I love this site


390

[fordman]

if you do remove the oil pan and come into a problem getting it off of the eninge because it is hitting the oil pump. then you take the oil pump off while it is still in the pan. just let it all drop into the pan. you can reach the bolts from the front cover and oil pan open area.