A Cautionary Tale About Tightening Your Fan Belt

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Ok, so Thursday night, I'm working on the heater system in my car as it t starting to get quite cold here, and I notice that the fan belt on my SC is a little loose, so I think, better tighten that up.. I get out the fan belt tool, pop the nut off, and I accidentally drop the cover plate and shims down below the lower crank pulley, and the cover plate and one of the shims manages to wedge themselves together in between the case and the sheet metal.

Im thinking, great.. I cant get needlenoses in there because the crank pulley is in the way and also cant use a magnet because they are wedged in. Was up until midnight thinking of how to get it out. Long story short, I had to take the muffler off, jack up the engine, take the motor mount bar off, sheet metal off, then finally I was able to get the plate and the shim out.. also found out i had a substansial oil leak from my right cam chain cover... so.. take that off, clean it, then carefully trace out a new gasket with some leftover gasket material I had..

So, the moral of the story? When changing your fan belt, place a towel over the lower crank pulley to avoid this mind bending frustration...

[VaSteve]

Ha ha. Sounds like the kind of experiences I have. Search for my fuel filter thread.

[Grady Clay]

Jared,

Here is a tool everyone should have.
I have 6-8 of different varieties pick-up
tools and all are necessary.
Here is one:



Best,
Grady

[Zeke]

I have one of Grady's tools and I've managed to get everything out of the well so far. That and the magnet on the same flex shaft have saved me many times. Good tip on the towel.

I'm the kinda guy that might start the car with the towel still there. So, just a reminder to Jared's tip to double check your engine compartment for tools and rags before you hit the starter.

[Crachian]

I ordered spare shims after my last experience. Imagine a driveway that drops off from the garage straight down to the street, which is going downhill to the right. It's steep enough that my wife's Jeep slides down with locked up front wheels when it's wet.

I drop a shim and watch it roll under a rag. I thought. After looking over the driveway and street, I found it--about 90 minutes later (1:00am). It missed the street, hit the mailbox post and stopped in the grass at the curb. Now, I usually back the car in before I take it apart.

[cstreit]

Nothing like cleaning out 3000 shards of a red shop rag..... BTDT

[Grady Clay]

Milt,

Right on for checking for stuff in the engine compartment.

We had a customer with a year-old gold ‘69S that never would run right hot-to-cold-to-hot. This is about ’70 ’71? I think. It belonged to one of our diamond merchants (good guy). After several attempts with CMA and everything we could think of someone noticed a little shred of cloth next to an intake stack. Guess what.
The owner had put a lap blanket over the engine at a restaurant one cold night and its shredded remains had completely covered the cylinders and heads.

When rebuilding MFI engines it is amazing the amount of hardware is under the pump.

An important point from Jared’s experience is how important it is to anticipate problems so they don’t happen. A corollary is to be prepared to deal with them.

The classic is the guy who came in on Monday morning with a tick in one bank. A flat washer was in a cylinder. “Oh, yes, I had the carbs and manifolds off for cleaning but I’m sure it didn’t come from there.” There were five washers on the manifold.

Careful does it!

Best,
Grady

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Grady, I actually have one of those tools you mentioned. Tried it, no luck, lol

[911SCfanatic]

Actually, I'd be the guy to drop the shims down there, then put the towel down there along with the tool, and then start the engine.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

The worst part of the whole thing is that my heater fan still doesnt work...

[autobonrun]

I always place a towel beneath anything I'm loosening and reinstalling inside the engine compartment. I've even stuffed a small towel down behind the alternator when I reinstal those bolts on the back. Sorry you had to go through that. It's got to be frustrating.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

it's a good thing I have a heavy bag set up.....

[masraum]

Maybe a dental pick would have helped, or an old coat hanger bent to a hook?