Crank is in!!! mains and rods all showed .0025 with the plastigage. with new
thrust washers, the crank runout is right at .003, and i even remembered
which way to turn the thrust washers, oil channels facing out so oil can get
to the shells.
liberal amounts of Permatex assembly lube were used as everything went back
together smooth as silk -- unlike the pilot bushing.... I even torqued,
and loosened, and torqued again to make sure on both main and rod caps.
feeling pretty cocky, i took the next step in the book, which is to put on
the crank sprocket and use a straight edge to see if it lined up with the
jackshaft sprocket, or if i needed to add a spacer or two -- it had one on
originally. turns out it doesn't need a spacer at all, and if i put the old
one back on, the sprockets were definitely not lined up.
next i went to replace the timing chain, and discovered possibly why the
journals and and oil pump were so badly grooved. This car has two timing
chain guides, just below the camshaft sprocket. the top one was positioned
hard up against the chain, so hard that not only had the rubber cover of the
guide worn off, the guide itself had two deep tracks where the chain had worn
a path in the metal. So, probably lots of metal flakes getting into the
oil, and also maybe the reason the chain was so damn tight before?
I assume these guides are to prevent the chain from flapping about, so they
should be close, but not touching the chain?
And while the engine out, I took a look at the steering rack damper because
this car has VERY hard steering -- ie it's really hard to turn the wheel at
slow speeds. I took out the damper plug, shims and spring, and removed the
plunger that presses up against the rack to eliminate side play. the plunger
is scored where it rides on the rack, and there doesn't seem to much grease
in there. Short of taking the whole rack out, can I instead pump some fresh
grease in there to see if the problem is simply not enough lubrication?
There doesn't seem to be a grease nipple anywhere, so I'm reluctant to fill
it up with grease in case I'm not suppose to do that. And I didn't want to
pull the pinion out for fear of getting in over my head.
As usual, all comments and jokes welcome!
Bruce
1980 Inca Yellow TR7 5-speed convertible
Chapel Hill, NC
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