1964, 327 chevy motor Corvette with Dir.gear drive(timing)have you herd of this?

Question

motor is a 1964, 327 chevy corvett. I got it rebuilt the guy i got it from new nothing about the motor only that he thought it was to be put in a boat. (timming)there is only two gears big gear on the cam &smaller one on the crank. what kind of gear drive is this .would this make my timming run backwards and can i put this in car without changing the timming gear.what do you know about this. e mail me jaymz06 msn com if you like to. I can send you pic too

Answer 1

He has it right that is a reverse rotation engine used for boats.
Along with the cam. you will have to have the pistons corrected as in reverse rotation they are put in backwards to put the thrust face on the correct side.
Although it is only a small amount .001 - .002 inch or so the wrist pins are offset in high performance engines to give better wear characteristics on the thrust side of the slug.
Also if the connecting rods have oil squirt holes they will have to be installed for the correct rotation.
So the person rebuilding this motor didn't notice the cam was reverse rotation?
So did he install a regular rotation cam with reverse rotation gears?
Something tells me the compression isn't too good right now.
Did he think that having the piston locator notch to the rear of the motor was normal?

Answer 2

I've never heard about a marine engine running backwards. It all depends on what stern drive was going to be used with the engine. Sounds like BS to me. Only way to really tell if this is a "reverse running" setup would be to find the info on the cam that is currently installed. A cam would have to be ground with "mirror" lobes to run in reverse. Basically, the lobes would have to ground in a reverse pattern to run the engine in reverse. A normal camshaft CANNOT be run in reverse.

The fix is really simple. Install a camshaft and timing chain kit that is correct for your application. A comp or crower flat tappet hyd cam and double roller timing chain would work well.

I've seen lots of people spew lots of BS about engines. I've bought cars where the owner has NO idea what engine it has. So they make up a false answer. ONLY way to tell the truth is to do the detective work...... Remove the camshaft. Find out who made the cam and what the grind number is.

Answer 3

There is only supposed to be 2 gears, one on the crank and one on the cam. You are supposed the bigger gear on the cam. I don't see any reason why you couldn't put it in a car.
ps. I have a 76 corvette L82, so I know about corvette engines.
no need for a pic

Answer 4

It should work true some marine engines do run opposite but that is normally when a boat has two engines.

Answer 5

Go to the Jeg's web site below. It has photos and instructions for your gear drive cam.

Answer 6

Nope can't put it in a car, the engine runs backward as do many marine engines.

Answer 7

easy way to tell , send juice to the starter in order to see which way the rotor spins.You are only going to spin to clarify rotor movement,therefore you don't need to install, can be bench tested.

Then correspond with engine firing order . That will verify if you have a forward or backwards engine.