Well I didnt read all the way down so sorry for replying if your question was already answered lol.
When I put a gear drive on my SBC 350 it called for a bearing behind the gear on the cam shaft, and a button on the front. The bearing was "rounded" to a degree (0, 2, 4, 6, 8) they came in a color coded set with my gear drive.
I -believe- the degree of the cam bearing was direct with what degree before TDC you wanted the engine to run. I used 0 degrees. in a stock setup.
Then the cam gear bolted on, and when you install the timing cover a button goes right in the center and has to have a tiny amount of back pressure againt the timing cover (to much will eat a hole threw the cover)

Installing the idler gear, I can't remember which way the dog bone faces but the idler gear should have freeplay on one side and not the other. When I installed mine I but the Harmonic Damper on the end of the crank with some bolts in it so I could turn the crank slightly, allowing the idler gear to slide into place with the light tap of a hammer.

:P if you got the loud cut gear its REALLY loud for about 2k miles, after that it quiets down a bit.. but its still loud enough to wear my friends can her me coming down the street quite a ways.