74 500 engine!!

Timing chain, anyway to determine how much slack is alot!!!

I need to buy a good hub puller before i can completely get the cover off but, when i put my hand on the chain, there's some slack, maybe a 1/2 inch of slack not much more than that!!!!

Also, i want to put another cam/lifter set in it along with new push rods after i get the heads done. What is a good cam setup to go with to wake up the motor?

I decided against pulling the motor, :) i talked with a guy that has a 51 Caddy with a 500 in it and he said that these blocks have a high nickle content and are very unlikely to rust on the inside, he said he's seen a couple of these engine sit for 20 yrs and turn right over....

BTW, I got the brakes unlocked, the drums were frozen solid and all the hardware has rusted up.... took about 1hr to get both side broken free.....

Now, I'll buy new hardware/brakes maybe this weekend....:highfive:

Most people would freak out if they saw just how much play a timing chain has at 10,000 miles.
If you are in there then change it anyway. Labor intensive job.

Changing the chain is a Given....

The question was; how much slack is too much? and what cam/lifter setup is a good upgrade from stock?

Thanks

Too much is when it can jump a tooth.

When I check a chain I usually turn the engine to TDC #1 and then rock the crank back and forth while looking at the timing mark. If it is 10 degrees or more, the chain is too loose IMHO. I just changed the chain in my 90 Fleetwood with 212000 miles on it. Gas mileage went from 18.5 to 23.7 mpg. It is quite the sucky job to change a timing chain in a 4.5 FWD caddy!

Thanks Zonie and Aaron,, appreciate it.....

I hate to do anything related to a fwd motor!!!1

I just changed the chain in my 90 Fleetwood with 212000 miles on it. Gas mileage went from 18.5 to 23.7 mpg.

Wow, that's quite the jump! The stretch was obviously retarding your cam timing by quite a bit or you had already skipped a tooth.

here are couple of pics of my heads, i still have the manifold attached!!!

I'm taking them in next week to be cleaned and checked out....

What you think, look bad?:confused:

Wow, that's quite the jump! The stretch was obviously retarding your cam timing by quite a bit or you had already skipped a tooth.

Yes, I was quite surprised to see it go that far too. It may have skipped a tooth but I didn't check the alignment of the old one before removing it.

Eldog, those heads will look just fine after a good cleaning, but I pity the man who has to take those exhaust manifold bolts out. It seems like you usually break half of them off in the head. I usually heat the casting good before I even try to remove the bolts.

I'm gonna try to get them off myself!!! gonna heat it up a lil first then give it a shot, if not,, then that's why we pay machine shops .....lol