Hey guys,
As some of you may have read.. I am going to be doing my plenum, lifters, and pushrods...( HS 1.7's already on..)
I took a week off from work starting on the 14th.. giving me from the 12th to the 20th to get everything done.. I am hoping the work above plus a T-stat and painting the intake should be done by Monday or Tuesday..so.. I am seriously thinking of doing the water pump and timing chain as well... ( the truck has 96,000 miles.. runs fine.. but if I'm in deep.. nows the time??? I have doing ALOT of reading from the search..on all the timing chain posts.. great info.. with pics as well!! But I have a few questions.. its been talked about getting gears with the ability to advance 4*....has anyone had any experience with this? Or is back to OEM best....
If the 4* advance wont hurt.. get me better torque in the low end.. ( I drive mostly around town.. between 35 - 50 MPH so low end torque would be nice..) I'm alittle shaky on how the marks would be set... I understand that after removing the timing case... I should crank it till the marks are lined up... that way its where it needs to be when the new gears would go back on.... but.. if I put the new crank gear on at 4* advance.... do I now have to re-align the gear markings? If yes.. then how please....rotate the crank gear till the mark is back inline with the cam gear? Sorry for the newbie questions guys.. but its the only way I'll learn...

2nd question... the oil pan gasket.. I've read a ton of posts about doing the chain.. they all write about the re-install of the oil pan gasket.. that its very easy to mess up.. but.. ( yes.. I'm old and write ups do get confusing without good pics for me..) Anyone got any good ways to make sure this gets sealed right the first time? Once I burn this week up.. I wont have anymore time off for awhile so I really want to try to take my time and get it right...

One last questions.. RTV....which do you guys recommend on..
water pump...
timing cover..
oil pan gasket...

While this post sits for a bit. I'll be on summit shopping for chain, gears and pump...

thanks in advance and your infinite patience!!!

 

I would put the chain dead on. I don't think it will hurt anything one way or another. If anything, on a stock motor, I would advance it. If you buya +/- 4*set,each gear has three marks on it. You align the similar dots for whatever you are doing. for example, the marks for straight up will actually be dots. You will have one dot on the cam gear, and one dot on the crank gear. You turn the crank until the #1 cylinder is at tdc and the dot on the crank gear will be at 12:00. You then spin the cam gear until the dot is at 6:00. Same thing for the advanced marks and retard marks.

I have always just loosened the oil pan bolts until the pan dropped a bit, and have never had a problem. The last set of gaskets I bought for the timing cover and water pump were manufactured kind of like the valve cover gaskets. Rubberized metal. I did not use rtv, and have not had any leaks. They were made by felpro.

Coolant will get in the oil, and I always change mine before start up and after 50 or so miles.

If you have the time to experiment with advancing and retarding the chain, Hughes sells a double rollergear set where you can a/r in increments of 2* up to 8* IIRC.

Good luck.

 

Great.. thanks for the info... I think I get it....I knew how to do straight up.. just keep the dots in line..AND.. if I have the dots lined up on the old gears.. then it should be at #1 TDC right? so from there just install new ones at 4* crank.. then install the cam gear and move to 4* advance mark lines with the crank?? Is that how its gonna work?.. I was alittle shaky on that.. just line the 4* marks up on the gears....Adavance is the way to go? OK.. looks like I might give this a shot... plenum, lifters, pushrods, T-stat, timing chain, water pump.. ( plus usual plugs wires etc.) in a week...( well, 9 days..)...and be at work Monday morn?? we'll see.

Summit has a complete timing swap gasket set... but these dont look like rubber metal.. I think they are rubber/cork. I'll search around a bit.. need to get them ordered if I am to start this on the 12th.

 

I kinda wish I would have left my timing stock. I retarded it, before that I was going to advance it. My gas mileage still stinks and with a new plenum, I am begining to think the timing is the reason my gas mileage is about 8.5MPG.

The intake and plenum dosen't take long, expecially if your not doing the kegger mod. I painted mine as well. Although when I first pressurized my fuel system, my number 5 injector was leaking and it messed up the paint around it. You can't really see it though.

I found the oil pan pretty easy to take off. I liked the idea of cleaning the sludge out, only problem is the stupid top starter bolt. Which needs 20" of 1/2" extension to get out.

Water pump isn't that hard, just need to use a strap wrench on the fan. Impact wrench on the huge crankshaft bolt. You will definetly get it done in a week. Expecially with doing a little homework on here. I'm sure you'll hit a snag or two, but usually just posting your problem here gets you great help.

Good Luck

 

Yeah.. I've done pumps before...the plenum I can handle no problem...but the timing case to the chain is the one that worries me.. no impact here.. so.. alot is going to depend on if I can break it loose or not. I've seen on other sites some people have found a few ways to get it off... the engine on my truck is really clean... no rust on anything under the hood so I might get lucky.. but you never know...

On Pavementsucks.com...it looks as though they didnt have to drop the oil pan to get the timing cover and chain set out.. just the two bolts...its THAT gasket i'm worried about. I dont want to drop the pan if I dont have to... just another gasket to start leaking...LOL..Thanks for the info everyone.. anything too that you guys can come up with..just need to find a good chain and gear set. Summit has a few Coyles sets.. Mopowar suggested Hughes... I like Hughes alot.. but they have quite a few sets..not really sure which is right for my motor....have to shop a bit...Anybody comes up with a good pic DYI of that front gasket on the pan when your doing the timing cover.... PM me or post.. I'm going looking for one as well..Thanks again all!

By the way why did you retard the timing?? Trying to get more in the higher range?

 

don't worry about the oil pan gasket. the front 2 bolts on it go up into the timing cover, so you will have to remove them. then separate the timing chain cover off the top of the oil pan gasket nice and easy. the oil pan gasket is rubber, so it should separate easily and w/o destruction. note - should. a very thin coat of rtv on the corners where the flat section of the oil pan meets the curved section won't hurt a thing.

i didn't completely understand any benefits of retard/advance, so i put mine back stock, with a standard cloyes brand set from local parts store. i think it was about $40-50.
https://dodgeforum.com/m_735291/tm.htm

 

Thanks DH... I've been reading posts for hours and hours... didnt realize I was asking the same questions that started a whole big thing awhile ago....I'm so freaking warn out about the advance/retard thing that I have to say....I think its going back to stock. More arguements for retard then advance.. but I dont know how to reset the fuel so I might be just asking for problems trying to find a better setting for my driving. I was just thinking that if I can get alittle more out of it torque wise in the lower range.. or get it to get to mid alittle faster.. I'd try it....but.. depending on who you ask... it can go for or against. Thanks for taking the time guys........