Secondary chain question

[ChrisLS8]

So one of my chains snapped on my 3.9 2001 LS awhile back and I'm now getting back to fixing it. I however have a question. I checked the compression, leakdown, valve pressure and turns out I lucked out and nothing was damaged.

My question is since the primary chain stayed tight and kept the intake cam in proper time would it be possible to pop out the intake cam, set to tdc, line up the flats,install my new chain (master link style) and reinstall the cam without all the hassle of the special flywheel and cam lock tools?

Unless I'm missing something I don't see why not.

 

[oddball]

Certainly possible, just take your time. The flexplate lock is nice because it is a very precise fit. Also the exhaust sprocket is just a friction fit to the cam, so you need to be very careful in setting the exhaust cam alignment.

 

[ChrisLS8]

Certainly possible, just take your time. The flexplate lock is nice because it is a very precise fit. Also the exhaust sprocket is just a friction fit to the cam, so you need to be very careful in setting the exhaust cam alignment.

Yeah I saw that the exhaust cam isn't notched for a key like other cars I've built which sucks but I doubt that it was enough force to move the sprocket out of time.

I've used the whole timing kit and it is very handy if I'm removing the sprocket to remove the chain but in my case seems to be not as necessary

 

[oddball]

The point of the friction fit is to take up any variance in the chain. The process places tension on the chain as in operation, so you end up with the correct alignment. With leaving the sprocket as-is, the exhaust cam may be a few degrees out. That shouldn't be a huge deal.

 

[ChrisLS8]

I forgot all about that in addition to the tensioner having over an inch of travel for slack.

I figured once the flats are lined up and the chain is set and tight it couldn't be off more than a few degrees so yes you are correct.

 

[ChrisLS8]

Got it all buttoned up today and spun it a few times over and cams lined up great.

 

[ChrisLS8]

So got it all buttoned down, did both tensioners, gaskets, new plugs and it has a misfire at idle.....

Did a power balance test and found like 3 bad coils but they were fine before the car was parked. Anyone heard of coils going bad from sitting?

A few had oil on them from when I parked from old gaskets but they got all mixed up while reinstalling

 

[TooManyToys]

Anytime you put on a new masterlink chain lining up the two cams without unbolting the exhaust cam brings it back to factory timing (minus minor sprocket wear).

If you wanted to bring the two cams back to factory alignment with a worn chain that is a little bit longer between multiple links, then unbolting the friction fit sprocket and re-tightening under tension with all the slack out of the chain on the driven side is the way to go.

 

[joegr]

So got it all buttoned down, did both tensioners, gaskets, new plugs and it has a misfire at idle.....

Did a power balance test and found like 3 bad coils but they were fine before the car was parked. Anyone heard of coils going bad from sitting?

A few had oil on them from when I parked from old gaskets but they got all mixed up while reinstalling

It is more likely that they were already marginal, but not bad enough to notice. When you put new plugs in, some of them probably had bigger gaps than the old ones, and that was enough to push them over the edge.

Alternately, if you didn't check and set the gaps correctly on the plugs, that could very well be your problem. (I have found that pre-gap'd plugs are wrong about 25% of the time.) The LS doesn't tolerate the gap being bigger than spec. (The spec is 1.0mm to 1.1mm. I set them to 1.0mm.)

 

[ChrisLS8]

I figured as much, might as well replace all the coils while I'm at it

All plugs get checked. I also side gap as well. Look it up.