HoustonZ Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 The dreaded thing has happened..... Yesterday I started taking the engine apart. A friend had mailed me an N47 head with a hot cam awhile back and I haven't had a chance to install it since leaving for college. Everything went fairly well up until the point of putting the pulley sprocket back onto the cam shaft. No matter how hard I pulled or which way I turned, the sprocket could not physically reach the camshaft. It was always about .125" too short. Then I look down into the block to see the tensioner dangling by the spring, obviously way out of place. *sigh* I know what this means. Pulling the rad, oil pump, water pump, crank pulley, and all that other crap to remove the front cover. Does anyone have any advice or encouragement as I tear into this thing? If there is anyone in the Houston area that would like to come by and assist, I'll certainly buy you dinner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKWIKZ Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 Providing that the tensioner did not fall completely out of the mount, you can get it fixed without pulling the timing cover. I used two long philips screw drivers. These are the 12" Craftsman ones. You can lower the chain down upon itself until it's sitting in a "pile" inside of the timing cover. Then use one driver to support the tensioner from underneath and use the other to guide it into it's hole. Once you have it lined up, don't try to push it back with the driver, pull the chain up slowly which will apply the pressure to push the tensioner back into place. Now, this technique will in fact also work even if the tensioner comes completely out. But it's much harder to do. I did it once. I used an extendable magnet to put the tensioner back into alignment and then did as I said above. It took a lot of tries but it can be done. Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonZ Posted December 25, 2007 Author Share Posted December 25, 2007 Well I'm not sure if the tensioner is completely out or not. I'll try to take a picture and let you guys be the judge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cholag Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 when i did mine i didnt pull my rad and the hole job wasent that hard. what was annoying was taking out all those oil pan bolts and then having to hit/ pry it off the block. but it was difficult to get the timing right so i wish you the best of luck when you have to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemicalblue Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 Try a magnet first. I have put the tensioner back in many time w/o taking the front of the motor apart. It will save a ton of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonZ Posted December 25, 2007 Author Share Posted December 25, 2007 Can anyone find a nice clear picture of the front of the engine with the chain installed and the tensioner in the proper place. If I only knew what the heck it looked like down there I might be able to fiddle the thing back into place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 I pulled the front of my motor apart twice in one day... I was NOT the world's happiest camper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonZ Posted December 26, 2007 Author Share Posted December 26, 2007 Well I've started taking it apart. Got stuck at the part requiring a 27mm socket for the crank. I'll pick up one tomorrow morning and get back to it. In the meantime, I fixed my power locks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nizm0Zed Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 *E-Hug* Good luck with it. I'll be thinking of you tonight when i get into my bottle of rum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 *E-Hug* LOL - same here. If you have trouble coming up with the 27mm socket, a 1-1/16" socket should work, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonZ Posted December 27, 2007 Author Share Posted December 27, 2007 Progress has been made! I made a quick trip out to Autozone (they know me well by now) to pick up the 27mm socket and take off the pulley. After that it was quick work to pull the timing cover and see the little #$)%* tensioner. It had most definitely popped out of its guide. My timing chain for some reason does not having any timing marks or bright links. To make matters worse, my timing marks on the damper aren't correct (more on that later). So after sitting there for a while thinking, I figured out a method. After taking off the head, I used a dial indicator on the top of the piston head to get a real accurate fix on #1 TDC. The head was a little trickier. I'm not sure of the specs, but it is most definitely a high overlap cam. By taking measurements with the dial indicator on the lobes, I managed to find the exact TDC of the camshaft. After putting the head on the engine I verified that indeed, there were 42 links between my crankshaft sprocket mark and my camshaft sprocket mark. After spinning the engine around a few revs, the marks came back to their proper places. Success. Now for the bad. Upon inspection, I saw that my damper ring on my crankshaft pulley is separating around the rubber. Who knows how long it has been this way? I can just barely spin it slowly by hand. This engine has seen 7k on a few missed shift in the past. Otherwise I pull to 5600 maybe once a week. The problem is that I NEED this engine running sooner then I can source a replacement damper. Should I just use a little high temp epoxy to bond them and hope for the best in the next month? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 I wouldn't chance it. Do you think that if you could move it by hand a little bit, that the vibrations which the harmonic balancer is supposed to absorb in order to dampen are not going to crack what little glue you put on there? If you DO do it, I woulnd't drive it much, or drive it hard. And you should probably order the damper as you are reading this post if you want to get started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonZ Posted December 27, 2007 Author Share Posted December 27, 2007 Where the heck do I find one used?? With the groove for AC... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Where the heck do I find one used?? With the groove for AC... Hmmm, can't help you there. I have an idea though! I remember there being a thread about the new balancers for the L28, and perhaps you can find it in the Group Buy section. Message some folks who purchased them through the thread, or buy a new one. Come on, give her some love Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HB280ZT Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 I had my 83 280ZX turbo balancer rebuilt by Dale Manufacturing: http://www.dalemfg.com/harmonicbalancer_002.htm It came out really good and I am using it now on my car. Not a bad price either as a new one is about 3 times as expensive. Hope this helps. HB280ZT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 If you can rotate the outside ring, don't drive it. You are asking for disaster if that thing comes off or breaks apart. I know you "need" the car back together, but your safety is not worth the risk. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonZ Posted December 31, 2007 Author Share Posted December 31, 2007 Well I've got the engine running nicely now. Just need to clean up all my wires and put the little stuff back together. 2 weeks until I leave for college. That should be enough time to source a new used balancer. Hopefully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonZ Posted December 31, 2007 Author Share Posted December 31, 2007 Nevermind. I'll spend the money on a brand new damper. I'll buy a singe groove for now, as the AC won't be needed for months and months. Who sells them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clifton Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 I guess I'll add my tensioner save story too. Might help someone later. Mine didn't come all the way out, enough to get cocked and not go back in and enough that I couldn't get the chain back on the sprocket. I took the cam sprocket off and pulled the chain over to the driver side but kept tension on it so tensioner wouldn't drop all the way out. I used a long screwdriver to push the rubber top end of the tensioner down and it popped back in. It's worked twice so far. I would rather spend an hour trying to get it in than pull that front cover off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonZ Posted January 1, 2008 Author Share Posted January 1, 2008 Well hey, I saw a part of the engine I previously hadn't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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