Trex

Hi everyone. Long time, no see. I've just finally gotten around to replacing my old crankshaft pulley with the the one Nismopick was nice enough to hook me up with. I have the old pulley off but this other pulley has some sort of back plate which will hit the timing plate if I try to put it on. Is there a way to make this work? Have pics below.

Two pulleys side by side (new one on the left):


Two pulleys again flipped over so you can see the back plate:


The timing plate that the new pulley hits:


If you have any suggestions please let me know! Thanks in advance.

NismoPick

Is that an S30 pulley?

Click: https://www.zdriver.com/forums/showt...&highlight=s30

I used it on my L28ET build.

Trex

Hi Nismo,

I assume you're asking about the pulley that was on there originally. It looks awfully similar to the pic of the s30 pulley you posted in your other thread however I definitely didn't do a swap like that, and I doubt the P/O did. I'm pretty sure it's stock given the position of that timing plate. This is a 79' 280zx we're dealing with here, and I saw a post in your thread that I'm thinking may be the issue:

:/ Oh well looks like I may be forking out the cash for a performance pulley unless anyone else know's something about this.

NismoPick

Does your 79 have manual steering (no power steering) or no a/c? If so, that's why.

Trex

Correct no P/S. Well looks like a performance pulley is in my future. Anyone else have experience with these? I'm currently looking at this one:

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/PEM06/10-2139

If anyone has purchased this same one, is that $40 bolt and washer really needed or can I use the stock one? Or has anyone purchased a pulley from somewhere else that may be better and around the same price (or cheaper)?

NismoPick

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme/280zxt/page22.html

SHADY280

The pulleys are different from year to year. My 79 has the pulley with no backing whereas my 82 motors have the backing style. You just need a different timing marker.

Trex

So I can use this pulley and just swap out the timing marker with one from a later year? Or do I need to rig something up?

Trex

Well I've decided to just go with the aftermarket pulley and bolt/washer. I figure that any OE pulley is just going to end up doing the same thing anyway. When it gets here maybe I can finally get it out of the garage and post decent pics

Oh one other question. Is it a bad idea to use some thread-lock on the 5 screws that hold the radiator fan on?

Trex

Okay so I'm waiting for my new pulley in so I decided to do a little cleaning around the engine. I took some engine degreaser to a nasty oily/greasy spot on the timing cover next to where the pulley sits and what do I find:





That damn pulley carved a hole all the way through the timing cover! So now I'm wondering: what would make the pulley get close enough to cause that damage? So it looks like I'm gonna be in the market for a timing cover too. The only Z at my local pick n' pull is a 77 280z - that should be the exact same timing cover right? Thanks in advance for your help.

EDIT: Can I just JB Weld that shut? O.o

mrprofile

you should be able to tell pretty easily what part hit the timing cover, just look on the balancer and see what part of it is all scraped up, as for JB weld, you could try, but you wanna get a new one eventually.

NismoPick

I just happen to have a 280z timing cover all packed up for shipping... previous offer bailed on me. $20 + shipping if that one at your junk yard is too much of a hassle.

Trex

I'm just going to try a lil JB Weld for now. I'm not really interested in pulling this water pump off (again) to change this out. The actual hole isn't very large so I think I can get away with it.

I do have another question though. How hard is putting this performance pulley on supposed to be? O.o the original one slid off pretty easily with a few whacks with the mallet. This one is a tighter fit and I'm trying to tighten it on but it feels like its taking a lot of torque to do so.

NismoPick

Check the crank key.

Trex

Yep looks like the crank key got pushed back. I've read that boiling the pulley will make it easier to slide on to the crankshaft. Will that harm the pulley?

NismoPick

No need...

Just use some bearing grease to hold the key level in the crank and slide on the pulley.

Trex

Alright. I'm going insane. I can't get this woodruff key to stay in place when I install the pulley. I can't just push the pulley on either - I have to use the bolt to pull it on to the crankshaft. So I don't know that it's screwed up until I've got the pulley half way on.

NismoPick

Have you tried sliding it on w/o the key to see if it slides easily?

Trex

Yeah, it wont slide on easily even with the key removed. It's a really tight fit. I'm thinking I need to try heating it.

Trex

Alright! Well I heated the pulley with my heat gun and it slid on like butter! Then I was able to use the bolt to get it the rest of the way on. It definitely looks like it sits forward more but I think that's because it doesn't have a 1/3 of an inch of back plate sticking out and its not rubbing against the timing cover :P

Trex

Well I got it all put back together a timed last night. The old pulley had rubbed against that timing indicator plate too so I couldn't get a super precise timing done but I was able to eyeball it pretty damn close. Anyway its like a whole new car. I guess the bottom line on that powerforce pulley: a pain in the *** to install due to the tight fit but at half the price of a new OE style pulley - its worth it. Now let's just hope it stands the test of time. Thanks a lot for your help again!

ZZzzz

Trex!!! do you still have that pulley that Nismo gave you? it looks EXACTLY like mine, except that it isnt completely destroyed. none of my junkyards have that part, it would be a HUGE favor to me if i could get it. buy or trade, will pay for shipping, whatever you like. please let me know soon, as the weather is warming up and the car is looking sad in my garage.

also- i see a key setup on that one, but i dont feel the male side on my crankshaft spindle... could anyone get me a close up view of what it should look like? i really hope i dont need to buy a new crankshaft.

Trex

Hi Z. Let me make sure I have all the parts and I'll send you a PM :P Also there's a woodruff key that sits in a groove on the crankshaft. I snapped a bunch of pics while I was working on it lemme see if I happened to get a pic of that, and I'll upload it later tonight.

Trex

This is the best pic I have of the woodruff key slot on the crankshaft:



You can see where the woodruff key slides in.