In this chapter I am going to go through installing the timing chain... In the last chapter I showed you how to install the camshaft... Now it's time to install the timing chain...
This is the next step to continue after Sections 1 - 9A... If you missed one of them, you can find it here...
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 1: Block Prep
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 2: Cam Bearing Install
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 3: Install Water Jacket and Oil Galley Plugs
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 4: Pre Flight Inspection After Machine Shop Before Assembly
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 5: Crankshaft Install
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 6: Installing Rings on Pistons
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 7: Install Pistons in Block
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 7a (Optional): CC the Engine Cylinder to Find Compression
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 8: Install the Camshaft
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 9: Install Camshaft Thrust Plate
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 9A (Optional): Timing Chain Options
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Hello everyone, it's Krazykuda here to show you how to rebuild a small block... This article is to help any newbies through rebuilding a small block Mopar LA engine, but may have a few tips that some of you seasoned builders may find useful... If you haven't ever built an engine, I will show you what you need to know to do it yourself...
The goal of this series is to show what you can do at home in your own garage... Go at your own pace and ability and then take it to someone knowledgeable for what you are not capable of doing yourself or don't have the proper equipment/tools for...
Keep checking back in from time to time as this is a work in progress and I plan to keep updating it as I build more engines and can show you more variations...
I am going to break this into sections that you can follow along with and make sense to do in 'stages' when you build... Plus you can then jump to the section that you are working on to help keep from sorting through one very long thread to find what part that you are working on when you are doing it....
*************************************************************************
*** Important Note *** Sometimes things may not go right and you will run into a snag/road block... Do not get in a hurry to finish and take short cuts that may compromise your build...
Step back, take a break, and think about it for a while... Or seek help from other experienced people or professionals to overcome the problem... Do it right and don't take any unnecessary chances that may compromise the integrity of your build...
If you don't fix the problem correctly, it may come back to haunt you and cost even more time and money than if you took the time to think about it and research it to fix the problem correctly...
This has been a public service announcement from krazykuda....
*************************************************************************
Now that you have read about the timing chain options in chapter 9A, it's time to install the chain...
As you know from chapter 9A, I recommend a double roller chain equivalent to a stock 340 or better... The stock 340 chain only has one set of marks, but my preferred chain the Edelbrock true roller double roller has three different options so you can install it straight up, or 4° advanced or retarded...
First, double check that the camshaft and camshaft thrust plate are properly installed and the thrust plate bolts are tightened to the proper torque... Remember from the camshaft install chapter 9 that the top hole on the passenger side of the engine is where the oil is supplied from the lifter valley for the timing chain and should not have a bolt there so the timing chain is properly lubricated to keep wear and stretch to a minimum... It should look like this...
This example is for a stock 340 double roller chain, here is the crank gear...
This is a close up showing the dot used for aligning the two gears so the cam and crank will be in the correct relationship to each other...
It may be difficult to see, so I use a white paint pen or white out to highlight the dot to make it easier to see while working...
Now here's the cam gear and you can see the alignment dot is hard to see...
Here it is with my white paint mark, and you can see how much better it is to see...
I like to assemble the two gears and chain on my workbench/work cart before installing... First you get the two gears and align the timing marks so the mark on the cam gear (big one) is at 6 o'clock and the mark on the crank gear (small one) is at 12 o'clock like this...
Now put the chain on the gears with the dots "together" like this...
Then take a rigid straight edge aligned with the center of each gear to check the dots are in line and not a tooth off... I use a long straight screwdriver like this... If they do not line up, jump one of the gears a tooth until they line up...
Now pick up the gears and chain and be careful to keep them aligned properly so they don't jump a tooth and bring them up to the engine like this...
Then slide the crank gear onto the nose of the crank and line it up with the keyway on the crank like this...
Look down the keyway of the cam gear and see if it lines up with the keyway on the cam... If not, rotate the camshaft by hand to get the keyway and slot to line up... You should be able to rotate the cam by hand as the valvetrain is not installed yet so there is no load on it...
When they line up, take a medium hammer and gently tap the cam gear onto the cam... You will have to alternate tapping the cam gear and crank gear a little bit at a time until they are both fully seated...
Make sure the gear is all the way seated on the cam and some of the keyway on the camshaft is sticking out past the cam gear... Also notice how the dots on the cam and crank gears are properly aligned... The white dots make it easy to see/verify...
