Well, finally got the timing cover off this evening. It doesn’t look very good, so I’ve ordered a new one from TA Performance. The timing chain looks original, with nylon gears on the cam sprocket. There is about a half inch of play on the slack side of the timing chain (the passenger side). Seems like a fair bit of looseness but since I plan on doing a complete build later this year, I’m thinking I’ll leave it alone for now. Is that a grave mistake?
A Melling or Sealed Power timing chain set is $20 on Rock. Its money well spent. I'd throw one in. Who knows, your plans may change.
The original plastic coated timing gears need to go, especially since you have the cover off and are right there. They survived 46-7 yrs, but why push your luck? The original plastic coated timing gears only made it about 24 yrs on my 1966 Skylark before they broke apart, jumped a tooth, and bent my valves. Right now, it would be very easy for you to change. You could even reuse it later during your rebuild.
Nylon gear=original timing chain=ticking time bomb. T/chain and gears is a 10 minute job with the cover already off. No brainer.
Ok, ok! New timing set is ordered. Some cleaning needed over the weekend while I wait for parts. I might have a bunch of dumb questions once I start assembling everything. Appreciate everyone’s help so far!
Quick update on this little project: New timing gear, new fuel pump eccentric and new distributor drive gear installed. New TA timing cover installed with the whole TA oil pump package (booster plate, shims, etc.). New water pump is in, as well as a new harmonic balancer. Fan and fan clutch cleaned up and painted. Making progress. Still have a few more things to go but it is coming together. Really appreciate everyone’s help and advice!
Snapped a photo of the progress so far. The clean new aluminum looks so much better. I expect it will function quite a bit better as well.
Looks good! If your old balancer had any steel balance slugs pressed into the outer ring, remove them and put them in the exact same holes in the new balancer.
If you like the color/look of aluminum, you should have painted it that color. At least you can wipe it down and keep it clean. After awhile, aluminum will get dirty and stained.
No clear coat. I would use something like Alumiblast. https://www.amazon.com/Seymour-16-0...50278639&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spell&tag=hydsma-20 https://www.eastwood.com/ew-aluma-blast-paint-aerosol-12-oz.html
The old balancer did have a few slugs in some of the outer ring holes. Tapped them out and installed on the new one in the corresponding holes. They were a little loose so I re-swaged the slugs where they had been swaged initially, then used a little superglue to make sure they stay in place. Hope it holds. Haven't gotten it running again yet (close though) so I'll have to wait and see if it has any excessive vibration after the balancer replacement.
Take a colored paint pen and mark the slugs. Keep your eye on them periodically to detect any movement. I put a short mark across balancer outer ring & inner hub to detect any slippage also.
Finally got it running again after the fusible link incident! Tried uploading a video clip but it won’t seem to go Anyhow, once the electricial issue was sorted out, it just fired right up
