While pressing on a new crank damper, I heard a 'ping' and new it was that damn woodruff key. I pulled the damper back off and sure enough it was gone. I've searched all through there, pulled the seal off, tried digging around with picks and a magnet (although a large magnet on a straight stick, not the best tool for that) to no avail. I'm dreading the thought of having to disassembly the engine again just to get that damn key back. Do you guys know of another way? If it fell into the oil pan, should I just leave it there? Is it possible it fell into one of the oil pump holes? Please Help!

About the oil slinger.

I have been inside a lot of engines over the years, and they all have had one.

It serves a number of purposes.

It keep excessive amounts of oil from splashing onto the oil seal. It doesn't stop it all, but reduces the amount. The seal needs a little lubrication, as the grease it gets packed with upon assembly doesn't last long, getting washed away by the detergents in the engine oil.

It also "slings" oil around the inside of the cover, lubricating the timing gear, be it sprockets and chain(s), or gears (diesel engines, racing engines and exotic sports car engines).

A manufacturer doesn't install anything on a car it doesn't need to, because stuff costs money and cuts into profits.

I can't explain why Honsewetz has that line in his Datsun hot to book, especially because it conflicts with text elsewhere in the book. Maybe someone should look him up and ask why.

 

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On an other note, I was thinking about what seems like too many people struggling with woodruff keys lately. As I mentioned, I've lost count of how many engines I've had apart and assembled. Sure, those keys were tricky at first, but I learned tricks to make assembly easy and stress free. I mentioned the dab of grease to hold it in place. I've even found that putting some motor oil in the keyway (I keep an oilcan with a tapered spout in my shop with oil in it for all kinds of lube work, works perfect for this) will keep the key in place (the surface tension forms a strong  shear resistant bond between the key and the keyway).

Always have the keyway straight up, at 12 o'clock. Gravity helps.

Set the key parallel to the shaft centerline, then drop the forward end slightly, no more than a few thousandths of an inch.

Clean the inside of the hub bore with emery cloth, break the edges of the keyway, then take a jeweler's file and go over the edges of the keyway that faces the engine, chamfering a few thousandths of an inch. Make sure there are no rough areas after filing, clean up with emery cloth if needed. Smooth is important to prevent the possibility of a crack forming, which doesn't end well.

Clean everything very well. Stoddard solvent is perfect. Dry it off and blow with shop air before putting some antisieze (sparingly, a film is enough) on the inside of the hub.

Hold the damper with both hands, with the keyway at 12 o'clock, slide it on. Line it up with the key, and ease it on, watching the key until you can't see it.

When the hub bottoms out, try to rotate it. If it doesn't rotate, you are ready for the bolt.

Be sure the bolt and the threads in the crank snout are clean and dry. A couple drops of LocTite 242 blue, thread the bolt all the way in, and torque to spec.

 

19 minutes ago, Awk34 said:

No idea. I'm not the first owner. Good call, I notice that mark there on the right side of my picture now.

Ah, I see.

Some people get carried away and break out the prybars and hammers when a puller will do.

 

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I have a 2nd engine, I don't think it has a slinger either.

Oh, well then, now your covered.    

 

The key that fell inside is likely in the oil pan, so no worries there. The oil pickup has a screen so it won't get sucked into the lubrucation system. It is too heavy to get sloshed into the rotating assembly. You may find it again at an oil change, in fact you may want to pour your used oil through a screen until you find it.

I stole the strainer from Mrs. Racer's kitchen stuff for a similar job in the shop.

Works great.

She asked me recently if I had seen it.

I didn't come clean.

Her birthday was last Monday and she got a brand new one.

Edited March 20, 20213 yr by Racer X

Glad you didn't ingest it! New strainers all around.

 

@Racer X Thanks! lots of great info in your post.

You're saying to chamfer the keyway on the damper a bit to make it easier to seat onto the key, right?
One other thing is that my new damper doesn't slide onto the crank very easily. I slid it on by hand as much as I could, and then used it's installer tool.

 

1 hour ago, Racer X said:

Ah, I see.

Some people get carried away and break out the prybars and hammers when a puller will do.

Take a look at the side profile picture of my old damper. The previous owner did something wrong to that poor thing. I only discovered it when I was pulling the timing cover off for some other maintenance. That's one of the reasons I decided to go ahead and get a new damper.

What damper did you buy?

It looks substantially under sized at the pulley area?

2 minutes ago, Patcon said:

What damper did you buy?

https://harmonicdampers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=241

That'll make your eyes water!

43 minutes ago, Awk34 said:

@Racer X Thanks! lots of great info in your post.

You're welcome, I hope it helps.

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You're saying to chamfer the keyway on the damper a bit to make it easier to seat onto the key, right?

You just need to break the edge so it isn't sharp. No more than a couple thousandths of an inch.

It keeps the key from hanging up. 

In fact, if you take a close look at the key, you'll see the edges aren't sharp, but slightly rounded. And it is nearly perfectly smooth.

Smooth is good.

 

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One other thing is that my new damper doesn't slide onto the crank very easily. I slid it on by hand as much as I could, and then used it's installer tool.

It should slip all the way on by hand. It shouldn't be loose, or move noticeably once fully seated, but you should be able to slide it off and on by hand.

Try some emery cloth, concentrating at the outer third of the bore. Be sure to clean thoroughly before each test fit.

 

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Take a look at the side profile picture of my old damper. The previous owner did something wrong to that poor thing. I only discovered it when I was pulling the timing cover off for some other maintenance. That's one of the reasons I decided to go ahead and get a new damper.

 

 

 

Uf da!

Edited March 20, 20213 yr by Racer X

Noun - person, place or thing.  Thank you Mrs. Partridge, high school English teacher.  She thought I was an attentive student but I was really just making a list of all of the parts I needed for my car.

6 hours ago, Zed Head said:

Noun - person, place or thing.  Thank you Mrs. Partridge, high school English teacher.  She thought I was an attentive student but I was really just making a list of all of the parts I needed for my car.

I would sit at the back of the classroom and draw pictures of cars. Teachers would catch me, send me to the principals office, then my parents would get called in. 

Then my creativity was stifled.

Instead of fostering my artistic talents, I was punished and forced to stay after school and do extra lessons.

I still drew pictures of cars, sometimes in the margins of the lesson papers.

 

Edited March 20, 20213 yr by Racer X

Nissan solved the problem of driving out the woodruff key with their next generation of dampers for the 280’s. The damper was radiused in about 1/4 inch so you could easily slide the damper over the woodruff key before snugging up the damper onto the crank snout. I guess you could take your early damper to a machine shop and have them do that for peace of mind. I always put new 280Z dampers on my builds just for that reason.