Timing chain guide

[Dave WM]

2 minutes ago, Captain Obvious said:

Here's another pic so you can see how far the guides go up into the head:

I will get a better look tomorrow but yea I would say the guide has come off completely and is resting on the lip of the pan/bottom of the cover.

[Captain Obvious]

1 minute ago, Dave WM said:

yea that looks doable with the engine it. I will have a condenser for the AC in the way, but with the rad out I think I can get at it. I get what you are saying about the pump. remove the bolts that go thru, but leave the pump attached to save the gasket.

Exactly. Small reduction in effort, but every little bit helps, right?

Other trouble spots?

Getting the BF bolt out of the front pulley will likely require impact gun. You got one of those?

I recently pulled the front cover off my F54 block, and it was stuck on there pretty good. I had to really work at it to get it off, and that was with the head already off!! It can only be worse if you have it pinched between the head and the pan.

But the bottom line... If both bolts came out of that guide, you're gonna have to pull the front cover. No way you can get to that lower bolt with the cover in place.

[Dave WM]

have impact gun, I used a 3 jaw puller on the pulley as well. I presume just remove the pan bolts on the front, maybe loosen the rest so it does not want to clamp, don't have to remove oil pan (unless I cant find the bolts, then will go fishing) will have to see where they ended up. I recall having to use a rubber mallet on the spare engine when I removed the cover on that one.

The pan gasket is one of those reusable fancy ones from MSA. I cant find any OE tight side guides, so I guess I will go with an after market kit for both.

[Captain Obvious]

Roger that.

Well good luck with it, whichever path forward you choose, and let me know if there's anything I can do from a distance to help.   

[Dave WM]

4 minutes ago, Captain Obvious said:

Roger that.

Well good luck with it, whichever path forward you choose, and let me know if there's anything I can do from a distance to help.   

copy that. I just took another look, if I back the cam shaft up a bit to get some slack I can get a slightly better view, I think I can see a top bolt still in place, not sure how that can be, unless some how the guide has separated from the mounting frame. even with the bore scope and flash light its hard to see what is going on, but its loose as a goose so will be the next project.

[Dave WM]

so far...

Remove fan and pulley

removed AFM and air filter to get at top rad bolt driver side (make for more room and easy to do).

drain rad, remove bolts pull rad set aside, hoses attached.

loosen and remove compressor belt and alt belt.

Now the fun, no room for impact driver (AC condenser in the way) so 4th gear, jam the drive shaft at the diff with a large screw driver to hold the engine (I tried just using the ebrake and some wheel chalks, no joy) then a 1/2" breaker bar and pipe as an extension, bingo came right off.

3 Jaw puller to extract the harmonic damper and pulley on the crank (easy with that).

Break time. coming attractions:

Clean up work area org parts and bolts then...

alt comes off

distributer comes off

Oil pump comes off

then I will attend to all the bolts that attach the cover. have to pace myself as its still VERY hot here and I don't want to do anything stupid so will take time (like when I forgot to tighten the rear brake line).

Parts coming in Monday so no big rush anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by Dave WM

[Dave WM]

oh my, compressor looks to be in the way of two of the timing cover belts. I hope I can loosen/pull etc and get enough room to get to them without messing up the pluming of the compressor. Its a HUGE SWP style with a massive mount that looks like it may be a bi%%h to get loose.

[Dave WM]

happy happy joy joy, I unbolted the compressor completely from the mount (easy) the mount I removed 3 of the 4 bolts that go to the block the hardest one to get at I just unscrewed as much as I thought safe to still have some threads in. It would be a pita to get started if I had to take it out, its kinda hard to reach and is very close the compressor (you can only move the compressor about 1" even unbolted due to the lines still attached). With everything pulled up and away I was able to get a clean shot a the 2 10mm cover bolts that were covered by the mount. I loosened those as well as the long water pump 10mm (just wanted it to come out without breaking). So I think its down hill from here (famous last words). giving it a break now will resume in the morning.

I took the rad to the shop (prater radiator in Orlando, been there forever, guy recognized the rad as a Nissan instantly). I asked them to look it over, rod it out or replace the core if it looks suspect. I would say I had about 20% blockage in the tubes that I could see right in the middle top. The car did not leak at all and was able to maintain temps of no more than about 185f but I just wanted peace of mind, besides I think the rad was right at its max limit, I have a 165 f t stat that it will hold to on all but the hottest days, then it just runs up to about mid or a little past mid, so the T stat is no longer controlling the temp, the rad is. Hoping the unblocking will allow the T stat to control temps even on hot days with AC on max (have some head room on the rad). I considered popping in Jeffs alum rad from the test stand to see how well it works, but I would rather stick with a brass/copper if I can. Something about cheap alum rads I just don't trust. I know there are some very good high end ones, but they don't seem setup for stock installs, AC/shrouds etc....

 

[Reptoid Overlords]

Glad it's going well. I have a cheap Chinese aluminum 3 core after I deleted my A/C. It cools great now, but I'll have to keep an eye on it.

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[Dave WM]

I am a little concerned about the water dripping out around the water pump, when I pull the timing cover off am I going to get a bunch of water coming out of the block flowing down into the pan? I have hand spun the water pump and was able to get a few oz of water to come out of the water inlet. I am going to go pull the dizzy and confirm my tang position (11:30), then will get the oil pump and pan bolts tomorrow. all the TC bolts are loose, no issues.

[Captain Obvious]

So the project seems to be going pretty much according to plan. That's good news!  (So far.)

Yeah, you might get some coolant spillage down into the sump, but I think if you pull the block drain first (big plug on the left side near the rear of the motor) and let the coolant out there, it'll be minimal. I believe that drain hole in the block is lower than the water pump holes. Certainly less than if you pull the front cover without pulling that drain plug first.

And if you do get some coolant in the oil, most of it (being more dense than the oil) should sink to the bottom of the sump and come out with an oil change. And regardless, I would recommend that you change the oil after this process just because it's likely you'll dislodge some junk anyway.

And nobody likes dislodged junk.

[Av8ferg]

Dave,
I had replaced my Water Pump last year when I was bringing my car to life. I would take the pump out before pulling the cover. Not that you have to but you’ll be able to get all the coolant that sits in that small chamber out. And it will free up space for the rest of the work. Also, if you discover any issues with your pump it might be easier to get it off with the cover on vs sitting on a bench. I’m a fan of the methodology of inspecting and replacing things when a convenient time permits. How old is the pump? For $41 it might be time to replace it anyway. Pull the pull the pump, inspect it and put a fresh gasket with a little RTV and put anti seize on the bolts. Now you know it’s fresh and the cost is almost nothing.


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