In our engine building experiences with Honda's, we've had an opportunity to
work with almost every brand of cam gears currently on the market. We've found
that some are reasonably good, while most are severely lacking in both design
and manufacturing quality.
Some of the problems we've identified with aftermarket pulleys range from
poor gear "tooth" machining and coating quality, to insufficient
fastener quality, and inaccurate degree-mark indexing.
When we decided to build a "better" cam gear for use on modified
engines, we identified a number of items we felt should be properly addressed.
1. Gear tooth quality
2. Fastener / clamping integrity
3. Accuracy of hub indexing and keyway machining
4. Accuracy of degree markings relative to gear teeth
5. Need to "zero" on engines with milled blocks and heads
We addressed these needs by making outer gear portions with teeth configured
identically to the OE teeth on Honda's gears. We coated these gears with a hard
anodizing process that's not simply for looks.
We chose to use (5) fasteners for clamping the outer gear to the inner hub.
These fasteners use stainless steel through-bolts, threaded tightly through the
outer hub, so there are no threads to strip in the aluminum portions of the
pulleys. The only tool necessary for tightening the nuts on the pulleys after
adjustment is a 3/8" socket or nut-driver....We also made the pulleys with
more surface to surface contact area than other pulleys to reduce any chances
for slippage.
The gear tooth to degree marking indexing is dead-on and is digitally
inscribed in both the outer gear and on the hub prior to clear anodizing for a
permanent long-lasting finish. We also placed the degree marks as far outboard
as possible for increased setting accuracy due to their larger radius from the
center.
Several options were open for indexing and we chose the use of multiple
keyways as the one that best suited our engine building needs without adding
complexity and mass to the pulleys. We located one keyway at true
"zero", with a series of 4 others located at +1, +2, +3, and +4 on the
inner hub. Each keyway represents one degree of camshaft advance, compensating
for .012" material removal from the head, block, or gasket thickness
reduction, therefore, it's possible to precisely "zero" the degree
markings on engines that have as much as .048" reduction in cylinder head
height.
We designed these gears for use by experienced engine builders only and they
are available in a multiple colors, as long as they're black.
