300,000 mile Sludge Machine

[BowtieGuy]

300k on a timing set. Insanity I say!

[r0ckstarr]

Yep, crank at 12, cam at 6.

Yesterday my father called and said that the cam bearing tool he was supposed to be borrowing from a friend ended up not happening. So, we went to a few hardware stores and made one from a piece of all thread, 2 inch flat washers and a 2.25 inch piece of PVC pipe. By the time we had everything collected, I had to go to work. My father called later on and said it worked perfect and that they pushed right on in. He said that the cam is in, new pistons are installed on the rods and that the crank and pistons will go in next.

I'll tell my brother to get a video of it starting up for the first time.

[r0ckstarr]

Finally got the videos from my brother. He said this was when they started it for the first time and my father was adjusting the valves.



...and here's a picture of the engine after 300 miles. I asked him why he didnt clean up and paint the air cleaner. He said that he ran out of paint, couldn't wait to hear it run, and also said that he will clean everything else up later.

[BowtieGuy]

Good as new.

[r0ckstarr]

Last night my father called me and told me he was broke down and needed my help. The Idler Pulley locked up and threw the belt off.

Weird that it happens right after the rebuild and not before.

It was too late to go to an Autoparts store, so we came up with another solution to get the truck home safely. We put the belt back on, but skipped the locked up idler pulley. The tensioner pulley travelled all of the way down as far as it could reach, and surprisingly took all of the slack out. It held the belt tight enough that it didn't sqeal when driving. Not even a slight chirp with the headlights on.

My father had to work this morning, and he drove the truck to and from work like this. During the day today, I went and picked up a new idler pulley and left it at his house so he can put the belt back on the correct way.

So, if you're idler pulley ever locks up, try putting the belt back on without routing it over the idler pulley and let the tensioner take care of the slack. All accessories still spun the correct direction.

[Grim91Z]

Would that work on all serpentine systems?

[r0ckstarr]

I dont know, but it's worth a shot if you're stuck somewhere.