Do I have a billet cam gear or a cast cam gear???
I have an older LE billet cam and I am trying to determine if I have the billet oil pump drive gear or the cast oil pump drive gear. The cam was ground by Comp Cams.
I am not totally wearing out oil pump drive gears but I am seeing some mild wear of the little gear to be concern plus I am getting very small ferrous particles in the oil filter following oil changes. I just want to address this before it becomes a problem.
Anyway I called Comp and provided the cam serial number and they insist it has a billet gear because its a -9 cam core. LE stated that the directions to grind the cam called for Comp to press on a cast gear as to avoid pump drive gear wear issues. Comp said they can do that but it would still be also on a -9 cam core so there appears to be no conclusive way to determine what type gear is on the cam when talking to Comp. Unfortunately, I did not pay close attention to this when the cam was installed.
I rounded up a bore scope and ran it down the drive stub hole in the block and determined that there is an obvious radius (rounded corner) behind the cam gear where it meets the core as opposed to a knife-edged corner. It kind of makes since to me that a radius would imply a ground in billet gear and a knife-edged corner might imply a pressed on cast gear.
Here is a diagram:
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/wrd1972/GEAR.jpg
From looking at this diagram, is it possible to conclude what type of gear I have on my cam? If anyone has any billet Comp ground cams laying around to look at, that would be awesome
