Gotta pull the harmonic balancer on my 68' 400. I'm sure I can do this, but having never done it before I'm looking for any advice or input to get over the intimidation factor, lol. What do I need to do to do it right, what do I have to be careful about? That type of thing. I got a puller from a local parts store and the engine is out of the car. I've read that you need a torque wrench capable of 200' lbs. mine only goes to 150' lbs. Also wondering about the oil pan gasket/seal will I have to replace that also? What are the best ways to keeping the crank from moving, do I need to mark location of damper before pulling? Nothing is wrong with the balancer but when I went to put water pump on I managed to strip out one of the 1/4" bolt holes on timing chain cover, I forgot to clean the bolt before reinstalling. Thanks for any input!

 

Never mind that went way easier than I thought it would.

 

It's not as hard as most people think. Check your timing chain while your in there. The seal pries out and tap the new one in.

 

When you put it back together, use the torque wrench set to 150# with a pipe on the end of it, then replace the torque wrench with a breaker bar, and pull on the pipe almost twice as hard as you did to get to 150#, and you'll be at about 250, which is good.
You'll need someone to hold the engine if it's on a stand, or it'll go right over.

- Eric

 

Ok, timing chain looks good, though it should, engine has around 5k miles on it since rebuild. I have gasket set so I will be replacing everything even though seal looks good enough to reuse I'll still put new in. My dilemma now is I still have the 1/4" bolt hole to re thread on timing chain cover but by the looks of it, it doesn't look like something you can just drill and tap for the next size up? I'm thinking I'll just bite the bullet and get new cover. I wanna do this right, so can I go to next size or no? To my novice eye it looks like if I go bigger bolt hole I won't have enough thread space to get proper torque on bolt? Initially I thought I'd put bolt in through backside of plate with threadlocker but that seems like half-assing it and I'd rather do it "right" now and not have to deal with any possible repercussions down the road. A friend seems to think we can weld current bolt hole and drill and re-tap to proper size and be good, but I'm skeptical about that as well, but he's of the opinion that we can take our time and do it without compromising the mating surface of the water pump. Honestly I'm kinda pressing myself to get it back on the road, lol. But doing it right does take precedents and I won't compromise that. Any opinions/advice on the bolt hole is definitely welcome. Should/could I try and re-tap it using the next size bigger either metric or standard or should I just go ahead and get new cover and put engine back in car in the meantime? Also was wondering if it would be better/easier to put motor back in car with exhaust manifolds or without? Took it out without them but I know from previous experience that getting to the back bolts on AC (passenger) side is a real pain. Just kinda figured if I do go with new cover it'll take a few days before I get it delivered so in the meantime I could get engine/tranny back in car and put what I can back together then put new cover/pump back on with motor in car and not lose much time as far as getting everything together goes. Woo, wish I had more experience with all this! Lol. But it is fun learning, and a sense of accomplishment is truly meaningful! Thanks for any of y'all's input.

 

Whoa. Dude. Paragraphs, man. Paragraphs.

You have three choices for your screw hole:

1. You can tap it out to 5/16-24, which may or may not require you to drill that one hole in your water pump (and all future water pumps) just a bit larger as well.
2. You can screw a screw through what remains of the hole and use the screw to position and weld a ¼-20 nut on the back of the plate (this may be best, as your friend has a welder- if you do this, then why not weld nuts at all four positions?).
3. You can try to use a Heli-Coil, but I am not sure whether the plate is thick enough to hold it.

Either way, fixing this is no big deal, and there is no need to replace the plate.

And I'd install the engine with the exhaust manifolds installed (though you can't usually do this with headers).

- Eric

 

By the way, here's the same post without any paragraphs:

Whoa. Dude. Paragraphs, man. Paragraphs. You have three choices for your screw hole: 1.You can tap it out to 5/16-24, which may or may not require you to drill that one hole in your water pump (and all future water pumps) just a bit larger as well. 2.You can screw a screw through what remains of the hole and use the screw to position and weld a ¼-20 nut on the back of the plate (this may be best, as your friend has a welder- if you do this, then why not weld nuts at all four positions?). 3.You can try to use a Heli-Coil, but I am not sure whether the plate is thick enough to hold it. Either way, fixing this is no big deal, and there is no need to replace the plate. And I'd install the engine with the exhaust manifolds installed (though you can't usually do this with headers).
- Eric

 

Thanks Eric! I'll work on those paragraphs as well man! Lol

 

You forgot a couple, Eric.

First, you can simply peen the deformed boss on the timing cover to tighten up the hole. Put the cover outside down on an anvil or your bench vise and whack the offending hole. Obviously try installing the screw before reinstalling the cover on the motor.

Second, grind the raised boss down flat and weld a 1/4-20 nut on the backside of the cover. If you're nervous or believe that Murphy was an optimist, weld nuts in place of all the bosses (though the ones on the top of the cover are above the lip of the block and accessible form the outside).

Also, you can bolt the water pump to the front cover using the 1/4-20 screws before installing the cover on the block. Only the 5/16 bolts thread into the block.

 

Gonna go ahead and do both bottom 1/4" holes like you described. Actually thought about welding nut on back of plate too when I went to bed last night. I like it a whole lot better than welding hole shut and drilling n Re-tapping.

Hopefully if all goes well I'll have the engine/tranny back in car tonight!

 

I'll admit I missed one, Joe, but not two.

- Eric

 

Would love to post some pics but unfortunately don't know how from my iPhone.

 

Geeze! How did I not see that???

 

Too many paragraphs.

 

Doh.

- Eric