M880 GC
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As I started going through the repair and discovery phase, the idle was a bit erratic and it even had a carb fart during starting a while back. When I did the compression test the cylinders were in the 150-160 PSI range, that was encouraging. With the advice of an old school Dodge nut at work, Steve gave me a double row timing chain set and said, here, you are going to need this, he was right. With the plugs out, I rotated the crank and watched the rotor, then I reversed direction and it took a bit of rotating to get it to start to reverse the rotor. I removed the front accesories, water pump, damper and finally the timing cover. With the chain tight on one side I pushed the chain in and pulled it out, it moved a bunch. The case was still in good shape. The R&R on the chain and sprockets is fairly straight forward but it still got me a few times. First setting the engine on TDC. If you use #1 for the TDC reference the marks don't line up according to the book, just turn one more rev and they will. Setting up the new chain set according to the manuals calls to lay it flat and straight line the centerlines of the sprockets and reference marks, that was clumsy. Instead I hung the old set and new set on a horizontal piece of iron pipe and it was easy to roll the gears into position to get your marks lined up. The stretch and wear of the old vs. new is visible in the picture.
The installation just requires typical patience and attention to detail, I got to reorder my supply of ATD got used up on this one.
The installation requires lining up 3 gaskets and compressing the new oil pan front seal with the cover, now that's a handful. In my efforts to out smart this project I decided to install the water pump on the timing cover on the bench, makes sense, easy to see, less in frame fitting and fussing, right! WRONG don't do it. The newly installed water pump now completely covers up one of the cover mounting holes. Just add coolant and it will show you the error of that decision, R&R pump and ALL belted accessories just to install one 3/8 bolt. Don't forget to put sealant on the bolts that go into the coolant jacket.
The intake manifold R&R is just messy and the manifold is a bit heavy to place on the engine when you realize that it ain't got no handles on it when it's time to drop in place. With the manifold is off you can see how much sludge has accumulated on the exhaust crossover area. I recommend removing the distributor to gain easy access to the back set of maniflod bolts, this is a big help when it's time to put a torque wrench on them. I tightened mine in 4 stages.
Now here's the good news, idle is much more stable and I expect a chance for improvement after setting the non fluxuating engine timing and even tweak the carb a bit. Engine sounds pretty good for a '77.
The manual trans conversion parts are stock piled and waiting their time in the shop.
Knock on wood, all of the wiring fixes are holding up so far. When I do the manual conversion I will most likely drop the pan and go through the pickup screen, pump, rear main inspection and gaskets.
The installation just requires typical patience and attention to detail, I got to reorder my supply of ATD got used up on this one.
The installation requires lining up 3 gaskets and compressing the new oil pan front seal with the cover, now that's a handful. In my efforts to out smart this project I decided to install the water pump on the timing cover on the bench, makes sense, easy to see, less in frame fitting and fussing, right! WRONG don't do it. The newly installed water pump now completely covers up one of the cover mounting holes. Just add coolant and it will show you the error of that decision, R&R pump and ALL belted accessories just to install one 3/8 bolt. Don't forget to put sealant on the bolts that go into the coolant jacket.
The intake manifold R&R is just messy and the manifold is a bit heavy to place on the engine when you realize that it ain't got no handles on it when it's time to drop in place. With the manifold is off you can see how much sludge has accumulated on the exhaust crossover area. I recommend removing the distributor to gain easy access to the back set of maniflod bolts, this is a big help when it's time to put a torque wrench on them. I tightened mine in 4 stages.
Now here's the good news, idle is much more stable and I expect a chance for improvement after setting the non fluxuating engine timing and even tweak the carb a bit. Engine sounds pretty good for a '77.
The manual trans conversion parts are stock piled and waiting their time in the shop.
Knock on wood, all of the wiring fixes are holding up so far. When I do the manual conversion I will most likely drop the pan and go through the pickup screen, pump, rear main inspection and gaskets.
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