Engine dies in Friday evening traffic...

[Jerry Clayton]

those 88 rollers were probably standard sae diminsions and the new stuff metric sized don't fit from china---If a chain won't roll evenly onto/off a gear, it is not properly matched for pitch or pitch diameter--------

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

those 88 rollers were probably standard sae diminsions and the new stuff metric sized don't fit from china---If a chain won't roll evenly onto/off a gear, it is not properly matched for pitch or pitch diameter--------

It was the crank gear that wouldn't even begin to go over the snout of the crank......looked like it was not machined thru and thru, there was a "lip" on the inner part of the gear......started with a small file working the lip out of it and then finished up with an old time wheel cylinder hone....
BTW: the factory Ford gear slipped right on with no problems, so I know it wasn't the crank...
BTW 2: when I put both gear sets side by side,Ray Charles could have seen the difference....when I took the Ford motor apart, I checked and the timing chain did have a very small amount of slack in the chain,I even considered re-using it,but being I'll have this engine in this car for years to come and hopefully thousands of miles,I decided in the grand scheme,the price of a new timing gear set was very small in the overall cost of the engine,that's why I ordered a new one from Comp Cams......Had this been a "strandard" overhaul of a stock engine, I would have re-used the timing set without hesitation....
Comparing the 2 side by side, the teeth on the Ford gear set are more "robust" and were better machined,showed very little to no wear on the gears/teeth.....whereas the Comp gear teeth are thinner and the teeth are almost pointed, actually looked like a timing gear set with 100,000 miles on it...
Kinda the same deal with the MSD/Duraspark distributors......I have a MSD distributor in my race car and one in the old engine of my street car,at least once a year I have to take them apart and clean out the rust and corrosion,easy to tell when it's time, as I rev the engine advance works fine, let off the gas and it takes forever to return if it does.....corrosion makes the centrifical advance stick all the time...
Now take the Ford Duraspark distributor,put in millions and millions of cars,ran for a gazillions of miles with no problems,NO corrosion!!!!!!!!! Why can't MSD and others make one that is as durable and dependable as the Ford unit?????
Especially when I can buy a reman Ford Duraspark distributor with lifetime warranty for under a 100 bucks....the one I'm using on this engine is for the older carbed models,non computer controlled with vacum advance, it retails for under 60 bucks as compared to $279.00 for a MSD unit that I know I'll have to work on at least once a year.......

David

[Jaydee]

Why can't MSD and others make one that is as durable and dependable as the Ford unit???

Money, money, money!!!!!

[olddog]

I'm not convinced it was the coil. It may strand you again.

If you don't have a spark tester, get one. By spark tester I'm talking about a thing that almost looks like a spark plug with a grounding clamp on the side, and no electrode. It takes about 20K volts to jump the gap. They are $10-15 at auto parts stores. Then carry it and a spare spark plug wire and coil wire that are known to be good. You can eliminate a whole bunch of parts in a hurry with this simple tool. Wish I would have had one with me when I started down a similar road.

[Jaydee]

Another way is place a short ht lead into the coil tower, slip some clear tubing over the other end, and leave a half inch gap inside the tubing and connect the coil lead intop thje other end. This way you can start the car and observe the sparks. If the spark stops before the engine comes to a stop, it's coil or ignition related. If the spark is still going as it dies, it's fuel related. If the spark stops, put a test light across the coil, and see if it stops flashing before the engine comes to a stop. If it doesn't, it's the coil. You can also try and put the coil in a oven, then test it for spark.
JD

[Dangerous Doug]

You can't teach an olddog new tricks, but can learn new tricks from an olddog. Good idea on the spark tester. I was going to fabricate something similar myself, but heck, if I can just buy one for a fist full of dollars, why waste my time.

Well, I'll keep you posted if I get stuck again, but based on past experience and the failure mode, I'm confident it was the coil.

Dd