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UPDATE: November 2017. I'll be working on recovering the instructional photos for this thread.
Photobucket has restricted their 3rd party sharing at this time. Sorry for the inconvenience.
-Roger
Finally, I'm tearing down my 94 HB XE to replace all the old timing components, belts, and a 20 year old, deteriorating radiator, water pump, etc.
I'm taking a ton of pictures as I go through the process. I'll be posting up in stages between shifts working on the truck and taking breaks
to work on the write-up and photos.
Test post... okay, so this is where I start...
(!) Disconnect the negative cable end on the battery first thing ...you don't want anyone to accidentally bump the starter later,
especially after you get down to setting top-dead-center and removing the old timing chain and components. That could be catastrophic.
Easy enough to remove the intake plumbing... I also moved and disconnected as necessary those pesky vacuum hoses running in front of
the valvecover just to get them out of the way.
Just remember to mark anything and everything you need to so you'll be able to put everything back in its proper place upon reassembly later.
Baggies and a sharpie work real well to keep bolts in order.
Drain the coolant, disconnect the radiator hoses, remove the cooling fan (note, mine leaves the waterpump pulley bolted up because
I switched over to an electric fan some time back (see sticky for info), and remove the fan shroud and upper radiator mounting brackets,
then remove the radiator. Mine's a straight shift, but if yours is an automatic you'll most likely have some transmission cooler lines to disconnect from the lower part of the radiator.
This is where I like to break the crank bolt loose while it's still loaded with everything. It has less tendency to jump around letting all the torque go straight into the bolt.
Don't take the bolt out yet... you will need to find top-dead-center on cylinder #1 , and then get all the belts and pulleys off first.
There are also six 6mm bolts (10mm heads) holding the crankshaft pulleys and damper together. You do NOT need to take them apart.
I only did mine to turn the damper 180* to line up some previous timing marks someone had turned wrong at some time in the past.
Also, mark your belts, ID and direction of rotation, if you are going to reuse them.
Okay, this is the first most critical step explained... Look closely at the small notches in the rear of the crank pulley, and the pointer projecting out toward them from the timing cover
right in the center of the picture below.
You must roll your engine over by hand clockwise until you line those marks up. Before doing so, take the distributor cap cover, and cap off to note the position of the rotor button.
Look ahead at the next few pictures to see that small bolt holding the rotor button on to the distributor shaft. the head of that bolt should be facing you!
If not, roll the crankshaft another full rotation to the marks again.
(Ignore that yellow mark on the outside of the front crankshaft pulley. Someone had previously had it off and reinstalled it 180 degrees off from the crankshaft timing marks on mine.
I'll correct that when it goes back on later.)
Note the crankshaft timing marks (notches and pointer), and the small bolt that holds the ignition rotor button on (upper right hand corner just beyond the belt and pulley).
When you get the crank markings up and the rotor button pointed away from you, you "should" be able to identify and confirm that the rotor button contact is indeed point so that it
would line up with the #1 cylinder contact post inside the distributor cap, and that the spark plug wire going to the front cylinder (#1 ) confirms that. If there's any question,
stop at this point and go back over this until you are sure you are stopped right on cylinder #1 top-dead-center. I can't express this enough,
because this is where we see so many folks come back saying they can't seem to get it back in time again.
After I found top-dead-center on #1 , I took the belts, front crank pulley, waterpump pulley, power steering idler pulley and bracket, the waterpump, thermostst and housing, and the crankshaft bolt (loosened earlier) off.
I also removed the upper alternator bracket and bolts and set them aside to get them out of the way. I loosened the lower alternator bolt just enough to hinge the alternator down a bit and out of the way.
There's no need to remove it completely.
Before you pull the crankshaft damper pulley off you need to carefully note where you want it, and clearly mark both it and the distributor with any kind of bright paint,
or in my case my wife had some old nail polish around she no longer wanted, so I picked a spot and made sure I knew EXACTLY where my distributor should go in relation to the crank position when it goes back.
I decided to set my crank on the 20 degree "before top dead center" mark as pictured in the picture below, and mark everything else to time up correctly from there.
The TDC notch is the second one from the left, and if you feel better setting up the cam and crank timing there, then do it. I build engines and do this stuff as part of my job for a living and I always like to start here with the pistons down about 20 degrees or so to give me some extra clearance between the pistons and valves once the chain, tensioner and guides are off. Although It's not necessarily a problem on this particular engine, on some where the cam is "loaded", it can accidentally jump around part way and potentially bend valves. That is easily preventable, and I found that the camshaft on the KA is quite content to sit still on any of the timing marks available, so I'll let it go at that.
I marked a spot with paint on the upper edge and side of the body of the distributor closest to where the distributor was pointing once I had marked the crankshaft pulley. Once you're certain you have these clearly indexed for perfect alignment later then you can take the distributor hold down bolts out and work it back and forth until it comes up out of the timing cover. Be sure to make note of the end of the distributor drive and its position in relation to the front of the engine. It needs to end up exactly in that same position when you install it later during the oil pump installation. It may take several tries to get this right because the drive gear actually rotates some as it's being installed into position, but this is one of the most critical steps in the reassembly, so don't take the oil pump off or move the crankshaft until you note this, or mark this exactly. Take a scratch awl, pick, or any tool with a very sharp point and and a strait edge to make marks straight across the timing cover/ distributor seat with the half moon cut of the distributor shaft carefully noting where the raised half of the shaft is. Do NOT overlook this step!!! (I chose not to mark my timing cover because I'm replacing it with a new one.)
Photobucket has restricted their 3rd party sharing at this time. Sorry for the inconvenience.
-Roger
Finally, I'm tearing down my 94 HB XE to replace all the old timing components, belts, and a 20 year old, deteriorating radiator, water pump, etc.
I'm taking a ton of pictures as I go through the process. I'll be posting up in stages between shifts working on the truck and taking breaks
to work on the write-up and photos.
Test post... okay, so this is where I start...

