manchesterbeast

Okay.

So anyways it happened all of a sudden.

One morning I go to start the car for work and it won't start. I crank and crank and still nothing. After a bit of cranking and pressing the gas pedal I smell that gas and figure I must of flooded it. Whatever. I take the gf's car to work.

I come home from work and it still won't start. Okay so I didn't flood it. So whats going on? I check the spark plugs. They're pretty old and crusty so I put in a set of new ones. I noticed The casing for the starter solenoid had come loose- the two bolts that hold it on must a come out, so I remove the starter and put new bolts on the solonoid casing.

So after all that a bit of progress. It actually starts but still wont run good. It stalls at low idle. so I turn in the throttle stop screw a bit. Now it'll idle but it coughs up the carb when I gun the throttle. It's still un-drive-able.

So next I check all the plug wires with a timing light. They're all making it blink and seem to be working fine. I plug the vacume advance and check the timing. It seems a kinda twitchy, and moves down when I rev her up.



So i figure it must be a worn timing chain...

Now I got her stripped apart and Im not so sure. The timing chain has some slack but it doesn't seem that bad. No where near as bad as the last timing chain I replaced.

Anyway I made a video of the slack. please watch it and tell me what you think: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=9txar03I6uM

Since Im in this far I might as well replace it, but what if I put it all back together and she's still acting up? Should I look at the carb next?

ZZ28ZZ

The chain slack isn't horrible, but I'd replace it while you're there.
Popping back thru the carb (techinically a backfire) is an indication of running lean. When you get it running again and it's warmed up, try closing the choke and see if it starts running better. If so, you most likely have a vacuum leak causing the lean condition.

manchesterbeast

So do I really need the special tool to get the harmonic balancer back on? Couldn't I just tap it back on with a hammer using a 2x4 to cushion the blow?... or maybe a rubber mallet?

mylittlehoney

Ive even used a socket large enough to fit around the hole without the crank hitting it, and a shop hammer.

1fastam

iTrader: (1)

pushing gas back out the carb is a good sign of worn cam lobes, may want to check that while you have it this far down,later jimmy

ZZ28ZZ

You can make your own "special tool" for installing harmonic balancers. Just need abt 8" of "all thread" of the correct size/pitch, a nut and 2 large washers with grease between them. It makes the job very easy. Don't try to install it with the bolt that normally threads into the end of the crank. The threads are easy to strip out.

My old 305 had a worn cam and would spit back thru the intake, but only above abt 1/2 throttle. At idle it ran fine. When I ran it with the valve covers removed I could see the valves (especially the exhaust) were barely opening.

manchesterbeast

Oh snap, I didnt think of the cam. Ive already put it back together so I guess I'll run it with the valve covers off and check it out.

If the cam needs replacing I guess I might as well take the whole thing out and get it rebuilt.