My son-in-law, a former tool-maker, came around when I was fooling around with the gear and cam. When he looked at the timing gear he told me that it wasn't worn, but someone had machined it that way intentionally. The marks were from a cutting tool, poorly finished , quickly done by someone who didn't care a lot about the finish.

So the question now becomes "why would someone machine the back of the gear so it fits inside the thrust flange?" The only reason I can think of is that the spacer on the end of the cam didn't ewxtend forward enough for the timing gear to contact it, so the guy machined the gear to extend inward. I couldn't move the cam by hand until I had removed the the push rods and tappets. The last three seemed to be stuck - they were harder to get out (if that means anything). After they were removed I was able to move the cam easily and I could slide it forward enough to be properly flush with the front of the block, which wasn't the case before. Before the stuff was removed the cam wouldn't move in any direction at all by hand.

I guess I may get some answer when I take out the cam Friday. Work seems to get in the way of the really important stuff. I guess when you work on a car someone else has played with you have to expect these types of things. A friend calls it compensatory problem solving. For some people, if there's a problem they can't solve properly, they compensate by doing something that might work for a while. Sometimes they get lucky.

Any ideas?

Jim Hampton