Phazer gears are in

[gvig]

I finally did it. Sunday I tore into the front of the engine and removed the tired timing chain and sprockets. Replaced it with a Phazer gearset, bought it on eBay. Only problem was when tightening the driven gear on the inj pump I twisted one of the three bolts off. Had to go to town to buy replacements, probably had overtorqued the others so three were in order.

What a change! It never before would start without holding slight throttle, then I had to hold high idle momentarily and let it idle down slowly or it would die. Then it would be OK till restart. Now it starts crisply without touching the throttle (wait for the glow controller to cycle), surges up to idle speed and settles into a rock steady idle. Shazzam, what a change!:D

Had the timing set as per DSG instructions, exhaust sound is softer but crisper. Acceleration is much better, like a totally different truck. Should have done this years ago.

Now I am checking for an increase in mileage, hopefully. At fuel prices any gain will be much appreciated.

Has anyone else noted an increase in mileage when going to gear drive??

[signgrafix]

Sounds good! This is one of my planed updates but I am going to wait and do it when I do the water pump upgrade. Can't afford it all right now.
So far, I have go the following parts but have not installed them yet,
FSD cooler and re-locator
OPS harness from Kennedy
new lift pump
Waiting on 4 inch exhaust from Pinnacle

[gvig]

The exhaust was easy using an overhead lift, had to tweak one of the brackets a bit, otherwise everything was snug. The down pipe was a bit of a bother but do-able. I went back with no cat and no muffler. If you plan to do any heavy pulling anywhere near civilization, I would suggest a muffler. The noise can get oppressive.

The cooling upgrade required some grinding on one bracket, not too bad, for clearance, took about 3 hours with a cool off break. If you plan to remove the old PMD when installing the cooler, do it when in for the timing gears. Much easier then as you will have much of the stuff off the front of the engine anyway.

Best of luck to you.

[Warren96]

Yes, my mileage went up maybe 5 percent,but a much bigger gain can be had by slowing down.By driving 55 or 60 saves me a bunch over driving at 75 or 80 .That is if you can stand being passed by everybody!!