I fired my engine this weekend (radical as hell) and probably not very streetable. Anyway we started it at 5:30 sunday morning with numerous problems 1st off we could not get fuel to the pump only to find the pump was reverse rotation (it was sucking in the outlet and blowing out the inlet, so I tore it down and reversed the gearator plate and all was fine but the damn thing still wound not start. so we checked the timing and spark only to find out the timing was off so we retimed it and it still wouldnt start so we stood around scartchting our heads till we checked compression the hilborn washed the cylinders down so I pulled all the plugs and blew some tranny fluid into all the cylinders reinstalled the plugs and it lit. It stumbled around for a couple of seconds then it coughed a bunch of fuel and oil out the header and came to life. After a few hours sleep I went back to the garage to finish what I had started by about 3:00 pm it was running crisp and even idling at 1100 rpm's then all hell broke loose. I noticed the botom blower pulley was wobbling so I shut it down to inspect only to find that it had sheared the key in the balancer and the crank bolt was loose as hell. By this time it was 8:00 pm and I decided to call it a night and return this morning. I got up this morning and returned to the garage thinking that maybe I hadn't torqued the crank bolt or the woodruff key was to shallow. I went and bought a new key and reinstalled everything torqueing everything along the way. Once I had double checked everything I fired it again It ran for about 10 minutes and then the damn pulley started wobling again. So I tore it down only to find the same thing only worse it twisted the keyway in the balancer and sheared the key. Now for my question what the hell is causing this ? I checked for runout with a dial indicator its dead nuts. And blower belt tension was right on both times. For those that don't know my combination its a 383 chevy with a belt driven roller cam 6/71 weiand blower with a hilborn 4 port sitting on top and a belt driven enderle fuel pump the balancer was a new 7" ATI and the blower is under driven 10.5% witch is making 7-8 pound of boost on the gauge.
Was Flamedabone sneaking in and messing with it.. you now he does not want to see that thing at the track.........
Hey genius good to know you're still alive. Also good to know you're makin' progress on the Willys. I gots me a soft spot for those old trucks. Leme hazzard a guess, and I'm probably way off base here. How tight in the keyway is the key. it sounds to me like maybe your key is just a little loose, doesn't make much difference on a stock mill but you've built a shaker. You might try a little blue locktite on the key and let it dry good if your not virgin hampster tight.
I have always heard that when running a gmc style blower you should have an extra keyway cut in the crank snout and balancer becose of the amount of power required to turn the blower. I think all the race crank hubs for blower pulley mounting have two keyways cut in them.I could be wrong, but I would check with wiand on that.Also double check pully alignment.sounds like a bad ass truck, good luck with it.
Hey Mikey. I have "heard" the same thing Slayer said.Mind you, I'm talking out my ass because I have never done it, but that's what I have heard... Hey, how'd that fucker sound????? Less than two months left to go...better hurry... -Abone.
single keyway should be sufficient, but the key, snout and balancer has to be a "damn near press fit".... ATIs fit good so do the NEW fluiddampers.... Broaching additional keyways is not necessary unless you are running tons of HP, Like 2500... anyways that would have had to been done before....... Good luck...... it should work..... hope to see that willys going soon.... LUKESTER
Thanks to all for the input I spoke with ATI and Fowler Racing Engines in Columbus Ohio This week (was there for work) and both said exactly the same thing dual keyways are a must for this kind of application and ATI had a nother piece of advice to use there 9/16 " thick crank hub to avoid splitting the balancer at the keyway. So I took the engine out of the truck today and its heading back to the machine shop to get another keyway put in the crank, and Monday I will order ATI's thicker hub. I hope like hell this fixes the problem.
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