86 B2000 Questions!

As you all know I have been working on this truck for a few weeks now. I got my head back from the shop today and realized I had lost one of the dowel pins on the engine block. I am talking about the 2 dowel pins on top of the block that helps with the head being straight on the block. I can't seem to find one of these anywhere. Any ideas????

One more thing, Im not a wiz with these kinds of things, so here we go. Is there a certain way to align the cam pulley and the crank pulley for the new timing belt? Pics and good instructions would help here.

Hell, call me at 731-518-8004 if you dont feel like typing.

Thanks in advance for your help!

easiest place to get a dowel would be from a head in the junkyard or local pull a part. I will see if i can find the timing info for you as it has been a long time since i have been in one and cant throw it off the top of my head.
My lifter conversion write up may have that info with pics in it. Not sure. Worth checking out









-Justin

Yeah I screwed up. By not looking out for the dowels when i removed the head. And now this is the ONLY thing holding me back from seeing this thing running.

Post that link if you dont mind Justin!

I believe this has a few pics that may help.








-Justin

Yeah I found it after using the dam search feature....lol

Now, what about the crankshaft gear on the bottom of the timing belt? Does it need to be in a specific place/order?

yes it does. There should be a notch in the harmonic balancer and then there are some arrow/degree marks on the lower timing belt cover.


Make sure your cam gear looks like mine because believe it or not i have ran in to a few different designs.










-Justin

Go back to the machine shop with the other dowel pin or go to a NAPA with it. The machine shop probably has some extras and can match one up for you.

Both the cam pulley and the crank timing pulley have line up marks.

You do not have to remove the big bolt on the inside of the crank pulley, unless you are going to be doing something behind the crank gear / pulley.

also make certain that the lower timing gear isn't wallowed out where it fits over the crankshaft key. If it's a bit worn out down there it will cause problems down the road. Same thing with the crank key.

Unless you already HAVE an oil leak behind the crank timing gear, leave the big bolt alone. Especially on the 2.0 liter motor.

The reason the keyway gets eaten up is because the bolt doesn't get tightened enough. It's supposed to be some incredible amount, and you just can't get it with a pull bar.

You can service the timing belt without loosening the big bolt.

Not true on 2 accounts.

#1, if the crank pulley AKA the harmonic balancer gets damaged for some reason( IE hit with a stick, dropped heavy tool, overtightened belt, or improper re-installation), the key way can get damaged due to excessive vibrations. I have seen this before on F2/FE/RF blocks that have never had the gear removed before.

#2, it's easy to get the required torque back on (116-123 ft/lbs as per the FSM) with a torque wrench and by putting the transmission into 5th gear. Another method is to make a 'block' to put between flywheel teeth and the trans bell housing at the starter opening. I've used thick steel and a friend made one out of a bolt and a series of washers.

Below is his write-up, paraphrased and shortened.


Here you can see how he ground down the sides of the washers and flattened out an area on the circumference of it also so it will engage into the flywheel teeth better.


Here it is in action, he held it with a 9/16" wrench just in case it popped out of the teeth of the flywheel, but it didn't.



yes, this was originally used to help remove the crank bolt, but just rotate it the other direction and it can be used to tighten as well.