well, i always benefit from reading other people's story's of fixing ( or breaking for that matter...lol ) stuff, and being i just replaced my timing chain i felt it necessary to kick back and share my findings........
first, i'd like to say anyone with one of these ( or any old v-8 ) engines should check to see if their chain or sprockets is bad.........i saw a post in here awhile back about it and had yet to check it, and i did,,,,,,,,found there was about 12 or 13 degree's difference before the rotor started to move when i turned the crank...........i thought uh oh.......bad bad.......
one of my biggest issues with this task was i kid you not, dealing with the a/c, power steering, and alternator.........lol........all those brackets and.........i swear it took as long to move all that stuff as it did to replace the chain and gears.lol.........
when i finally got the cover off, i saw a very slacked chain, but what i could'nt get over was the cam gear.....i've heard mention of the stock gears being i thought i heard some kind of plastic.........my top gear was aluminum, and had a c3ae date on it.......
man was that gear worn!!!!!!!!!! the tops were pointy.razor sharp pointy, and the valleys of the teeth worn down to the actual sprocket part itself.........my buddy grabbed the chain and had it almost worked of the gear whuile it was still on the engine..lol.........it was waiting to jump big time.....
bought the cheapy auto zone timing set, but it was wider and much heaver than the old one and i figured if the old one went that long, the new one will last untill its rebuild time i'm sure....atleast it is steal...........
i also rplaced the front seal in the cover.....i used the sleeve they sell on the spacer, for the cover seal but i don't know if i needed too...........there was a small groove wore in it but not bad and it didnt leak before sooooooooo...how much of a groove should there be before using one of those??? i just used it because i didnt wanna take a chance.
the gasket kit i got was a fel-pro, and all was correct except.......the oil pan/bottom of the cover seal. it was to short on the ends....there was about 1/2 inch or so where it would but up where the block is........too short on each side so i used silicone.....has any one else had a end gasket like this???
i also decided to replace the water pump.
when i was putting the new water pump on , i noticed my water pump bolts mysteriously grew about 1/16 to 1/8 inch...........all three except the bottom passenger side bolt ( the one that goes into the coolant passage ) bottomed out before the pump was tight against the block..........so i used washers, but i remember some one recently posting a pic of a broken water pump and asking about it and casting stuff..........there must be many casting differences as when i looked, thats why my bolts grew...........the new pump was a rebuilt and had a c9 date, the old one was overall a little beefier and only had a p-73 marking and thats it...don't know if it was the original pump or not......not likely.........
it runs smoother.........used to miss and bobble a little when in nuetral at about 2500 rpm and doesnt seem to now, and it wants to spin the tires more willing now from a dead stop......so it smoothed it out alot and i sure feel better........except after seeing that gear so worn i'm thinking all that eventually was in the oil and oh no........now i can worry about my bearings.............lol.........now how hard and impossible is doin the bearings on this with it still in the truck????.....never ends......

 

The reason the points of the teeth on the top gear were razor sharp was because the plastic was gone. There used to be some but now it's all in the pan (except what might have come out with an oil change). It's amazing how long these engines will run in that condition.
You might want to think about dropping the pan to clean it out. You could check the bearings while you're in there but I'd do it just to get to the oil pump pickup. Those nylon gear pieces like to clog up the pickup screen sometimes.

 

sounds like good advice..........i guess that sucker really was worn..........not t trace of anything plastic like.....just worn aluminum teeth..........
it's been flushed a million times, and nothing but oil comes out of the pan, so if there's any in there it would be on the pick up screen.i'll have to do that.
now if i do that, then i'm wondering, should i replace the oil pump with a stocker or, i've seen oil pump re build kits..........i'm trying to keep the cost down on this engine by keeping it going and not putting alot of extra duty stuff on it because i want to build a nice 390 some day and i'd rather save for that............also, would a new or higher volume pump possibly cause the old rear seal to leak due to increased oil pressure?

 

This scenario has been going thru my mind all year now(since I bought my '67).

My '69 when south sitting in the drive one day(lucky me). It was idling while I shut the garage door, and then nothing. Pushed her back in and put a new gearset in. Knew it was coming.......just like my '67. I'm trying to hold off til spring so I can put a new motor in it, but with winter coming I think it would be safer to replace it now. A few hours spent in warmer weather surely will be better than sub-zero in January.

Larry