i have a 88 camaro with a 5.7 350 crate engine w/vortec heads, and i blew the timing chain right threw the timing cover. so i guess this is the time to put a better cam in it. what is a good cam kit and what timing gears should i put in as well. thanx

 

How do you manage to blow a timing chain on a new crate motor?

 

^+1. Besides that, most likely there's internal damage to the engine, which may or may not include bent valves, cracked valve guides, damaged valve seats, damaged pistons, damaged cylinder walls, etc. It needs to be torn down and inspected before you even think of just dropping a new cam in it.

 

well what happened was i was driving on the highway and all of a sudden i lost all power, looked under the hood and found that my power wire from the battery to the starter was fried. then found out the starter was fried. so i put a new starter in, put a new power wire from the starter to the battery, and also changed the negative wire from the battery to the block. i tryed to start it...it turned the fly wheel but not enough power to get it running. i realized that the battery was prob junk, so i got a new battery. tried to start it and heard a grinding noise and i figured that the starter needed to b shimmed. so i jacked up the car and saw teeth from the timing gear on the ground. i dunno how or y it happened. and i didnt see the teath on the ground before so thats y i think it broke in my driveway some how. i am going to rip out the engine and look at it but i dont think i screwed up any internals. i dont know to much about cams so does anyone have any suggestions or maybe how or y this happened...thanks

 

i suggest a cloyes double roller chain. you will need to change the crank sprocket, which is prolly junk anyway. do this before the cam, then turn it over and watch the valve to make sure they come up to be fully seated. chance are they won't be bent, but thats just chances. from what i know, chevy engines are not interference fit unless equiped with dome pistons and aftermarket heads.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CLO-C-3023X/

for a cam kit, i suggest the comp 212. has a noticeable idle, but doesnt effect power brakes or street idle and cruise, and wont really affect fuel milage. great overall cam
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-CL12-212-2/

ive been using both in previous builds with no issues at all

 

In stock form they aren't interference engines. However I'm not sure about Vortec style heads, but I do know that aftermarket pistons, and even milled heads can create clearance issues. Just throwing that out as a possibility.

 

ok....thanks for ur input guys

 

OK, by the way you describe this, it has NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR TIMING CHAIN OR GEAR. What appears to have happened (based on the story) was the teeth got chewed off the FLYWHEEL/FLEXPLATE. Unless you're absolutely sure you're looking at timing gear teeth and can see where they came out of the timing chain cover? But quite frankly, I've never seen that happen before.

 

I agree with '69, because, frankly he's the ****.

 

Good catch 69, we all should have seen that. Gah, you need to go back an look at everything once again. Like 69 said, it sounds like your starter stripped some teeth off your flywheel. Your timing gear/chain is up front, no where near the area you have indicated. Are you sure you didnt strip your muffler bearing? 8-P

Well, if you stripped your flywheel, that sucks as its pretty labor intensive to fix. But at least it doesnt sound like you have to be worried about destroying the engine as previously stated.