Finally almost done!
 

I think it's been 3 weeks since I started my water pump project, and I'm almost finished. I just need to bleed the coolant system and re-double-triple-check my tensions, then I'll drive 100 miles tonight.

With the help of everyone on this board, especially AFJuvat, this whole ordeal went pretty well... overall. I made the first mistake in ordering the wrong water pump. I needed the late style with the belt guard, and I must have clicked the wrong one. So, I ordered the correct one ASAP. I made the second mistake of installing the wrong pump before looking it over and comparing it to the old one. I could have saved myself some energy right there. Instead, I got it all back together, literally, all back together before realizing that I had this spare belt guard on the bench. So, tore it back down, got the right pump, put new pump on.

This is where the Very Bad Thing happened. AFJuvat told me to have an insane amount of patience with the bottom water pump bolts, but I got a little hasty. The bottom bolt broke. Now, at this point, I would have expected myself to bust out into a total rage and start throwing crap and swearing… Instead, I broke out into a cold sweat, knowing that the second worst possible thing that could have happened, did. So, I tore it all back down again, and looked at the damage.

There was one thread visible where the bolt had broken off. I’ve read on the board before about guys that were able to (carefully) weld a nut onto the remaining bolt and get it out. However, this seemed to be just begging for more trouble. I.E., Overkill type of trouble. So, I called my neighbor over, who is a master welder, and he strongly advised me not to go this route. I took his advice, and called a friend of mine, whose dad is a machinist. They came over and drilled the old bolt out, and used an easy out to get it out. I was really quite amazed… he totally freehanded it and got the bolt dead on straight.

Fast forward to yesterday. I installed new water pump with shiny new bolt, much more carefully this time, then proceeded with installation. Everything else went together very well, and I’m feeling good about it. I checked the tensions many times. I used the twist method, the krikit, and the 9201. I have to say, I’m not very impressed with the Krikit. There just doesn’t seem to be much room to maneuver in there. With the 9201, I was able to get much more consistent readings, and it was 100 times easier to get it positioned correctly.

So, here I am today. I filled the coolant system, checked everything again, and reluctantly turned the key. She fired right up! I need to track down why my headlights pop up but don’t turn on, but if that’s the least of my problems, I’m totally happy with that!

Now for the final questions!

I do notice that my battery light stays on, although I haven’t had it running for a long period of time. And, I wish the injectors weren’t soo noisy so I could determine if my belts are making too much sound or not. There’s no whine, but it sounds like a thousand little ants playing snare drums on my belts. Is this normal?

Also, I checked my balance idler roller’s positioning, and it’s spaced correctly. How much should it actually be turning, though? It’s not supposed to touch, but apparently the belt has just enough slack to touch it and make it spin. Should I be concerned here?

And, last… I had a pretty difficult time getting a consistent balance belt reading. 3 out of 5 times, I’d get a consistent reading, but that makes me nervous. I wasn’t comfortable with the cam belt until I could hit it 5/5 times.

Anyway, that's my story. I'm painfully honest, and made some mistakes. But, I'm willing to share those mistakes if it entertains or (hopefully) helps someone else avoid them :D

Sounds like you did a great job, Congrats and Im sure I will be asking you some questions once I start my T-belt/rollers/waterpump job. Dont worry about mistakes they happen all the time. A good mechanic admits his mistakes a poor one tries to hide them.

Well, my headlight problem seemed to work itself out. I checked all of those connections and plugged them out (sic) and back in and they work swell.

Can anyone verify the "thousand little ants playing snare drums on my belts" sound? it sounds to me like it always has. I can distinctly hear my injectors firing regularly, and I hear lower, in the belt area, this sound. It's not loud. In fact, i'll go make a video of it right now. BRB

My vid (2.5mb) : http://e4industries.net/bryan/Video/clip.mp4

link didnt work for me

crap... well... I might try putting it on another server sometime.

I have another question now... I took it around the block, and I have a vibration at about 1500+rpm. I don't remember it being there before. I can hear it in the exhaust and I can feel it throughout the car. I had someone hold the rpms to about where it starts to happen, and I couldn't hear it coming from the front of the car, but it sounded more like the middle of the car. Any thoughts?

