I have a low mileage 1972 Delta 88 Royale, the timing gear is in excellent condition, virtually no wear on the neoprene teeth. Is it worth anything to someone who is trying to keep their classic totally original?

 

I wouldn't think so. Even if you were doing a concours restoration they would have no way of knowing if you used an OE, aftermarket or NOS timing gear.

 

Yeah, you'd need your head examined if you put a 50+ year old timing chain on a restored engine just for the sake of originality. And just for the record, the teeth were covered in a nylon material, not neoprene.

 

It's good "wall art".

 

I've seen people make some pretty cool clocks out of old timing sets.

 

Not anything someone would use. I would toss it.

 

Neoprene is what you make wetsuits out of. The teeth on the cam gear are nylon.

 

You could always save it for a box of treasures.

 

Even if it's in perfect shape you should change it out because it won't stay that way for long, plastic becomes brittle with age. When they fail it's possible they can cause other damage to your valve train.

 

If you look around on this site, you will find numerous instances of experienced Olds owners and engine builders giving the sage advice that the first thing you want to do with an old Olds 2nd gen V-8 is to swap out the timing set for a replacement that doesn't use gears with nylon coated teeth.

 

I vote for wall art/clock- it would look cool....

 

What could be better for a clock than a timing gear...?

 

I’ve never been to a car show where the judges made you take off the timing cover to inspect the originality of the timing gear.

 

I have actually seen NOS nylon replacements on Ebay, as said wall art at best. I pulled two completely intact cam gears with no cracks from 1976 Olds 350's. I said huh after some of the bad ones seen here, then tossed them in the garbage.

 

I will say that I've pro-actively changed two timing sets in 1985 307s with roller lifters and in both cases the nylon gears looked brand new despite having over 100K miles on them. This really hammers home the amount of friction reduction you get from roller lifters.

 

Nylon toothed timing gears are, in my opinion, a part of the "planned obsolesce" program.
Make it last long enough to go past the warranty period, but not much more.

I have replaced a ton of them back in the day.
We always sought out iron replacement gears.

 

In the 1960s, most cars rusted out before the nylon teeth went away.

 

True, but they had to do something for the cars south and west of the Mason- Dixon.

 

There was always a contradiction in automotive from this period. On the one hand you had a car that was designed to be very serviceable and generally had fairly durable designs particularly in the late 70s. But then you have other features like odometers that roll over at 100k miles and nylon toothed timing gears that show these were also not really meant to last that long.......except they could last longer than any of the designers imagined with proper maintenance and some preventive measures.

 

WOW, thanks for all the input. I am new to the "restoration standards" for classic cars. I'd heard of some parts on old cars being worth a lot because the original versions were hard to come by and using original parts was desirable to some. When my mechanic replaced the timing gear (and was surprised how unworn it was) I was happy to have a better gear in place, but wondered if the old original one had some value. When I asked for it back, he didn't know where it was (and frankly I wondered if it was on ebay somewhere because it was "valuable" to the right person). I'm glad it's not valuable for anything but a clock!

 

Ben,
Welcome to CO. There are a great many levels of restoration standards. No one is _the_ authority, you choose the ones you want to emulate or avoid. There are some who get down to date-coded alternators and water pumps. And there are people who’d install Chevy LS engine in a rare Olds. Or a thousand other modifications that are possible which don’t necessarily add value to the vehicle.

That’s not for me. With mechanical parts, i try to get the best quality, safest parts, so I can keep enjoying the car. I don’t shy away from upgrades to my ‘66 big cars like the later HEI and later model quadrajet and disc brakes. I stick pretty closely to the factory look, but even there I’ve added 15” vs original-14” wheels, and added OAI scoops to my Starfire just for fun. Inside the engine, get the good reliable onshore stuff and you’ll probably wind up happy.

Ultimately the car becomes a kind of reflection of you and how you want to play it. Whatever path you take, enjoy the hobby.

Cheers
Chris