gear drive
 

does anyone use or have used a gear drive timing sysyem on their boat engines?Are they alright for a boat engine,i don t see a problem,i thought it would kinda cool to have that blower sound. what do you guys think?

That cool sound you here are harmonics introduced through all the valve train parts of the engine. Gear drives are to maintain timing tolerances that chains tend to lose as wear and stretch increases. In race engines with critical valve timing issues, gear drives are typically inspected and valve train parts frequently replaced, the long term damage is never noticed. High RPM's increases these harmonics and accelerates deteriation of the valve train parts. If you look at ultra high RPM engines you will see "belts", which reduce the amount of harmonics induced into the valve train. This is not something I would install in a every day motor where valve timing issues are not "critical" in nature and long term operation and parts reliability is expected as the norm.

Gear drives are not good for boats due to the harmonics already mentioned. If you want the blower whine........get a blower.