On 2/24/2015 at 7:34 AM, LeonV said:

Don't worry about this, you will have no problem running .200" lash pads in stock retainers. I've run bigger.

That's good to know, thanks.

 

I haven't forgotten about the temp reading for my 280 Leon, it's been cold down here.  I did see, while looking for a part number in it's file, there's a 165 degree thermostat in that car.  I'll get to it soon though, I'm curious myself because it's recently been rebuilt versus the 240, 43 years ago.

Good vibes to ya!! 

 

At least you caught it before you went for a drive. Didn't you get some number of miles on the car last time before you realized the tensioner was out of place? This way, at least you'll know that you've got everything into correct position before you button it up.

yes, last time the cam tensioner had fallen all the way out of it's cylinder and was sideways when i got the chain on, and when i turned started her up the nose of the tensioner sheared off the shaft and the parts fell into the bottom of the timing cover. i believe the only reason this was able to occur is because the timing chain was worn enough to have slack that would allow the tensioner to be where it was and still get the cam gear on. i have a new chain now so there's no extra slack and the cam gear isn't even close to getting on without the tensioner in place.

 

i'm getting myself geared up to attack the second half of this job - last night was totally deflating... 

I'm sure you'll feel all better once you have that timing cover off. Since everything is clean and recently budged, it won't be bad at all. Hang in there!!

  On 2/24/2015 at 5:08 PM, Captain Obvious said:

I'm sure you'll feel all better once you have that timing cover off. Since everything is clean and recently budged, it won't be bad at all. Hang in there!!

That sounds like lingerie instead of car parts. 

made some progress today - and a huge thanks goes out to my wife for helping me push the car out of my yard and into the neighboring concrete driveway (vacant house in foreclosure whose driveway i've been known to occupy from time to time) where i could get it up on stands. the woman is a saint and i don't know why she puts up with me - must be my cooking...

 

anyway, got the following done:

 

front cover off, straightened out the jacked up spring on the tensioner & re-installed, lined up the dots/bright links to time the cam, front cover & harmonic balancer back on, re-installed the head (again).

 

it got dark and cold, so i called it quits for the night. tomorrow i will re-install the oil pump and dizzy, radiator & fan, alternator, exhaust & intake manifolds, re-fill the cooling system and if there's time i'll do a cold lash adjustment and a final top end lube. then maybe she'll fire up, eh?

 

the chain tensioner did the nasty - again

 Kameari has a solution to avoid the little click, but their product is a little pricey.  A handy person could probably copy the concept to modify the stock parts.  

 

http://www.kameariusa.com/l6-adjustable-timing-chain-tensioner/

holy crapoli - what a perfectly simple idea!

i'm gonna make a home-brew "non-clicking" tensioner setup for the F54/P79 so i never have this issue again.

very little progress today - family obligations overruled...

got the radiator and fan back in and a few misc. fasteners. hoping for a dry afternoon tomorrow...

got rained out a few days in a row, sun came out today and got 'er done.

 

she fired right up and ran smooth as can be. once she was all warmed up i did a hot valve lash adjust, topped off coolant, set the dizzy timing, and just for kicks threw on the vacuum gauge and was amazed to finally see fantastic manifold vacuum! on another thread i posted how i've done everything under the sun trying to solve my low vacuum readings - replaced every hose, connection & associated mechanism, checked compression, played w/dizzy timing, but always had horrible readings. the car ran well enough, but i just bugged me that the vacuum was reading so low. now i believe that the rocker geometry affected my valve timing.

 

i took her for a spin and was quite pleased with how she ran. super smooth and the sound is fantastic - couldn't resist ripping it up to 6K with every shift. surprising how much timing & cam affect exhaust note. the stock cam doesn't have the big hit at 5K that the other one had, but it pulls nicely in a very linear fashion right up to 6K. 

 

the plan is to just drive it as is while i build the F54/P79 and spend some time calibrating the butt-dyno for baseline comparison

 

thanks to all who have provided encouragement and assistance on this latest blow-up!

 

finally - a happy motor!

  This tale of Lillith kind of reminds me of breaking a wild horse. She has done her best to throw you many times, but you just climbed back on & wouldn't give up on her. Now that you know each other well, the major drama should be over. She has finally learned to trust you.  Job Well Done, Congrats & above all  ENJOY

Mark

Good job!

I knew I felt a change in the force late this afternoon...  must have been those 6k runs.

 

Manifold vacuum looks great,(better than mine) now that you have a well sealed top end & without the overlap of the other cam.

 

Congrats .... remember, you have used up all your 9 lives with AAA, so keep it running!