As I have always thought, based upon the overall condition of my wagon, it must really only have the 45,000 miles on it the odometer reads. Well, to my chagrin I'm pretty sure now it might have turned over.
I had over the past few months pulled a bunch of parts off of it to test and then ultimately transfer onto Gina's car and was putting it back together so I could better test a few of these carburetors I'm building (and should have recently tested before sending off). So as I was installing the DuraSpark distributor I pulled from the Ranchero motor (was gonna do this anyway) I realized I could turn the crank almost 8 degrees forth and back without moving the cam at all, which was making it hard to engage the oil pump shaft.
So what was to be a reassembly has turned into a disassembly. Gene and I pulled the motor last night and after some inspection I found the timing chain was very close to jumping ship. I don't think that can happen in 45,000 miles.
The plan is that I'll be pulling the $600-800 worth of bits I'd put into the Ranchero motor (crank, bearings, timing chain, oil pump, ignition, Weber carburetor (eventually) and the far-better 4-speed) into the wagon.
For those unaware, ever since I've owned the wagon it has had a teeth chattering clutch chatter that I have tried everything to try make go away. It's had two different transmissions, 3 clutches, 3 drivelines and u-joints in all three, rebuilt transmission mount assembly, new motor mounts, different rear-end. None of these have ever changed this chatter. Maybe this will help!
Of course there will be some while I'm at it things, there always are, but I have to stay on budget (as in spend little to no money) for this one. Found a full set of Felpro gaskets for $30 on ebay. So that's hopefully all I'll need - fingers crossed.
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Originally Posted by Jeff W
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