Timing chain

[jpaz]

Hey there guys, as many of you know I have my car in a shop for some accident repairs. The water pump was damaged, so they pulled it off and discovered the timing chain is very stretched out and needs to be replaced.

I’m very surprised by this because it’s only supposed to hav about 12k miles on it since the engine was rebuilt. What would cause this? Cheap ass chain, way more miles on it than I was told or possibly the wrong one?

 

[73pony]

Cheap chain or more miles. Is it a double roller chain? I would make that upgrade if I were you.

 

[jpaz]

Cheap chain or more miles. Is it a double roller chain? I would make that upgrade if I were you.

It’s a single. That’s a good idea. 

They also found a lot of rust inside of the radiator and block.

 

[73pony]

some rust inside the water passages isn't abnormal. a lot of rust would suggest that it wasn't run with the proper mixture of antifreeze. They should be able to flush it. Are you running an aluminum rad or stock style? I am still running my original 73 rad and it works great.

 

[jpaz]

Ya I’m running stock radiator. There is more than normal rust in it. Like you said must have used the wrong mixture of antifreeze cause it was pretty nasty. It always ran in the normal range of my temp gauge. The only time it would get a bit hot was if I was idling in traffic for awhile, but the temp would always come back down to normal.

 

[barnett468]

There is only one word (well maybe two words) in timing chains, and that is rollmaster. i use the ones with the iwis chains.

 

[jpaz]

There is only one word (well maybe two words) in timing chains, and that is rollmaster. i use the ones with the iwis chains.

Is rollmaster a brand name?

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I have always ran a 50 / 50 mix of antifreeze, Prestone, and always use distilled water so you do not have a bunch of minerals in there. My truck just rolled over 288,000 miles this week and I have never changed the antifreeze or replaced a hose, lol. I have never taken the radiator cap off. One day soon it will die.

Normal timing chain will usually go 100,000. The MOD Ford engines the Ford dealer told me just to run it they had never replaced one.

When I drive an automatic and in traffic I always slide in neutral that way you do not build heat up in the transmission that is also cooled by the radiator.

My 351 is bored .050" over with cam and air cond. and it does not overheat with auto.

 

[jpaz]

I have always ran a 50 / 50 mix of antifreeze, Prestone, and always use distilled water so you do not have a bunch of minerals in there. My truck just rolled over 288,000 miles this week and I have never changed the antifreeze or replaced a hose, lol. I have never taken the radiator cap off. One day soon it will die.

Normal timing chain will usually go 100,000. The MOD Ford engines the Ford dealer told me just to run it they had never replaced one.

When I drive an automatic and in traffic I always slide in neutral that way you do not build heat up in the transmission that is also cooled by the radiator.

My 351 is bored .050" over with cam and air cond. and it does not overheat with auto.

I do the same for antifreeze as you, but I think the PO used lake water instead of distilled water. Lol

The timing chain was stretched so bad I could hear it, but I kinda thought it was the water pump going bad. It made some noise when I would first start it up, but once it warmed up it always went away.

I do the same in traffic to, slide it into neutral and would always bring the temp down a bit.

 

[barnett468]

There is only one word (well maybe two words) in timing chains, and that is rollmaster. i use the ones with the iwis chains.

Is rollmaster a brand name?

yes.

you can ask them if they make one with an iwis chain without the torrington bearing if you don't want to tun the bearing.

http://www.romacusa.com/downloads/RM_Timing_Applications.pdf

 

[jpaz]

There is only one word (well maybe two words) in timing chains, and that is rollmaster. i use the ones with the iwis chains.

Is rollmaster a brand name?

yes.

you can ask them if they make one with an iwis chain without the torrington bearing if you don't want to tun the bearing.

http://www.romacusa.com/downloads/RM_Timing_Applications.pdf

Ok, thanks for the info and link barnett468

 

[Hemikiller]

Romac makes good stuff. I've had good luck with Cloyes, but if you want a really nice timing set...

https://www.amazon.com/Rollmaster-CS3091-Billet-Roller-351C-400M/dp/B00TO61NLG

If it hit the water pump, also have them check your pulleys and damper for damage.

 

[jpaz]

Romac makes good stuff. I've had good luck with Cloyes, but if you want a really nice timing set...

https://www.amazon.com/Rollmaster-CS3091-Billet-Roller-351C-400M/dp/B00TO61NLG

If it hit the water pump, also have them check your pulleys and damper for damage.

Thanks, will do

 

[NOT A T5]

I don't think they can flush out rust from a system, they tried that on mine and oh... not so much!

 

[jpaz]

So after thinking about it for awhile I’ve decided that this engine needs to be gone thru. Considering how stretched out the timing chain is and with all the rust that is in the block, I don’t think I can trust it. I’m not really sure now what the guy I bought the car from said is true. So I am getting it all torn down, cleaned, magna fluxed, measured up and see what’s going on. Then I can go from there and not have to worry about some cheap china crap failing.