VCCA Home Forums Thread Like Summary - 29 Camshaft gear help

Hello everyone. I haven't posted in a while but, i need some help. I'll start with i have gone through all 4 pages that come up when you search "camshaft" and wasn't able to find what i need help with. Long story short my original motor decided to drop a rod cap last March, caused enough damage that it really just sat after i took it apart and started ordering parts for it. Still going to rebuild it for a spare but, i was lucky enough to find another 194 out of a 29 and have decided that's the one i am going to rebuild now. The problem I'm having is that in the 29 repair manual there really isn't anything on the camshaft or the gear. unfortunately while taking it apart i broke the fiber gear, i do have one currently on order from TFS. A little worried now after reading the problems BearsFan315 had with the gear he ordered. The only thing i have found in the book is on page 43 for timing marks (Fig. 47). I do have the camshaft and gear from the original motor to compare when the new one comes in.

Reason for going with the "new to me" motor is it was a barn find. It hasn't been in the car for roughly 50 years and everything other than the head components and the cam gear i broke everything is in better condition than my original motor.

The questions i have.
(1) The thrust plate behind where the cam gear would be, if i want to replace that how do i get it off? There is nothing in the repair manual that i have on how to do that.
(2) When i get the new gear and check it is the correct size and everything. How do i need to align it to the camshaft before pressing it on to make sure the cam and crank timing marks line up?

Thanks for the help and happy driving once it warms up some.

Hello Larry30,
If I understand your question concerning the clock position used when pressing the cam gear onto the cam-shaft because of the lack of a visual keyway on the end of the cam-shaft, you might consider that the cam-shaft has a hidden key just aft of the face of the cam-shaft. You would not want a loose key to slide out the front of the cam-shaft and destroying the engine timing. There should only be one way to align/mate gear keyway and shaft (for proper timing) and that being by employing a key. Well, at least that's what I'm thinkin.
Edit: There should only be one key shared by both gear and shaft.

The timing gear is pressed on until there is .001'' to .005" BETWEEN THE RETAINER AND GEAR..