MTFCA Forum

Does/Are any vendors selling Bob's style of alignment tool? If so, who is selling them??

TIA

Ebay seller "burnzoil" makes and sells them. He has also sold in the classifieds here, but it has been a while and I forget his username.

Lang's ran out of stock tools ????

K R Wilson sold them

The late Bob Scherzer reproduced the KR Wilson tool.

Gene French makes them.

 
Link to eBay Seller.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266276801263?i ... R6b3z83KZQ

Steve Jelf wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 20, 2025 10:24 am

No idea, but I think any decent machine shop could make a simple alignment tool. Picture a round piece of metal exactly the diameter of a timer cover, with a hole exactly in the center that slips onto the end of the cam shaft.

Thanks Steve. I have two of the aluminum ones that index on the cam seal flange but I am finding those are hit/miss on whether they index correctly. I had a large one from years ago that Bob had made but it appears it is now MIA. I may just machine a piece of aluminum that will index off of that little one and the larger ring will slide over the small one.

Thanks everyone.

BRENT in 10-uh-C wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 20, 2025 7:35 pm

Steve Jelf wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 20, 2025 10:24 am

No idea, but I think any decent machine shop could make a simple alignment tool. Picture a round piece of metal exactly the diameter of a timer cover, with a hole exactly in the center that slips onto the end of the cam shaft.

Thanks Steve. I have two of the aluminum ones that index on the cam seal flange but I am finding those are hit/miss on whether they index correctly. I had a large one from years ago that Bob had made but it appears it is now MIA. I may just machine a piece of aluminum that will index off of that little one and the larger ring will slide over the small one.

Thanks everyone.

Those are the ones Langs sells that used the seal area. My preference would be the KRW style. I too was going to suggest Gene French. Pretty sure he makes the style that indexes off the machined recess the timer fits into.

How necessary are these tools? What happens if you replace a timing gear without one?

You have a very good chance of either "roller bounce" or in the case of distributor gear mesh, a "not good" scenario ! The only one that actually centers the timing cover IS the large diameter tool !

Thanks Steve, anyone else? I ask because I just changed the timing gear on my '23 Runabout without the centering tool 'cuz I didn't have one. The car's mostly original, sporting a New Day timer. My buddy put his together without the tool a while back and his car runs great, is why I went ahead instead of ordering a tool and waiting a week to get my car back on the road. He had a roller, and then switched to a flapper type of timer, if I have the terms anywhere near correct or at least understandable.

Kurt, I may be wrong about this, but I think the configuration of the New Day is such that it “forgives” the timing cover being less than perfectly centered over the camshaft.

At least that was my experience 63 years ago, when, as a dumb kid I found I couldn’t keep the factory roller timer operating properly - switching to a New Day, problem solved ! At the time, I didn’t know the timing cover had to be centered over the camshaft with a special tool.

I made one from an original Ford timer by turning a block of maple to a moderate press fit in the case with original contact ring removed, and bored a hole to fit camshaft. Used it once with good result, fwiw. jb