The adjustable timing gear came in from eatsoot.com, so far, it looks like a well-built gear setup. Now, I didn't need a custom gear or cover to make the truck faster, these two items were added as a convenience for the planned upcoming testing with various levels of injection timing. The easier it is to change the timing, the more I will tempted to adjust it and hopefully learn.
The biggest performance benefit to the adjustable timing gear is the pump gear is keyed to the shaft which eliminates the chance for slipped timing.
Motor torn back down ready for pump install:
Pump Gear:
These pump gears have a machined slot at the bolt locations that allow for 40* of timing adjustment in 2* increments, the smaller index hole alignment creates the finite stopping points to set timing.
Here's a picture of the pump shaft key and timing index bolt that are also included with the gear kit.
A billet timing cover is a nice upgrade to provide easy access to the adjustable timing gear. The stock gear cover will work with the adjustable gear, however, you'd have to remove the entire cover to set timing.
I opted to purchase a cover that had been machined with recesses to allow for the stock sized belt and dampener. This new aluminum cover is actually heavier than the stock stamped steel cover but it is way more rigid for other applications like sled pulling where they add bearings for cam nose support, gear driven fuel and water injection pumps, etc.
Small tapped vent hole for crank case ventilation or custom oil-fill setup:
Backside:
I put the old "home" tuned-up 160 pump back on the truck. The plan is to run the old pump to get some baseline runs to compare the porting, cam, piston, and valve train modifications to compare with the stock parts they replaced. I installed the supplied key in the existing slot on the pump shaft.
I turned the pump via the shaft with the old nut to get it back to the base timing by centering the pumps internal timing pin in the timing port on the side of the pump. This pump was factory set around 12.4*.
I also rotated the crankshaft on the engine till the timing marks lined up on the crank and cam gears. As a double check, the #1 piston is protruding above the deck surface indicating it is approximately at TDC.
I then installed the pump gear with the drive hub set up in the far retarded position, that way I can only lower the timing to roughly 10-12* but can advance it out to roughly 50* within the internal adjustment on the gear setup.
