mistimed, sheared bolt, and a little blood...an engine

[ggdad1951]

well after 7 hours, one broken off bolt, mistiming and forgetting a part...scratching heads and a few beers....

http://beerdarts.net/truck%20pictures/engine.jpg

long story short:

started 1.5 hours later than I wanted, after waiting for my buddies to show up, we got to building the engine yesterday. Things progressed well until the timing. While bolting the cam in, the question was asked, what torque, I asked what size. Replied of 3/8, I reply 30ft-lbs....SNAP! Try 5/16" there kids and 17 ft-lbs! Easy out the broken off bolt and continue. When setting the cam timing my buddy timed it so the dot on the one gear was right by the mark on the other gear, (11 o'clock and 5 o'clock) not until after I had plowed thru my old pictures did I notice the marks should both be at about 11o'clock, not 11 and 5...so off comes the timing cover and moving parts around. Put cover back on....then notice the little shield the goes behind the pulley got forgotten to be put on, off comes the cover again. THEN sit and scratch heads over timing of the oil pump and the distributor...much looking thru books, and finally rednecking the concept of picking one and calling it #1 and dealing with it all later...so here's hoping we got it right, tonight I try and prep the engine for paint tomorrow to drop it in next weekend....

SO...now what did we do wrong guys?

[Young Ed]

Sounds like I missed a good time We didnt get back until about 5 and I completely forgot about the build until even later. Your cam may still not be right if both the dots are at 11. They should be lined up if you put a straight edge through the center of both gears. The 11 and 5 part sounds right if 5 is the cam gear.

[Don Coatney]

It does not sound like your cam timing is correct. The dots on the gears need to match up.

To correctly install the oil pump the engine needs to be at top dead center on the #1 or #6 piston. Then insert the oil pump and the distributor together and make sure the oil pump gears mesh with the cam shaft gears when the distributor rotor is close to the 7:00 OClock position.

Did you check your camshaft end play? Did you install the piston rods with the squirt hole pointing towards the camshaft? How did you check your rod and main bearing clearance? Plastigage? Did you stager the piston rings? Did you insure the rod bearing caps are installed on the matching rods? Did you insure the rods are installed correctly with the offset? Did you adjust your valve clearance correctly?

[ggdad1951]

ok this sucks...

first off: Wagamon did the pistons for me so I'm cool with that end of the engine.

Wagamon also "fit" the cam, but didn't bolt it in when they did the bearings.

now as to timing: we put it back together as it came apart per the pictures I took during tear down. The picture Don put up is how we had it the first time we put it back together. DRRRR! Could we have pulled the engine apart with things a bit different?

[Alshere59]

Well one last comment. Did you submerge the oil pump and turn it to get all the air out. Also to line up your oil pump gear so your distributor is right the slot points at the two bolt holes and then turn one tooth to the left I believe. That should give you the right distributor angle as when you install it the gear will turn on the cam

..

Edited October 11, 2010 by Alshere59

[ggdad1951]

ok, think I may have figured the timing index issue. If we tore the engine down and took the picture of them both at 11 o'clock, we never checked the timing of the distributor. Now if the cam gear is 2X the crank gear, if I rotated the crank 360° that should line up the dots, and I'd be in time for the distributor? I'm going to try this with the old gears over lunch....

[Don Coatney]

There are several bolts on the front cover that penetrate the water jacket. Make sure you use pipe dope on all the bolt threads.

Did you install the chain oiler tube as pictured? Remember my engine is upside down in this photo.

[Dave72dt]

Turning the crankshaft one revolution will line up the marks and should also put engine on compression No 1 Cyl. That's the problem with several people building one engine. No one is really sure what the others did or didn't do.

[ggdad1951]

Turning the crankshaft one revolution will line up the marks and should also put engine on compression No 1 Cyl. That's the problem with several people building one engine. No one is really sure what the others did or didn't do.

so to be clear you are agreeing that turning the crank one revolution will correct the issue?

[ggdad1951]

There are several bolts on the front cover that penetrate the water jacket. Make sure you use pipe dope on all the bolt threads.

Did you install the chain oiler tube as pictured? Remember my engine is upside down in this photo.

pretty sure that is the only way the oiler tube fits, and my memory says that is the way it got installed. Any idea which bolts penetrate the water jacket? Easy to pop them off and get some stuck on there, as we didn't.

Edited October 11, 2010 by ggdad1951

[Merle Coggins]

If the dots line up with the centerline of the cam/crank at 11 o'clock they will also line up at 5 & 11 if you turn the crank one revolution. Your cam timing should be fine as is. Remember, the cam turns at half the speed of the crank. One turn of the crank turns the cam half way around.

As mentioned, some of the timing chain cover bolts go into the water jacket. When in doubt which ones, goop them all.

Your head bolts and some of the exhaust manifold studs also go into the water jacket. Be sure to use thread sealer on those too.

Merle