Sure enough. Here’s the 318 in my ‘73 Swinger at around 120k on the clock.Did 1973 318 V8 have plastic teeth on the timing gears from the factory?
Mine was not a problem yet. But it could not have been much longer before it was. I dropped the oil pan for a gasket and found all the plastic pieces in the pan. Decided at that time I might as well toss a cam/lifter set in while I was there and swap over to 4 bbl intake.Thanks for your replies and pictures. Mine is a 73 Swinger also with 99K. I am not sure yet if that is a problem but a lot of other plastic mechanical parts on the car already broke.
Be a good idea to change it.Thanks for your replies and pictures. Mine is a 73 Swinger also with 99K. I am not sure yet if that is a problem but a lot of other plastic mechanical parts on the car already broke.
Change everything, the gear and the chain. Upgrade to a better quality also. They are interference motors.What about the chain? Does that stretch and need to be changed also?
...........And just to keep things "accurate" anything using a chain uses sprockets, not "gears."For the average build a single chain and sprocket work fine.
...........And just to keep things "accurate" anything using a chain uses sprockets, not "gears."
Impossible...everything has to perfect to run!!!!I once bought a 78 Ford LTD II "not running" which I "humorously" called "the SKUD missile." (Low flying, poorly guided missile.)
Anyhow what had happened is that plastic junk had come off the sprocket, lodged in the oil pump, broke the pump drive AND THE CAM GEAR and so the crank was tore up some too. I bought a re-ring kit, a reground cam kit, new pump and cam gear, etc, and threw it together and drove it to work for about 100+ miles a day for something like 3 years.