I have a crusty crankshaft pulley where th timing marks are barely visible. Any tricks on making them more legible? Some type of acid or any other ideas?
If the timing marks are grooved into the pulley, I like to clean them first with brake clean, and then fill them with white chalk or white tire grease pencil and then wipe off the pulley. The grease or chalk stays in the grooves and easy to see.
Yeah this thread is about revealing them better. Once found I will cut a groove and fill with white or yellow paint. Sandpaper? Maybe but they are almost totally gone. I heard that filed serial numbers can sometimes be revealed after an acid was. Bogus?
If the rust pits are deeper than the stamping, then sandpaper won't work..but usually, it does. Give it a try, it is cheap and easy and fast. And then you'll know how bad it really is.
Yup, I usually sand it down to bare metal and then paint the marks white. I have been known to cut the groove(s) a bit deeper with a file first, but you usually don't need to.
My TDC is well marked with a groove and white paint however there are no degree markings. I ordered a timing tape strip from Summit which is a peel and stick type and it has worked very good so far. They’re cheap and sized to the diameter of your harmonic balancer.
If it is rusty I have found that this stuff does an excellent job of removing rust. I just use a proper size plastic tub from the Dollar store to put the parts in and pour the liquid in it so that it covers the part. Then pour it back in the jug when I am done. Under 20.00 US for a gallon.
Well that's the long game actually. But I would still like the raise the marks somehow. I also thought of taking another pulley that I have, though it's for the narrower belt, and placing them face to face and transferring TDC that way.
Big hand smack on the forehead for not reading ALL THE ******** POSTS before answering. I have to blame it on the turkey and the strawberry rhubarb pie.
I like the silver metal ink pens from Staples to highlight the line, even my old eyes can see the marks then.
Curious, so shamelessly Googled result. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17088038 Extract: The results had shown that while most of the reagents were able to restore marks up to certain levels of erasure, the reagent 5 g copper sulphate, 60 ml water, 30 ml concentrated ammonium hydroxide and 60 ml concentrated hydrochloric acid restored marks erased to a depth of 0.04 mm below the engraving depth, thus presenting itself the most sensitive reagent. Quite significantly, the above reagent was also able to decipher successfully the original engraved marks that had been erased and engraved with a new number, or obliterated by centre punching. Forensic hotrodding? Chris
I do similar, but I use the yellow paint pens from the Walmart craft section. Dab it on the letters and numbers, then take a rag and wipe off the surface, leaving the paint in the depressed places.
Now where's my blender? I may check with the chem teacher at the school I retired from to see if he could mixup this ****tail...
CHP used to do this all the time back in the 60s and 70s on our motorcycles. I guess most of the guys I rode with just looked guilty.
What I like to do is first find top dead center by following Number one cyl. Then file a grove paint it white, then find 30 degrees before top dead center file it and paint it red.. I rarely use the one size fits all factory timing settings. I usually end up with the initial around 20, the mechanical around 14-16 slowly coming all the way in by 3000 rpm.. This lo co 454 I have runs best with the vacuum advance disconnected. We have a very steep hilly terrain here..
You really don't need to buy a timing tape either or one of those stupid dial back timing lights. I never could get those tapes to stay on for any length of time, and I don't trust those dialbacks. Carefully measure the cir***ference of the dampener using a 1/4" stagger tape. Divide that number by 10. That's 36 degrees. Measure from TDC and mark the dampener. Divide by 20 equals 18 degrees, etc. You can use this formula to mark any degree you want on the dampener. Free.
The acid trick works with stampings and not cut or machined marks. The stamped metal is harder, more compact, and dissolves slower in the acid compared to the surrounding metal.
Basic math but I still want to get TDC. If my idea doesn't work I will rotate until at TDC or use a piston stop and go from there.
Piston stop is the only precise method due to dwell of the piston at TDC. Anything else is just a guess. This is too important of an area to be guessing.
The Jalopy Journal
