Ticking noise from front of engine

td_in_nc wrote: Did you put on a new alternator belt?

No, haven't replaced any belts yet. I do have a spare set, guess I should try them.

Status update: everything seems to have gone pretty smoothly with all the installations, with no signs of leaks anywhere after some good time on the water. However, I still have the ticking noise, and the new water pump did not make much difference to operating temperatures. Using a screwdriver as stethoscope, I can't get to the bottom of the ticking noise. Which to me suggests that it is either belts or exhaust leaks. At this stage I'll probably just live with the ticking noise and slightly high engine temps.

After a good bit of spirited tapping with a punch and a chisel, and prying with a screwdriver, the key eventually came out. The key (not the crank) was causing the binding. A few gentle passes with a file (and cleaning up the 'tap' marks) got the sprocket sliding over it eventually. So that took care of the timing set. Installing the sleeve on the balancer (after leaving it in the freezer overnight) went smoothly using a bench vice and piece of wood to gradually press it on squarely.

Don't try to "seesaw" the key. Using a punch, just tap it on one end parallel to the shaft and it should come out. 

Combination of heat, peening and wire cutters got the old sleeve off. Balancer is sleeping in the freezer in preparation for installation of the new sleeve.

KENO wrote: ...with a National brand speedi sleeve, it's about 1.900 inches.

Make that exactly 1.900 inches - at least in my case.

So best way to remove the old sleeve? Heat it up an hope it slides off with some prying? Carefully cut through it with a hacksaw blade? Seeing that the balancer snout will again be sleeved, I don't imagine a few scuff marks on the snout itself from a wayward saw tooth or two will be the end of the world?

Another little hiccup: getting the new timing set sprockets on to the camshaft and crankshaft. The old sprockets came off easily enough (cam sprocket needed a bit of prying to get it sliding off, crank sprocket I could slide off by hand), but the new ones are very tight. The crank sprocket I can only get on by hand to this point (and yes, I did apply assembly lube to the sprocket and crank):

I intended to fit the speedi sleeve included in the Fel-Pro gasket kit I'm using to the harmonic balancer, but I'm not sure if there is already a sleeve fitted to the balancer which should be removed first. The shiny snout (with black wear lines from the seal lip) certainly looks much newer than the rest of the balancer, and the new sleeve doesn't look like it will fit over the snout without a serious amount of heat and/or coaxing. Pictures of the balancer:

Michigan Motors has them new for 300,which is still to much for me and then shipping and customs yikes! They come up used every so often if you decide yours is unserviceable.

Below are pictures of the timing cover water passages (before any cleaning up), as well as the front of the timing cover after a bit of cleaning up. The area circled in red has definitely had some repair done to it: it seems there was some epoxy or similar used to rebuild material that had corroded away. The hole in the red circle has a helicoil inside it, and there was a mounting bolt screwed into it (which is not really required, as per this thread). This suggests to me there was a leak/corrosion problem in that area in the past.

Question on installing the timing cover: are the cork corner gaskets supposed to fit in between the block and the oil pan at their back edge, or do they just snug up against the block? If they have to go in between the block and oil pan it seems to require lowering the pan some. If they just snug up against the block, then they require some trimming to align with the oil pan to timing cover bolt holes.

The Summit ad does mention that it has a bi directional impeller so I think you'll be fine with that pump.

That's an automotive circulating pump with a stamped steel impeller that you're also turning the opposite way it would turn in a car.

Wilhelm Hertzog wrote: I'll report back.

I'd say your "free play" is normal with a flexible impeller pump like that..