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Having both 327s and 359s, I didn’t realize that the gears were different but the factory parts list on this site would certainly have the numbers.

Also, your replacement gear looks like an unfinished forging which, other than having the gears off, might be one of the reasons it won’t go together.

The Factory Parts List here is great! I have the parts book, but this is faster. So the 1954 Camshaft gear is a one year part, with likely a 5 degree timing offset compared to the 51-53 parts.
cam gear part list

The timing chain and gearset are from Kanter. I must have bought it 10 years ago and never used it. I would say the crankshaft gear and the chain look well produced, but the camshaft side gear does have a few teeth that look less than perfect. Would that really make a difference? I am not sure, probably not. Now I will consider trying to find a proper 1954 gear that has the exact cam timing and keep things at the factory spec.
Either I use the old camshaft gear and the new chain and crank gears, or I look for a NOS 1954 set. I bet that is a rare as hen's teeth.

If the 51-53 cam is 5 degrees advanced compared to the 54 cam gear, that might actually not be a bad thing.
Seems like that would move peak torque down about 300 rpm. I do not really rev the car too high. My clipper rarely got over 2500 rpm, so adjusting the 359 for a little more torque down low and perhaps lowering the Max horsepower at the 3600-4000 rpm should actually be ok with me.
Here is a description of what adjusting cam Timing does to Performance from summit.

cam timing

Allright, things are starting to go back together.
Before, I had set the engine to TDC on cyl1 and the dot on the camshaft sprocket was at 12:00. I turned the engine one rotation with the old timing chain back on, so the camshaft dot was at 6:00, and the crankshaft dot was at 12:00. Then I was able to get the new sprockets aligned and slide the new chain on! I torqued the camshaft nut to 150 ft lbs and hammered over an ear on that washer thing to hold that nut in place.

The old chain wasn't real bad, but I think this one will be better. I watched a few episodes of Classic Car Restoration, and the episode of the timing chain was quite helpful!

Now to finish painting things and start putting this engine back together.

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How will you align the cover?

Hi Jerome, good question about aligning the cover. I am not sure. I dont have the aligning Tool that they mention in the Shop manual, so I will have to improvise something.
The backing plate to the cover was not removed, so maybe the position was retained?
I was hoping with some measuring and eyeballing I could get it centered.
Any suggestions or tricks for making an aligning arbor?

I just measured and eyeballed mine. But I had/have wished for a better method, in the absence of the aligning arbor. Packard Community - what have you done?

I was thinking about looking at the hardware store to see if there is a small plastic section of pipe I can find that would help... I can measure the ID and OD and see if I find something to cut to size.

Forgive my ignorance as I've not replaced a timing chain. Why is the alignment of the cover so critical? Is it due to a seal? Wouldn't the cover just screw into whatever holes are in the block?

-Kevin

Kevin

It’s all about the seal, specifically the tolerance of the seal to accommodate a shaft that is translated off of the center of the seal . . . recognize it’s actually the seal that is translated away from the center of the shaft. At any rate, at a particular o’clock position the seal could be pinched tighter onto the shaft, while 180 degrees away from that position the seal/shaft operating clearance will be maximized. The area of pinch will undoubtable have accelerated wear and likely leak later in life, while the area that has the maximum clearance has a higher chance of leaking perhaps immediately. There is likely an amount of translation that when the harmonic balancer is installed the seal is compromised (destroyed).

The Packard shop manuals include a procedure to ensure the seal is not grossly translated with respect to the shaft by the use of a tool that is essentially a ‘dummy’ harmonic balancer hub with an undersized outside diameter. Feeler gauges are used to access whether the seal and shaft are centered. It is the ‘slop’ in the chain cover ’bolt circle’ that is the source of the potential misalignment. If the chain cover used alignment dowels the extra measurement check would not likely be required.

I seem to remember the SBC had dowel pins and no centering procedure for the chain cover, while the 235 straight six did not have dowels and used essentially the same centering procedure as Packard’s, that is a special centering tool when installing the gear cover. Fast forward to modern engines with gerotor oil pumps mounted concentric with the crank shaft. I’ve seen assembly procedures for those engines that somewhat repeat the checks that Packard recommended for the timing cover seal . . . lots of checks on whether concentricity has been achieved.

dp