Ok here goes. I bought a 300D turbo to do a conversion on my Ford Ranger. Crank seals were leaking horribly so I decided to replace them. I have cleaned everything up and am putting it all back together when I discovered I cannot get the cam gear anywhere close to sliding on the end of the cam shaft. I zip tied the timing chain securely (I thought) when I removed the head and turned it over on my stand to do the bottom end work.

I set the head in place and pulled the chain through the head, installed the upper chain guide, lined up my match marks on the cam gear and now I'm half a hole short of getting the gear high enough to reach the level of the cam shaft.

I removed the vacuum pump because it was putting so much tension on that side my hands got tired of fighting it. Looking inside the vacuum pump hole I can't see any links that have jumped the gear or binding on the lower chain guide.

Then i put a socket and breaker bar on the crank and tried to see if there is any slack below that I can bring up on the left side and nothing significant happens. Only a little bit.

It is as if I am at least one if not 2 links short.

Any ideas where the slack is and how to gt the links back up top? I have not pulled the oil pan back off yet, as I am not sure it would really help me. I could only see a few links right where they wrapped around the crank gear when it was open before.

Would gravity help if I just flipped it over on my engine stand and work the crank back and forth gently a few times?

I have rebuilt a couple engines, and several head gasket jobs on others. Mostly Ford and GM's. I have never encountered this problem before and I'm stumped.

Thanks for all help in advance!

Rick

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I figured out what was wrong. After re-reading the chapter again I realized I had to put the cam gear on the shaft before installing the upper chain guide. It's a pain in the neck to get it in there, but I got it.

 

There is a chain tensioner that is spring loaded that needs to be removed, you didn't mention that. It is located "I believe" behind the thermostat housing. I am out of town and don't have the manual handy, hope that helps.

 

I still have not re-installed that part because if the tension.

What I figured out is that the upper chain guide cannot be installed until after the cam gear is installed. I had put the guide in first because it is much easier, but found out that it puts too much tension on the chain between the cam gear, and the idler gear in the head.

Thanks anyway.

Time to get back to it. I'm looking forward to getting this rig on the road!

Rick