Like this...
Now is the time to degree the cam if you feel you are up to it...
So if you degreed the cam and are sure it is where you want it, now you have a couple more things to do to complete the cam installation... It's time to install the fuel pump eccentric and oil slinger...
Here they are in my cart...
This is the fuel pump eccentric that is used to drive the mechanical fuel pump... The mounting hole is offset from the center so it makes the fuel pump arm go up and down to pump the fuel as it rotates... This is the front side that goes to the front of the engine...
This is the back side that goes against the cam gear...
Put the fuel pump eccentric on the camshaft aligning the slot with the keyway on the camshaft that sticks past the cam gear...
You can see how the keyway engages in the slot of the eccentric here...
Here is what the proper bolt and "washer" for the fuel pump looks like... I don't have a good picture of the bolt and washer separately, so this is the only picture that I have to show you what it looks like... The curved "washer" pushes the fuel pump eccentric all the way back on the cam gear to keep the slot engaged with the keyway that is used to make sure the eccentric rotates with the crank...
Here is how it is supposed to be put together... Now tighten the bolt which is called the camshaft lockbolt in the service manual and is 7/16 x 14 coarse thread and to be torqued to 35 foot pounds...
Here's the torque spec from the 68 Plymouth service manual...
Now that the cam is installed with the fuel pump eccentric torqued, it's time to install the oil slinger... This is just a simple thin round disk that fits over the crankshaft and is used to "sling" the oil back onto the timing chain... This is an important part of keeping the timing chain lubricated to reduce wear and stretch to the timing chain...
Here is the front of the slinger that goes toward the front of the engine...
This is the back of the slinger that goes against the crank gear... You would think it goes the other way, but the "flare" is supposed to go outward... If you put it on backwards, the timing chain will chew it up... (I put it on backwards once and learned this the hard way...)
Just align the slot with the keyway on the crank and slid it on... Notice how the larger diameter goes forward...
Here is a good view to show how it goes...
From another angle for clarity...
This is how it should look...
Here it is from the side, and you can see that there is not much clearance to the timing chain... If you put the flare backwards, the slinger will hit the timing chain and will get chewed up...
Now it is ready to install the timing chain cover...
This is the next step to continue after Sections 1 - 9A... If you missed one of them, you can find it here...
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 1: Block Prep
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 2: Cam Bearing Install
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 3: Install Water Jacket and Oil Galley Plugs
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 4: Pre Flight Inspection After Machine Shop Before Assembly
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 5: Crankshaft Install
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 6: Installing Rings on Pistons
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 7: Install Pistons in Block
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 7a (Optional): CC the Engine Cylinder to Find Compression
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 8: Install the Camshaft
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 9: Install Camshaft Thrust Plate
How to Rebuild a Small Block Part 9A (Optional): Timing Chain Options
*************************************************************************
Hello everyone, it's Krazykuda here to show you how to rebuild a small block... This article is to help any newbies through rebuilding a small block Mopar LA engine, but may have a few tips that some of you seasoned builders may find useful... If you haven't ever built an engine, I will show you what you need to know to do it yourself...
The goal of this series is to show what you can do at home in your own garage... Go at your own pace and ability and then take it to someone knowledgeable for what you are not capable of doing yourself or don't have the proper equipment/tools for...
Keep checking back in from time to time as this is a work in progress and I plan to keep updating it as I build more engines and can show you more variations...
I am going to break this into sections that you can follow along with and make sense to do in 'stages' when you build... Plus you can then jump to the section that you are working on to help keep from sorting through one very long thread to find what part that you are working on when you are doing it....
*************************************************************************
*** Important Note *** Sometimes things may not go right and you will run into a snag/road block... Do not get in a hurry to finish and take short cuts that may compromise your build...
Step back, take a break, and think about it for a while... Or seek help from other experienced people or professionals to overcome the problem... Do it right and don't take any unnecessary chances that may compromise the integrity of your build...
If you don't fix the problem correctly, it may come back to haunt you and cost even more time and money than if you took the time to think about it and research it to fix the problem correctly...
This has been a public service announcement from krazykuda....
*************************************************************************
Now that you have read about the timing chain options in chapter 9A, it's time to install the chain...
