WANT YOUR FLATHEAD CADILLAC TO BE RELIABLE AGAIN?

How to make your flathead Cadillac and LaSalle 346 or 322 reliable: It takes the right Gears and Oil Pumps for the 1937-1948 Flathead Cadillacs and LaSalles. Our bronze gear replacement kits are warranted and are available for $1,150 plus applicable tax and shipping. Click <here> for an order form.

There are 500 wrong ways and only one right way. Our rebuilds have been tested to over 100,000 miles.

• Improved composite idler gear for longer life (originally the Bronze sacrificial gear)
• Distributor and oil pump shaft improved to lessen wear
• Steel shaft gear
• Oil pump gears machined for proper oil pressure based on pump casing

Any of these parts can cause failure of the whole assembly. We have the solution for Cadillac and Lasalle Gear and Oil Pump repairs and rebuilding.

Headquarters Machine Manufactures the ONLY complete Replacement Kit that solves several issues that exist for Cadillac and LaSalle Flathead Engine Idler Gears and Oil Pump Assemblies.

We welcome your comments and questions!

* indicates required field

Name:*

Email:*

Subject:*

Message:*

CAPTCHA Code:*

If your “bronze gear” is showing any amount of wear, it is telling you something. Some time ago Jerry Steelman discovered that after thirty years of rebuilding engines he could no longer rebuild a 346 cubic inch Cadillac or a 322 cubic inch LaSalle engine and keep it running for more than a few thousand miles without the bronze gear failing. The bronze gear is the idler gear that connects the oil pump and distributor to the cam shaft in 1937 – 1948 Cadillac’s and LaSalle’s and, as the name suggests, it is made of bronze. The straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, was the failure of the bronze gear in his 1946 Cadillac after only 8,700 miles of use.

That’s when he set out to build a better gear. Not only did Jerry build a better gear but he discovered that the secret to making a replacement for your bronze gear that will last requires several high quality precision construction components that he has incorporated into one system.  To read an interesting story and to learn more about how this solution came to be click here . Our bronze gear replacement kits are warranted and are available for $1150 plus tax and shipping.

Mixing and matching metal can have devastating affects – here’s one story of what can happen if you do:

Notes – Bronze gear referred to as “sacrificial” gear since it will will minimize damage should one of the other parts fail. Life cycle of old bronze gears was in excess of 100,000 miles subject to proper lubrication and parts around it not failing. We have gone through at least 40 versions of these parts and extensive testing over the years to come up with a kit that works and covers a multitude of issues that can arise in these vintage engines.

 

 

You can’t mix and match metallurgy. The laws of physics don’t change. This is why the idler gear is a soft material. If something goes wrong it’s designed to do the least amount of damage.

 

 

These pictures were given to me by Al Morkunas from Virginia. He rebuilt a 1947 Cadillac and had put 20 miles on the car before this happened to the engine. Al said he bought a replacement camshaft and a hard idler gear. 

 

What happened was the hard idler gear wore the camshaft gear out and kicked it out the front of the engine ruining lifters on the way forward. This happened to Al when he was slowly driving about 15 MPH. If this happened at a higher speed it probably would have totaled the block and all.

 

 

The wear on the spiral tooth circled on the gear at left is readily apparent.