i want to get gear drive, but a few of my other gear head buds said that it would mess up the (Knock censor). is this true?

1990 F-150 xlt
eaton posi, 3.73
msd 6a, 8.5mm msd wires, blaster 2 coil
straight exhaust w/flowmaster 2chamber
modified air intake

 

That's what Edelbrock says about their gear drives. The 5.0 is the only engine that has the sensor (Best I can remember, correct me if that's wrong). So if you have the 5.8, you wouldn't have to worry about that...but again, that's what I'm remembering, I could be wrong.

 

My '95 4.9L has a KS, and my '93 Helm wiring diagrams' table of contents indicates the KS is for the 4.9L only, but the actual diagram doesn't have any notation which would indicate that it applies to all engines. I know the '88 5.0L I worked on had it on the rear of the valley. My 4.9's is on the L side below the coil.

 

late 4.9 have the knock sensor and a gear drive for the camshaft. Ford uses a phenolic gear. I'd always assumed that this was for NVH (noise vibration harshness) control, an area in which Ford is absolutely obsessed beyond any sense of reality. The phenolic could in fact be for compatibilty with the knock sensor. Very interesting and deserving of some more inquiry