(!) Disconnect the negative cable end on the battery first thing ...you don't want anyone to accidentally bump the starter later,
especially after you get down to setting top-dead-center and removing the old timing chain and components. That could be catastrophic.
Easy enough to remove the intake plumbing... I also moved and disconnected as necessary those pesky vacuum hoses running in front of
the valvecover just to get them out of the way.
Just remember to mark anything and everything you need to so you'll be able to put everything back in its proper place upon reassembly later.
Baggies and a sharpie work real well to keep bolts in order.

Drain the coolant, disconnect the radiator hoses, remove the cooling fan (note, mine leaves the waterpump pulley bolted up because
I switched over to an electric fan some time back (see sticky for info), and remove the fan shroud and upper radiator mounting brackets,
then remove the radiator. Mine's a straight shift, but if yours is an automatic you'll most likely have some transmission cooler lines to disconnect from the lower part of the radiator.

This is where I like to break the crank bolt loose while it's still loaded with everything. It has less tendency to jump around letting all the torque go straight into the bolt.
Don't take the bolt out yet... you will need to find top-dead-center on cylinder #1 , and then get all the belts and pulleys off first.
There are also six 6mm bolts (10mm heads) holding the crankshaft pulleys and damper together. You do NOT need to take them apart.
I only did mine to turn the damper 180* to line up some previous timing marks someone had turned wrong at some time in the past.
Also, mark your belts, ID and direction of rotation, if you are going to reuse them.

Okay, this is the first most critical step explained... Look closely at the small notches in the rear of the crank pulley, and the pointer projecting out toward them from the timing cover
right in the center of the picture below.
You must roll your engine over by hand clockwise until you line those marks up. Before doing so, take the distributor cap cover, and cap off to note the position of the rotor button.
Look ahead at the next few pictures to see that small bolt holding the rotor button on to the distributor shaft. the head of that bolt should be facing you!
If not, roll the crankshaft another full rotation to the marks again.

(Ignore that yellow mark on the outside of the front crankshaft pulley. Someone had previously had it off and reinstalled it 180 degrees off from the crankshaft timing marks on mine.
I'll correct that when it goes back on later.)
Note the crankshaft timing marks (notches and pointer), and the small bolt that holds the ignition rotor button on (upper right hand corner just beyond the belt and pulley).
When you get the crank markings up and the rotor button pointed away from you, you "should" be able to identify and confirm that the rotor button contact is indeed point so that it
would line up with the #1 cylinder contact post inside the distributor cap, and that the spark plug wire going to the front cylinder (#1 ) confirms that. If there's any question,
stop at this point and go back over this until you are sure you are stopped right on cylinder #1 top-dead-center. I can't express this enough,
because this is where we see so many folks come back saying they can't seem to get it back in time again.


After I found top-dead-center on #1 , I took the belts, front crank pulley, waterpump pulley, power steering idler pulley and bracket, the waterpump, thermostst and housing, and the crankshaft bolt (loosened earlier) off.
I also removed the upper alternator bracket and bolts and set them aside to get them out of the way. I loosened the lower alternator bolt just enough to hinge the alternator down a bit and out of the way.
There's no need to remove it completely.

Before you pull the crankshaft damper pulley off you need to carefully note where you want it, and clearly mark both it and the distributor with any kind of bright paint,
or in my case my wife had some old nail polish around she no longer wanted, so I picked a spot and made sure I knew EXACTLY where my distributor should go in relation to the crank position when it goes back.
I decided to set my crank on the 20 degree "before top dead center" mark as pictured in the picture below, and mark everything else to time up correctly from there.
The TDC notch is the second one from the left, and if you feel better setting up the cam and crank timing there, then do it. I build engines and do this stuff as part of my job for a living and I always like to start here with the pistons down about 20 degrees or so to give me some extra clearance between the pistons and valves once the chain, tensioner and guides are off. Although It's not necessarily a problem on this particular engine, on some where the cam is "loaded", it can accidentally jump around part way and potentially bend valves. That is easily preventable, and I found that the camshaft on the KA is quite content to sit still on any of the timing marks available, so I'll let it go at that.

I marked a spot with paint on the upper edge and side of the body of the distributor closest to where the distributor was pointing once I had marked the crankshaft pulley. Once you're certain you have these clearly indexed for perfect alignment later then you can take the distributor hold down bolts out and work it back and forth until it comes up out of the timing cover. Be sure to make note of the end of the distributor drive and its position in relation to the front of the engine. It needs to end up exactly in that same position when you install it later during the oil pump installation. It may take several tries to get this right because the drive gear actually rotates some as it's being installed into position, but this is one of the most critical steps in the reassembly, so don't take the oil pump off or move the crankshaft until you note this, or mark this exactly. Take a scratch awl, pick, or any tool with a very sharp point and and a strait edge to make marks straight across the timing cover/ distributor seat with the half moon cut of the distributor shaft carefully noting where the raised half of the shaft is. Do NOT overlook this step!!! (I chose not to mark my timing cover because I'm replacing it with a new one.)
