Hoofbeats were Zebras not horses . . . (Pro-jection success!)

[Narnian]

Ralph and I finally got it working right!

I've posted many stories about my Pro-jection not giving me all the power as advertised, and I've put out a few crazy ideas (one of them which Veepster may remember from the title of this post - I thought I had a worn cam). Ralph and I have tried all sorts of things to get it right - replacing the intake manifold gasket, changing the timing, re-routing vacuum hoses in every possible Holley configuration etc. Everything we did made small improvements, but the basic problem was still there. You'd step on the gas and if it didn't backfire it would bog before it moseyed.

As it turns out, my timing chain had 12 DEGREES OF SLACK!. Ralph and I pulled an all nighter yesterday working on the thing at his shop (boy it's nice to work in a shop instead of a tent). When we got in there, you could flex the old timing chain almost an inch on either side of the pulley.

We put a new chain and pulleys on (not without mishap, I must admit) and my Jeep finally does what I expected from the start - Varoooooom!

Now I step on the gas and there is zero hesitation. The power is smooth all the way across the curve, and throttle response is excellent.

I'm still getting poor mileage, but I have a feeling doing 75 - 85 in heavy rain for two hours may have contributed! :D

Actually, now that the dead spots are gone I will need to tune up the pro-jection computer all over again. But I just need to let those of you who have followed this saga know that we finally have it.

[Veepster]

Great job Narnian!!!!.....wow that is a bunch of slack!!! I am surprised it didn't jump a tooth......that is funny though, I was resealing my front cover last week and I also had a worn timing chain! I replaced and it runs much better now too!....again congrats on the diligence!

[Ralph]

The scrap metal guy came to the shop today, probably looking to make some X-mas drinkin' money, and I made sure he didn't take the timing gears with him. I just found a guy on eBay selling timing chains for $6.99, so I've essentially got another 1/2" timing set ready to go (the replacement set we put on Narnian's Jeep was a 5/8" set).

Problems encountered were that we (meaning I) stripped the crank bolt while trying to pull the harmonic balancer; I didn't use the centering thingy and the end of the puller just rammed its way about 1/2" into the hole. We (meaning Narnian) fixed it by putting in some kind of two-part epoxy compound to rebuild the threads. Seems to have worked pretty well.

Also had to pound the harmonic balancer back in place with a metal hammer, and ended up mashing the ring over which the belt pulley bolts. Fixed it with a grinder.

We (meaning Narnian) ended up with a coupla-three extra bolts...

Got home about 6:30 AM, just in time to shower and wait for a ride back to the shop. Narnian called and said his Jeep had suddenly stalled in the pouring rain. I said check it out and get back to me. He said the ground wire for the Holley's fuel pump had burned out; he spliced it and the rest is history.

P.S. Narnian had a long drive back to Cincinnati. We both had to work full days yesterday. I managed to get to bed about 8:30 PM.

[ December 18, 2001: Message edited by: Ralph ]

[la mula pescadora]

u had to hammer the harmonic balancer back into the shaft. did u get any engine vibrations?

[Stolen76]

Poor mans balancer installer...
Get a piece of all thread the same size as the hole in the crank, cut it to size and use 2 large flat washer and a nut to pull it back on. Never try to pull one on with the bolt. Too much torque on teh threads. Helps if you have air tools too !

If it feels too tight, heat the center of the balancer for about 30 seconds with a propane torch (not any longer, just needs to be warm) then shoot the crank with freon. It'll just fall right on.

[Bandit]

Thanks for the heads up. I just put mine in the shop today to be gone through. I'll make a note of that!! smile.gif

[Narnian]

No engine vibrations. We managed to hammer it on without damaging the balancer.

Last time I slipped one on I got it in place by tightening the big bolt down, but we were a little nervous about doing that with the epoxy being half the thread.

I wish I'd remembered the propane trick, someone posted that the last time I did this. I even had a propane heater with me we coulda used.

Stolen76: I don't think I understand your system, could you explain it again with more words?

I got to bed about half an hour before Ralph on Monday. I had several important meetings scheduled with clients that I simply could not miss. I made it through the day on shots of mountain dew!

In more detail, the event that occurred on my way home:
The motor quit. I pulled over and checked for fuel coming from the injectors - none present. I began tracing wires (there are only six or seven attached directly to the Holley), I noticed that the wire that runs back to control the fuel pump was melted in half where it had apparently fallen against the manifold. Somewhere in the process we must have freed it from its harness of zip ties. I spliced it (very messily) and everything worked.

The engine still runs oddly at idle. Kinda rough. Almost like missing but not so regular. Once you give it a little gas though it evens right out. Cruising is smooth as mercury. I'm guessing I need to double check the wires, or fiddle with the computer.

Gotta remember to fix that splice right or replace the wire.