Imperial Home Page -> Imperials by Year -> 1973 -> Kerry's Restoration -> Part 20
Engine work! October 30 -- Finished some other chores and wanted to finish the remaining work on the engine. Several things need to be done:
- Fix the click, either lifter or cracked exhaust
- Install new water pump, fuel pump, timing chain
- Fix the power steering noise
- Replace valve seals to stop the blue smoke at startup
- Drill out or replace the bolts that hold the hot air manifold on the left exhaust manifold. She is cold natured without it.
- Investigate oil pressure (according to the dash gauge it is low...adequate but low)
- Install exhaust pipe resonator
While this work is on a 440, it applies to most engines.
Following Dick Benjamin's advice, I used a hose as a stethoscope and definitely determined the click was on #8. Pulling the plug wire stopped the click which pointed to a cracked manifold. I was able to tighten the exhaust manifold nuts and the click was reduced considerably but still existed. The manifold looked funny and was different color on the 'ear'. Being half blind (Kidding, bifocals suck) I decided to pull the exhaust manifold. If nothing else it will make it easier to work on the valve seals
In the above photograph, you can see what APPEARS to be a crack. The flash washed out the manifold but you can tell they are different colors.
It's easier to get to the manifold when the engine is stripped down. The alternator comes off easy. 3 wires and 2 bolts and off she comes. If in doubt, label the wires. I put the nuts and bolts in zip lock bags and label them with a permanent marker. I reuse the bags. The next thing to pull is the fan. Four nuts hold it to the water pump pulley. Next there are 6 nuts that hold the radiator shroud to the radiator. Then two nuts hold the radiator in at the top. It just lifts out although it may be stuck.
Lots of room up front now. Keep taking things off. Three bolts hold the power steering pump in place. My suction hose was rotten and came off. More than likely this is what has been causing my noise. I have new hoses to go back on.
There are several bolts and nuts that hold the AC compressor in place. Pull them and pull it up and out of the way . I more or less sit it on the intake manifold and tied it up with a rope running back to the firewall brace. You don't want it flopping around and falling on your hand or breaking the hose and losing your Freon. You decide which would be worse.
There are 6 bolts that hold the water pump in place. On mine, one bolt was behind a pipe fitting that feeds a heater hose. I was not able to remove it but was able to reach the bolt with a box end wrench and loosen it. I'll use my Mark I arm to re-torque it since I won't be able to get a torque wrench on it.
Finally, now we see the timing chain cover. By the way, the oil pump is the thing the oil filter screws into. It has 4 bolts and is hard as heck to get to. I did most of them from below the car.
Here is the main Pulley, Six small nuts and one big one. The big one goes directly into the crankshaft and you MAY need an impact wrench to get it loose. At any rate, they all have to come out. to allow access to the harmonic balancer behind it.
This is the first special tool you will need. This is a harmonic balancer remover. It's a cheap tool, less than 10 bucks. Until recently, I could never find it and now I probably have 3-4 of them. Now I keep all my 'pullers' in a filing cabinet drawer. A little organization is a glorious thing. Maybe some day I'll try it.
Sometime during this process, I pulled the spark plugs and removed the wires and distributor cap just to get it out of the way and allow the motor to turn over easier.
Here is what we were after. Eight 9/16 bolts on the front and two coming up from the oil pan and we finally get to...
see the timing chain. It only took a glance to see that I was not a mile too soon. This one was shot a long time ago. Look at the play I was able to get with my finger. I literally measured 8 degrees of 'slop' in the gears. Lord only knows what my engine timing was at any one point in time.
Here are some of the cracked, broken teeth.
The new timing gears and chain is a snap to install. The gears will only go on one way and there are dots that you simply line up. Crank gear dot at 12 o'clock, cam gear dot at 6 o'clock. Don't mess this up or your engine will run poorly if at all. You can also see directly into the oil pan. Notice the big bolt is back on the crank. You need something to allow you to turn the crank, even without spark plugs and compression fighting you.
There are 2 bolts that hold the exhaust manifold to the headpipe and 8 bolts that hold the exhaust manifold to the head. They are not TOO hard to get to. Here you can see my customized two piece exhaust manifold. Fortunately, I have a spare but I will probably have this repaired to use on the 440 that is going into my 57 project.
The state of the timing chain coupled with less than high oil pressure have helped me decide to rebuild the bottom end of the engine. Since I already have it this far down, it only makes sense. A new high volume oil pump, new bearings, and gaskets are only $150 and I will have much more faith in the car if she has higher oil pressure. Plus, I can see 'stuff' in the oil pan that I want to scrap out. Tomorrow.
If you are not doing the bottom end of your project, finishing the task is a reversal of what you took off. This is not that difficult but will be very difficult with the car on the ground. Some things just are difficult to reach and work on from the top side. Raising it up on jackstands will allow you to get to the bottom but makes it pretty tall on top. Be careful if you are standing on milk crates, etc. I've busted my butt more than once doing that. I've seen lots of people just climb in the engine compartment. Make sure you cover the fenders with blankets or fender covers.
If I had just been doing the timing chain, and not been planning on cleaning and painting the removed parts, this would probably be a 5 hour job.
Kerry's '73 Restoration Saga Main...
This page was last updated on 08/22/2001. Please email me any comments at pinkertonk@bigfoot.com
and come join the Imperial Mailing List - Online Car Club
