Paul, in addition to the other comments, here is another one. One of the factors that kills these plastic timing gears is time as well as miles. My guess is that the vast majority of the 60's 440s have these nylon covered gears replaced at one time or another by now, due to age. D^2 Quoting RandalPark@xxxxxxx: > I have a question regarding this topic. It has been stated here that with > only 114,000 miles that it is unlikely that the engine has been over hauled. > > > Back when they were still quite new, I remember several early 440 Imperials > ('66, '67, &'68) experiencing a failure in the timing gears and/or timing > chain right around 100,000 miles. When disassembled, the problem was usually > due to the excessive wear in the synthetic coating on the teeth of the gears. > > > I haven't heard much about this on the IML since I have been reading here > since July. I have driven some newer cars that have done this as well, but at > much higher mileage. Has anyone experienced this with their cars? > > Paul > > In a message dated 12/4/2003 3:21:11 PM Eastern Standard Time, > dardal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: > > > > > > > Quoting Kate Triplett <ad_ablurr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: > > > > > This thread is of considerable interest to me - I have as yet been unable > to > > > obtain any previous maintenance records for my '68 Crown other than the > few > > > receipts that "came with" in the glove box. The car does run splendidly > with > > > nary a ping on 89 octane gas, though, so I suspect the engine has been > > > through an overhaul once in its life - mileage is now just over 114,000. > I > > > > With only 114K, its unlikely that the engine was rebuilt, unless it > suffered a > > catastrophic failure. The factory timing specs were often a bit > conservative, > > and that might explain why it does not ping. Also, you may not be advanced > all > > the way to the recommended 8 degrees. Most pinging problems in these old > cars > > are more likely to be related to deposits due to too much city driving and > not > > enough high speed. > > > > > > > > Did the dealers do a "warranty" change to these cars when the fuel > changes > > > took place, or was the timing such that it was strictly after market > > > rebuilding? > > > > When unleaded gas was phased out, the 68 model year was long done with its > > warranty. > > > > D^2 > > > >