I figured as long as I was in there I should go ahead and do both.

 

I approached this a little differently than other procedures I've seen. Instead of putting the chains on with the engine at TDC, I rotated the engine to a safe mode and then timed everything.


First I put my engine in TDC, then once I had the front cover off, I moved the keyway in the crank to 12:00 so the engine was in safe mode.

I then bolted both heads down. I layed out my two chains and marked the ends. I then put the crank sproket on. I put the drivers chain on first - I put the mark on one end of the chain on the mark on the crank sprocket. I then rotated the driver head so the other mark on the chain lined up with the mark on the cam gear.

I did the same thing for the passenger side. You want to rotate the engine at least 2 times to make sure you don't have any PTV contact.

I was ultra paranoid and rotated the engine 50-60 times to get all the marks on the chains to line up the the cam/crank gears.

Hope that helps.

 

Ted, that helps a lot, maybe I can get my brother over here before turkey day and we can get the timing correct. Hopefully that is what is wrong and I haven't screwed up anything else in the process of trying to start the pickup.

 

How did you set the timing when you put the heads back on?

 

I thought I had made sure that the camshaft didn't move when I took the head off and then slipped the chain on the only way it would fit with the tensioner tight.

 

Did the crank shaft move? Without the benifit of indexing marks it is possible to install the chains with the timing being off by one tooth or more. That is all that it would take to keep it from starting.

JMC

 

I had thought when the timing was off the truck would still start it would just run like crap. I've always heard you only need fuel, spark and air to make a car start.

 

We corrected the timing which was off, but now when we start it the only way to get it running and to keep it running is to hold the gas pedal to the floor. What would be causing this?

 

Vacuum leak. Check all your fittings and connections for sign of a leak.

JMC

 

They look like they are all good. We have to keep it at about 2000rpms for it to run.

 

Check the IAC to be sure it is not stuck shut or that it doesn't have an obstruction somewhere in the tubing or valve itself. The TPS could be misadjusted and showing an off idle condition where the butterfly is still closed. Or there could be a vacuum leak between the MAF and the intake manifold where it attaches to the heads.

JMC

 

carF150 - Any luck getting it running?

 

Not yet. I wasn't able to work on it any this weekend. I am borrowing a car until I get it fixed. Hopefully I will get it this weekend.

 

I was talking to some guys about it this past weekend and they thought that maybe when my brother and I did the timing, we didn't have tdc. We had the crank in tdc for the exhaust stroke and not the compression stroke. So we did the timing when in exhaust and not compression tdc. Does that sound logical to you guys? When I redo the timing I think I will get a compression gauge and put it into #1 and check for compression. Does that sound like a good idea?

 

car,

Do you have a shop manual? The most important step is to rotate the crankshaft so the keyway points to the 12 o'clock position. This position allows the rotation of the cams without damaging the valves and or pistons. The tritons are an interference engine. Meaning that the valves will strike the piston if they are opened when their piston is at TDC. Once the crankshaft is positioned the cams can be rotated. Remove the chains. The LH cam is rotated till its timing mark is approximatly at the 12 o'clock position. The RH cam goes to the 11 o'clock position. Tighten the cam holding tools.
turn the crankshaft counter clockwise till the keyway is at the 10:30 o'clock position. This is TDC on #1 cylinder. This should position the crank timing marks at 6 o'clock. Install the chains.

JMC