So, what do you folks think of this? I think it looks fine. I did the timing belt two years ago, but probably only 5k miles if that. Seemed ok then. But the car seems down on power. And it *looked* like the main pulley was wobbling. So I tore it apart and it looks ok to me. I don’t want to pull the belt again if I don’t have to.
What do do you guys think??
Another photo
you can see some locktite crud or something from when I last did the belt
The keyway is more for assembly than for strength while assembled. It's all about the bolt and the torque. Was the bolt loose?
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Gotcha there just sort of looked like the pulley was wobbling and I wanted to make sure everything was good. I have a slight stumble when first applying the gas I was hopeing it wasn’t timing related. I do seem to have an exhaust leak but can’t seem to track it down, probably where the 4 pipes join into one. Maybe the O2 isn’t seeing the exhaust it should so it riches things up.
The pulley always wobbles just a little bit, and it's possible that your damper is not at its best. I don't see any sign of debris in those pictures from the keyway opening up, so I think you'll have to blame something else for the stumble I'd start with fuel pressure because it's easy to check.
Ok, tried a fuel pressure regulator from a known running 1.8. Still stumbles when blipping the throttle
If I cover the intake tube somewhat with my hand, it doesn’t seem to stumble so much. Could that be too much air... but if I had an exhaust leak it seems the o2 would be richening up the mixture so less air wouldn’t help.
If it's too much air, do you have a crack in the cross over tube from the AFM to the throttle body?
kazoospec said:
If it's too much air, do you have a crack in the cross over tube from the AFM to the throttle body?
Beat me to this suggestion. Cracked intake tube = unmetered air entering the system when you crack the throttle and the engine rocks in its mountings, briefly opening the crack wider. Results in a brief lean condition. Very common problem on the FWD BP which has nearly the same engine mgmt.
kazoospec said:
If it's too much air, do you have a crack in the cross over tube from the AFM to the throttle body?
Good idea! I’ve looked it over as close as possible and haven’t seen anything. When I cover the intake with my hand it compresses pretty well, so I don’t think it’s leaking.
Does it have a JR CAI?
I would actually check the fuel pressure with a gauge.
Keith Tanner said:
Does it have a JR CAI?
I would actually check the fuel pressure with a gauge.
Nope, stock intake. This car is essentially stock. Gr2 struts from years ago and an NB top. I was thinking if that last night, maybe the fuel pump is weak or some blockage somewhere. I’ll get a gauge on it.
Keith Tanner said:
The keyway is more for assembly than for strength while assembled. It's all about the bolt and the torque.
Which makes me kinda laugh when people who build Duratecs go on and on about how you HAVE to cut the cranks for keyways or the world will end, while Ford makes them with up to 350hp in stock form, no keyway, no press fit, just bolt torque and a diamond-coated washer, and it works just fine.
Make sure to get a new crank bolt and tighten to specification upon reassembly. As said before, that is where the problem lies with bad crank snouts.
In reply to joeg1982 :
wellllll I didn’t. I never have before on any of the other 1.6s I’ve worked on
joeg1982 said:
Make sure to get a new crank bolt and tighten to specification upon reassembly. As said before, that is where the problem lies with bad crank snouts.
With blue loctite. I’m more about the loctite than a new bolt. That doesn’t look to be a problem here anyhow.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
A lot of times the OEMs will specify a new bolt not because the old bolt is compromised, but because they don't trust your ability to put the proper sealant and/or thread locker on the bolt.
LS crank bolts are a good example of this. The bolts don't stretch, but they do have a sealant under the head. Put fresh sealant on them and they are perfectly reusable.
Plastic-gasket 60 degree V6s are another good example of this. The bolts are torqued to not even enough to put the bolt under any strain, but they want you to replace the bolts because new bolts have Loctite pre-installed. Or you can wire wheel the old bolts and install your own blue Loctite.
Iirc the Miata bolts don’t have pre-applied sealant, although I haven’t looked for a while. I think they show loctite in the manual instead.. I do remember that the LS ones.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Just checked the fuel pressure, seems low 30s at idle and jumps to 40s when revving, at least according to this rigged up fuel pressure tester
Sounds about right, but check it under load - when the car is having the problem.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
The only problem really is revving up, just off idle it stumbles a bit. I adjusted the tps and that may have helped, a bit.
When you say adjusted the tps, do you mean the screw under that rubber plug at the throttle body? I always thought that was an Air idle adjustment (and possibly something to try).
Unless it's an automatic the TPS on these has only two on-off switches (idle and give it all it's got). Sometimes one has to adjust the TPS to ensure the idle switch gets triggered when throttle is closed.
fornetti14 said:
When you say adjusted the tps, do you mean the screw under that rubber plug at the throttle body? I always thought that was an Air idle adjustment (and possibly something to try).
No, I loosened and turned the tps until it gave the correct signal at idle, and wot positions. It’s actually running a bit better, I’ve got all traces of old gas out now I think, tps seems right, now just need to keep fooling with timing. Still seems way down on power.
BoxheadTim said:
Unless it's an automatic the TPS on these has only two on-off switches (idle and give it all it's got). Sometimes one has to adjust the TPS to ensure the idle switch gets triggered when throttle is closed.
Exactly shag I did! And it was off, not triggering at idle.