As you know from chapter 9A, I recommend a double roller chain equivalent to a stock 340 or better... The stock 340 chain only has one set of marks, but my preferred chain the Edelbrock true roller double roller has three different options so you can install it straight up, or 4° advanced or retarded...
First, double check that the camshaft and camshaft thrust plate are properly installed and the thrust plate bolts are tightened to the proper torque... Remember from the camshaft install chapter 9 that the top hole on the passenger side of the engine is where the oil is supplied from the lifter valley for the timing chain and should not have a bolt there so the timing chain is properly lubricated to keep wear and stretch to a minimum... It should look like this...
This example is for a stock 340 double roller chain, here is the crank gear...
This is a close up showing the dot used for aligning the two gears so the cam and crank will be in the correct relationship to each other...
It may be difficult to see, so I use a white paint pen or white out to highlight the dot to make it easier to see while working...
Now here's the cam gear and you can see the alignment dot is hard to see...
Here it is with my white paint mark, and you can see how much better it is to see...
I like to assemble the two gears and chain on my workbench/work cart before installing... First you get the two gears and align the timing marks so the mark on the cam gear (big one) is at 6 o'clock and the mark on the crank gear (small one) is at 12 o'clock like this...
Now put the chain on the gears with the dots "together" like this...
Then take a rigid straight edge aligned with the center of each gear to check the dots are in line and not a tooth off... I use a long straight screwdriver like this... If they do not line up, jump one of the gears a tooth until they line up...
Now pick up the gears and chain and be careful to keep them aligned properly so they don't jump a tooth and bring them up to the engine like this...
Then slide the crank gear onto the nose of the crank and line it up with the keyway on the crank like this...
Look down the keyway of the cam gear and see if it lines up with the keyway on the cam... If not, rotate the camshaft by hand to get the keyway and slot to line up... You should be able to rotate the cam by hand as the valvetrain is not installed yet so there is no load on it...
When they line up, take a medium hammer and gently tap the cam gear onto the cam... You will have to alternate tapping the cam gear and crank gear a little bit at a time until they are both fully seated...
Make sure the gear is all the way seated on the cam and some of the keyway on the camshaft is sticking out past the cam gear... Also notice how the dots on the cam and crank gears are properly aligned... The white dots make it easy to see/verify...
Like this...
Now is the time to degree the cam if you feel you are up to it...
So if you degreed the cam and are sure it is where you want it, now you have a couple more things to do to complete the cam installation... It's time to install the fuel pump eccentric and oil slinger...
Here they are in my cart...
This is the fuel pump eccentric that is used to drive the mechanical fuel pump... The mounting hole is offset from the center so it makes the fuel pump arm go up and down to pump the fuel as it rotates... This is the front side that goes to the front of the engine...
This is the back side that goes against the cam gear...
Put the fuel pump eccentric on the camshaft aligning the slot with the keyway on the camshaft that sticks past the cam gear...
You can see how the keyway engages in the slot of the eccentric here...
Here is what the proper bolt and "washer" for the fuel pump looks like... I don't have a good picture of the bolt and washer separately, so this is the only picture that I have to show you what it looks like... The curved "washer" pushes the fuel pump eccentric all the way back on the cam gear to keep the slot engaged with the keyway that is used to make sure the eccentric rotates with the crank...
Here is how it is supposed to be put together... Now tighten the bolt which is called the camshaft lockbolt in the service manual and is 7/16 x 14 coarse thread and to be torqued to 35 foot pounds...
Here's the torque spec from the 68 Plymouth service manual...
Now that the cam is installed with the fuel pump eccentric torqued, it's time to install the oil slinger... This is just a simple thin round disk that fits over the crankshaft and is used to "sling" the oil back onto the timing chain... This is an important part of keeping the timing chain lubricated to reduce wear and stretch to the timing chain...
Here is the front of the slinger that goes toward the front of the engine...
This is the back of the slinger that goes against the crank gear... You would think it goes the other way, but the "flare" is supposed to go outward... If you put it on backwards, the timing chain will chew it up... (I put it on backwards once and learned this the hard way...)
Just align the slot with the keyway on the crank and slid it on... Notice how the larger diameter goes forward...
Here is a good view to show how it goes...
From another angle for clarity...
This is how it should look...
Here it is from the side, and you can see that there is not much clearance to the timing chain... If you put the flare backwards, the slinger will hit the timing chain and will get chewed up...
Now it is ready to install the timing chain cover...
