THEM CHANGES.....penned by Buddy ("belt drive") MilesI’m not familiar with the whole Gilmer drive set-up, so clue me in. Click on the pic and it takes you to the movie
Is this too much slack?
Midget,
It's a
bit more slack than I'd like & more than I had on the mockup block. Keep in mind that
very small differences (like .010"/.015") in center to center spacing of the shafts,
gives you double the difference in belt slack. (.020"/.030") This, coupled with your slack on the timing chain, convinces me your crank has been "dropped" in the block. Undoubtedly it happened when block was line-bored/line honed. Bottom line is: crank is now "slightly" higher in the block, creating small problems you have to deal with, such as the timing chain tensioner.........
Possible solutions:
1) You could remove 1 of the water pump dowel pins, allowing the water pump to "pivot" on the remaining pin, to adjust the tension. Or you could drill/ream the dowel hole in the pump oversize for clearance. You may have to elongate the water pump mounting bolt holes (or drill them oversize) in the pump to get enough adjustment. edit:
I have found it very difficult to remove some of the rusted in dowel pins, so you have to be careful here.CAUTION: This would need to be done carefully as the pump does not have excessive material around the bolt/dowel holes,
AND, you will need to check that moving the pump centerline like this does not bind the impellor against the water pump opening in the block,
AND, you'll need to make
"darn" sure the raised water pump does not interfere with the bottom of the head!! Don't laugh, I've seen this happen, good luck keeping a head gasket intact if you have this problem!!!!
If the water pump impellor binds against the block: I have cut down the impellor diameter "slightly" (.020"/.030") to solve this. Can be done on a lathe.
OR, you could grind a bit from the opening in the block.
2) You could remove both of the water pump dowel pins as above. (Or drill/ream both dowel pin holes oversize.) I'm pretty sure the water pump mounting holes would need to be elongated/slotted for this. Heed cautions above.
3) You could ignore it. It is a toothed belt, as opposed to a v-belt, so it will not slip. I don't recommend this method. I can take a closer look at it when I next travel the "underground railway".
Have used all 3 methods above at various times, on various engine types. Method 3 most useful when at racetracks............
Also, please tell me that you are using flat washers under the mounting bolts for the
aluminum water pump cog, and not your beloved, veddy Briddish "lock" washers.............. These 4 bolts need flat washers & safety wire. I'll drill some allen bolts for safety wire if you can't get drilled head bolts locally. Does the 3rd fhcs for the ignition plate need to be shortened? Can do at Apex (machine shop). Let me know on both.
Fordboy