'Eyeball' equipment and most often times test rolling (checking the drag by feel) just the cam/crank and t/c (which I always do anyway) Good to hear that you've found them better than they appear. But I"m sure you've seen the blocks that visually look a 'little' off and there are some that look like Stevie Wonder was on QC duty that night at the foundry. Lots of times though they tend to get built because that block happens to be the one the customer had. There's seemingly no rhyme or reason for the 'bad bad' ones, I've seen them all years from the early 60's to the late 70's.

I figure with the cam only turning 1/2 the crank speed it probably just wears the cam bearings (and possibly the T/C set)out a little concentrically but I've always wondered if and how it could also (slightly) adversely effect the cam timing from bank to bank. I know you've done a lot of work in that regard.

come to think of it I think the last RB (the 508 that Paul has now) had a Pro-gear (hughes) and yeah I agree that was a very good set as well.