If I'm gonna do all the work to replace the chain, I want to get other stuff out of the way as well. Sprockets, oil pan gasket, and water pump are pretty much a given. I'm planning on running kerosine or some other solvent through the engine before hand and then replacing the oil pump screen also. Anything else I should get while I'm at it? Is the oil pump worth replacing?

I don't think I'll be getting a new cam at this time due to the fact that I'm running the old stock heads with the old stock springs and I don't really have the time to be replacing them.

Also, roller cams rarely get worn correct? I ask because I'm replacing the chain due to a slightly rough idle and I want to be sure its not due to the cam but I would rather not have to remove the cam unless I need to.

 

Roller cams will wear down less than flat tappet, one main reason being thanks to the roller lifters. How many miles does the car have? Rough idle could be from anything really, and most likely it's something simple you are looking over. For instance, how's your timing? Buddy of mine found that his distributor hold down was a little loose, so the distributor would gradually move back and forth ever so slightly while driving, and he eventually threw his timing way advanced and had a really crappy idle. Just an example, but really, I doubt its from a cam. Even if your cam WAS worn down, I wouldnt think it would idle like crap, youd just be loosing some power.

As far as the other maintenance, it sounds like you are hitting everything that I would have. I think it goes without saying, but if you need to replace your serpentine belt then do that, and maybe check your plugs while you are in there...other than that I think you have it covered.

Good luck dude

_Clark

 

I'll refer you to this post as to what I've checked/replaced so far for the bad idle: http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=448952

Thanks for confirming what I should replace.

 

put a double roller timing chain, not much more then a stocker

 

I've never used kerosene in a running engine to clean it, but I have used straight dextron atf ( let it run for 15-20 minutes) - any schmutz in the engine will end up in the oil pan, quite often in chunks. There is a school of thought, that if you know the engine is heavily sludged, you dont want the stuff moving around inside the engine ( it's pretty easy for it to block off the oil galleries inside the block, inside the pushrods, etc. )

Old timers used to put in a quart of atf every few oil changes to keep sticky rings and valves moving. It's really not necessary with modern oils, and there are some oil additives you can put in to help ("seafoam" comes to mind)

I wouldn't worry about the cam, unless it was severely abused they rarely wear out.

Are you planning on pulling the engine? You should be able to get the timing cover replaced without doing the oil pan, and I doubt you'll be able to get the pan off in the car, unless you really do something extreme...

 

Everything I read says that you need to remove the pan to get chain off. I'm guessing for the seal on the timing cover. Anyways, my book says that if you jack the engine up off of it's mounts a few inches and rotate the crank a certain way you can get the pan off without pulling the engine. Hopefully the chain is my problem (which I'm sure its part of it, but maybe not the whole thing), but if not then the heads are the next thing on my list assuming the distributor is good.