[DeTomaso] Timing Kit/Speed-Pro 220-3121 for 351C ?

[Daniel C Jones]

> Sealed Power Speed-Pro 220-3121 timing chain set for a 351C.
> Is there any know pros or cons to this set?

Most vendors of timing sets do not make the timing sets they sell.  Instead,
they repackage the chain and gears from multiple vendors.  You need to know
who made the sprockets and chains.  One of the guys on the FE Big Block Ford
forum used to work at Speed Pro.  When he worked there they had offshore
companies trying to be suppliers, so they piggybacked some chain and sprocket
testing on an OE bearing durability dyno run.  The Rolon chain from India
cost them the test motor a couple times when it failed before the test was
completed.  Having just disassembled a 351C that had a Rolon chain, I can
believe it.  This engine had approximately 8000 miles on the chain and it
was stretched worse than the one I pulled from my 5.0L at 163,000 miles.  A
summary of the test results for the chains is listed below.  Speed Pro ended
up using Dynagear sprockets and Morse chain but had some quality control
issues then Dynagear went out of business.  After that they sourced the high
end Cloyes sets (which used high quality Renold and Iwis chain) and the
quality control complaints went away.  Take a look at the name on the
sprockets and the name on the chain and let me know what they say.  FWIW,
The Ford Motorsport 351C timing sets I've purchased have used the Renold
chain and the top of the line J.P. Performance sets used the Iwis/Jwis chain.

The sprockets tend to come from Rollmaster (Australia), SA Gear (US but poor
quality) and Cloyes (US, not pretty but good quality).  Avon also makes some
sprockets but sources others.  Dynagear (US) used to make sprockets but went
out of business.  A bunch of the performance aftermarket companies are selling
the poor quality chain from India (Rolon), along with sprockets from Australia
(Rollmaster, J.P Performance) or SA gear.

Chain durability testing summary:

 Iwis (German) - looks very nice but was not tested, but has excellent
                 reputation as an OE supplier, used in high end Rollmaster
                 and some high end Cloyes sets
 Cloyes (US) - tested OK
 Renold (France) - tested excellent, used in most high end Cloyes sets but not
                   always
 Morse (US and Mexico) - tested excellent
 Daido (Japan) - tested excellent
 Tsubaki (Japan) - tested excellent
 KCM (Japan) - looks very nice but was not tested
 Rolon (India) - failed test

Sprockets:

 Rollmaster - Aus - pretty - never examined QA, good reputation
 SA Gear - US - ugly - crappy
 Cloyes - US - not pretty - good QA
 Dynagear - US - out of business - so-so when they existed
 Avon - some sprockets, buys everything else
 Crane - buys everything
 Comp - buys everything
 Speed-Pro - buys everything
 Ebrock - buys everything
 Melling - buys everything
 Elgin - buys everything

Note: Some of the test data was from Speed Pro, other from TRW.

Dan Jones