Hi everybody im new here and am buying my first foxbody, its an 88 gt with the 5.0 HO. Im wanting to put the noisy gear drives in it but i heard somewhere that you cant because of the knock sensor. Iv looked up and supposedly the 88 doesnt have a knock sensor. Any info on this would be great.
I never ran one, a guy I knew years ago ran one and had trouble if the engine backfired, it broke a cam once and the cam gear bolts the next time, now he was running a pair of holley carbs on a 6/71 blower too!
It is a 'race car' thing.
Installed a Pete Jackson gear drive on a friends car back in the 90s. Sounds cool for a couple months and then it gets old. Comments ranged from "that thing got a blower?" To " your engine doesn't sound too healthy".
Gear drives are a pain in the neck. One way is that some of them, the idler axle wears the front of the block. Others, the idler itself wears into the front cover. Over time, you'll have a hole. The only ones worth having are quite expensive, and as mentioned quite noisy. The noise might be cool at first but after a little while you'll hate it-with a passion. Then the day comes when it's time to put a chain back on it (and that day WILL come), you pull the cover off and find a nice divot worn into the front of the block from the idler axle.
I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just preparing you for what we have already gone through (Mustang 5L5 and myself both have been down this road). The last engine I put together just got a rollmaster chain set with iwis chain from FTI, along with an ARP cam bolt. The bolt is a requirement, in my opinion, for any sort of performance application. Lot of guys run a grade 8 bolt and that's fine if that's what floats your boat....but until you have put the ARP bolt in, you don't understand the difference. The grade 8, you feel it stretch at about 35 lb-ft. The ARP bolt is rock solid. Why do I suggest this? When that bolt stretches and/or a cheap washer folds up, and the gear begins to loosen up, tears the dowel pin off, bends all 16 valves and/or breaks one or more valves OFF, destroys the head, block, pistons, and about every other expensive item, you'll think back to this thread and say "man I wish I'd have done that". Yes I've been there. Ed told me to do it, I didn't, and it cost me....a good chunk of change, all for a $10 bolt.