Larz28

Hey gang,

I'm finishing up a timing chain replace job and starting to put the engine back together but when I slid the crank pulley back on I noticed the timing mark was off a bit. I made sure I put the "shiny links" on the top dimple of the cam shaft sprocket (see photo) and I put the other shiny link at the bottom dimple on the crank shaft sprocket. I actually left the old crank sprocket in there so I wouldn't mess up moving something putting the new chain on. (I wonder if the old chain stretched a bit ?) I have the oil pan off and can see the 2nd and 3rd crank bearings line up almost perfectly with the bottom of the 2nd and 3rd piston bearings (see photo) so I'm not THAT far off TDC. I'm wondering should I just proceed and adjust the distributor to fine tune the timing after I get it all finished, or say hell with the shiny links being on the sprocket dimples and kick it over one more link on the crank sprocket to bring the timing mark closer to 12 o'clock ? Any advice is appreciated.

Larz28

I'm wondering if there is a tiny bit of slack in the lower part of the drivers side chain and it will work out after the crank turns to line up at the correct timing mark, but when I installed the new chain, I would say 90-95% of the slack was on the passenger side/ tensioner side of the chain. I'll try manually rotating the motor 720 degrees to 1. see if I meet significant resistance meaning "valve crunch time ?" and 2. See where the timing mark is when the bottom "shiny link" is on the top of the cam gear at 360 degrees. This was an engnbldr front end kit. Do those chains come with 2 consecutive shiny links to straddle the cam gear dimple and a 3rd shiny link on the other end for the crank sprocket dimple ? I was only looking for 1 at either end and made sure they lined up with the sprocket dimples.

Larz28

The problem actually worked itself out. After I tightened the pulley bolt down, the timing mark creaked over a bit and stopped at the -5 TDC mark. (EFI)... Whew !