fbekholden.com

First piston decked to match the lowest piston.
Turned out perfect!

Had a good morning on the machines and got all of the pistons matching deck height to within .001”
Pretty happy with that!

So I’m now dummying up the front engine plate and the cam just to check the tolerances on the timing gear back lash and Houston we have a problem!

I have fitted an aftermarket steel timing gear to the cam and am using an original crank gear.

Spec for back lash in the book is .005”-.007”

Actual back lash is over .012” but not quite .015”

The timing gear has an obvious rattle back and forth and being a steel gear it’s noisy, I can only imagine what it will sound like at idle….

Can anyone give advise on if this is an actual problem and what I should be doing about it?

Thanks

Drew,

If it was me, and if it was "just" a rings-and-bearings job, I'd say that 0.012" backlash is fine.

But -

Considering the amount of work that's going into this motor, I'd recommend finding a new crank timing gear and fitting it. Be warned that crank timing gears are a very tight press-fit.

Rob

New crank gear for sure this build.

You will have to cc the head now mate, 8 ) 8 ).


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

Ok I’ll have to look into a new crank gear.

JP do an alloy timing / steel crank set but I can’t see any listings for the steel crank gear only.

I’ll ring them on Monday but I don’t think they will help. I asked JP for a cam retainer plate only and they told me that if I wanted one I have to buy a whole timing gear set.

The attitude of them was poor.

They only other option I have is to scavenge other cranks that I have on hand to see if I have one in better condition.

In saying that I can’t guarantee the issue is the crank gear… it could be a problem with the timing gear.
Being an aftermarket timing gear I must keep my mind open to that being a problem too.

Have you tried Car Parts Plus drew. I know it's a grey, told you remember?

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Errol62 wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 7:24 pm Have you tried Car Parts Plus drew. I know it's a grey, told you remember?

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Good idea Clay. No I haven’t tried anyone as yet.
Will call them in the morning

I have fitted steel cam gears to both my greys, used the original crank gears and didn't bother to check backlash, figured it is what it is - RESULT- both engines are totally quiet, no gear noise at all!!!

fraze wrote: Sat May 21, 2022 9:00 am I have fitted steel cam gears to both my greys, used the original crank gears and didn't bother to check backlash, figured it is what it is - RESULT- both engines are totally quiet, no gear noise at all!!!

Fraze that is comforting to know, as worst cast scenario that is what I will just do!

Woke up this morning with a brainiac idea.
I can kind of measure the gears to so I can do a comparison against another crank and gear that I have got.

Placed pins in the gears opposite to each-other and simply measured the top of the pins.

The gear in the motor gave me my ‘x’ dimension to care the other against, and when measuring the 2nd crank it measured .1mm aka .004” bigger!

That is exactly what is was hoping for.

And on further inspection it looks to be an aftermarket crank gear.

So on with the job of swapping the crank gears…
Fun lol.

Well I have skipped a few stages and it been ages…

But the engine is now officially built…

Yay mate


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

Have seen your rude head on YouTube , was wondering when/if you were going to post again .....

Looks great Lot of hard work and thinking to get it to that point.

Cheers,
Harv

Hmmmm……… nice shiny grey