Bare minimum of upgrade parts needed for longevity for a sub 700hp build.

kidturbo

Piston Tester
Jul 21, 2010
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Good eyes... The Callies came fully keyed, but I've always considered the keyway mod a "why the heck wouldn't ya", if the crank is out.

Ike gets an A+ for catching the LB7 cam gear on the LBZ/LMM build.

Cam is a Wagler stage 1. The LB7 gear choice came from my GM tech buddy who did the assembly work, and also came up with the LML pump mod trick.. According to a GM training class, the two piece gear was added to decrease related engine noise. Which sounds reasonable enough, unless someone has a better answer.. Because we planned to spin much higher than normal R's for extended periods, have heavier valve springs, and running a stroker CP3, we opted to go with the 1 piece gear option.

Never notice any difference in the noise. However the reason the front cover was off in that picture, a CP3 failed and attempted to seize up, which busted several teeth on the CP3 gear, and chipped 1 tooth on the LB7 gear. So jury is still out on how much better those one piece gears are. But the mesh pattern and wear to date looks good enough to include in this topic.
 
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ikeG

Oughta Know Better
Apr 19, 2011
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Ike gets an A+ for catching the LB7 cam gear on the LBZ/LMM build.

Cam is a Wagler stage 1. The LB7 gear choice came from my GM tech buddy who did the assembly work, and also came up with the LML pump mod trick.. According to a GM training class, the two piece gear was added to decrease related engine noise. Which sounds reasonable enough, unless someone has a better answer.. Because we planned to spin much higher than normal R's for extended periods, have heavier valve springs, and running a stroker CP3, we opted to go with the 1 piece gear option.

Never notice any difference in the noise. However the reason the front cover was off in that picture, a CP3 failed and attempted to seize up, which busted several teeth on the CP3 gear, and chipped 1 tooth on the LB7 gear. So jury is still out on how much better those one piece gears are. But the mesh pattern and wear to date looks good enough to include in this topic.

If you pull the oil fill cap off of the engines while running, you can hear the noise difference in the cam gears.

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kidturbo

Piston Tester
Jul 21, 2010
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If you pull the oil fill cap off of the engines while running, you can hear the noise difference in the cam gears.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk
Don't have anything handy to compare with. But would be an interesting real wold comparison wouldn't it?

I only know that LB7 gear took out 6 CP3 gear teeth, sustaining only a single chipped tooth on the cam gear. Main point to me, it held up well enough as not to transfer any damage the crank gear. So didn't require a compete engine disassembly.

Looking back on the keyway mod, who believes a factory crank pin would have withstood that same gear busting torque without failing?

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