When I originally was taking the crank bolt off, I had the flywheel lock in and everything set correctly, and as I pushed harder on the wrench, it felt like the whole engine just shifted a hair. Not much, but it was a real quick, short movement. It wasn't the crank that moved, it stayed solid. The whole shebang seemed to move as one piece... I looked but couldn't see anything damaged or evidence that it wasnt all in my head... any ideas there? Could they be related?

Congrats!

A new belt will whine a little bit. Also, if yo have your balance shaft belt a little too tight, it will make some noise. In any case, it should clear itself up in a couple of days as the belt stretches a bit.

Were all of the rollers\tensioners good? Were the bearings noisy? That can make some clicking noises.

Double check your alternator belt tension! On a cold motor, use "the tool" 8.5 scale units + one half turn.

Good job and good recovery on the broken bolt. I told ya... patience of an oyster.... :D

AFJuvat

I spun all of the rollers a few times and they felt good, not noisy at all.

I'll run out and check my alternator tension real quick, I bet that got by me. Actually, I'm sure it did. I got it back into the same position it was in when I took it off, but I didn't check its tension.

Any thoughts on my vibration/last post weirdness? I really want to get on the road, but I'm scared!

B

Are you sure you put the lower balance shaft pulley on correctly? Keyway pointing upwards, the O mark pointing downwards?

AFJuvat

I'm 99.8% sure I did it correctly, but... I'm about to go take it apart to make sure.

It actually feels superchargerish. like a bigger than usual growl from the exhaust, along with a general weird feeling. I know, i suck at describing things.

That bottom roller is easy to flip.

Good job otherwise!

I just took off the dizzy cap, and it looks like i installed it and it was off by just a little bit, because I can see where the rotor had been chewing into one side of it a little. I can tell this is fresh wear, because I had it completely off and it was clean when I put it on yesterday. I'm going to continue with balance roller checking, though. Can't be too sure :D

So, the balance shaft pulley is in good position. It's all back together and doing the same thing. My grandpa and I went for a drive, and he detected a miss. I'm going to go check my plugs/wires over and see if there's anything dubious afoot.

With my dizzy cap being a little damaged now, I think that could cause my miss...

argh, why, God, Why!?!

dizzy cap????

Patience of an oyster......:D

Check, double check, then verify.

You'll have to replace the dizzy cap and probably the rotor as well.... What happened was that you didn't have one of the fastening screws all the way down (willing to bet money it was the bottom one...:D)

AFJuvat

I think that noise (mp4 file) sounds familiar.

I also went through my first waterpump and belt job this winter. When I did mine (early 85), I ended up trimming the rear belt cover around the updated waterpump so the belt wouldn't rub against it. I think SoCal had a nice post/pic of this

Looking around this morning... there are two entire positive battery cables just hanging out, going nowhere, and there are two negatives also. Looks like this is just spare wiring from some repair job by PO's mechanic.

Is it possible that I have one of these cables hooked up correctly to allow for it to start, but have the wrong one to the alternator? It looks like a possibility. There are so many choices with wires... It'd have been really easy for me to have connected one of the old ones.

When the car is off, no accessories running, I'm at 11.47 volts, running it drops down to 10v. Gotta find why it's not charging. Potpurri of cables looks like the first mess to sort out :)

This is turning into my own little blog thread of joy, it seems :)

10:48 - Checked positive cable from Alternator. Cable ends with one end disconnected and hanging down by the starter. Looks like I found the problem.

Another little update...

Turns out, alternator was wired correctly. I do have a few extra cables, and when I get it running correctly, I'll be snipping off the ends of those cables to prevent future confusion.

I removed the alternator and took it to get tested. It was barely putting out 13 volts, so I ordered a rebuilt from Autozone. The total with core return: $244.90, with a lifetime replacement warranty. I guess they don't expect me to hold onto 'ol Noami :D

So, after work this afternoon I'll throw the new alternator in and see what happens.

how bad is the vibration now??