Replacing the timing chain in a 95 5.0L

[slow04yellow]

Well here's the deal. I sold my old 95 5.0L to my best friend.

Of course, in the first week it breaks. The timing chain was stretched from the nitrous i put through it and it finally went.

It's going to have to be replaced. I have the Haynes manual and I *should* be able to work through this, as I have worked on the stang plenty of times before. This will be the most involved repair i've made on the mustang though.

My question is this...what will I need? I can follow directions, but I'm going to Tennessee Friday to help him with this and I don't want to be stuck without the necessary tools.

Anybody with experience doing this? What tools are going to be needed to get the job done?

Also, is is practical that I can get this done in 1 day? I have moderate experience working on the 95 5.0 (I've replaced the entire ignition system, distributor, basic bolt-ons, etc).

With the proper tools I'm just curious what I'm getting myself into.

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

Grab a double roller timing chain (they're usually only $5-10 more) and a timing cover gasket set. It should include a gasket for the front cover, water pump, and a front main seal to replace the one in the timing cover. You'll also need a harmonic balancer puller/installer. You'll probably want to grab some RTV, too. To replace the timing cover, you have to cut a section of the oil pan gasket away, since it seals on the bottom edge of the timing cover, so the gasket set should also have a new gasket to replace the section you'll have to cut away. It's easily doable in one day, but all of the front accessories need to come off, plus the radiator out. I'd say plan on it taking 5-6 hours.

 

[slow04yellow]

Will i need an impact at any point during the installation?

I'm gonna go pick up a gasket set now. I've got the double roller timing chain.

Thanks!

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

You shouldn't need an impact. I did my entire engine build & swap with strictly hand tools.

 

[juiced_94gt]

Will i need an impact at any point during the installation?

I'm gonna go pick up a gasket set now. I've got the double roller timing chain.

Thanks!

An impact will make removing the balancer bolt 40x easier

 

[mojopony]

I use a breaker bar and crank the starter a little to loosen the balancer bolt.

 

[slow04yellow]

I use a breaker bar and crank the starter a little to loosen the balancer bolt.

I'm relatively sure this is dangerous.

I have a harmonic balancer remover from autozone. I'm going to look into getting an impact as well.

 

[go-stang5.0]

If the car is stick you can toss it into 4th or 5th and you can break the bolt loose with a breaker bar...it shouldent turn. If the motor still does turn you can put a brick (or any other wheel chock) in front of the rear wheel and you should be good. If its an auto then you may have to use the starter method...that method worries me too but no one would mention it unless they have had success with it.

 

[go-stang5.0]

Oh ask your friend if he wants the waterpump replaced also...you'll be right there and their inexpensive..also get a new crank/timing cover seal.

 

[slow04yellow]

It's an auto...I have heard of the breaker bar method and I'd really just rather use an impact if i can.

I guess it depends how much it costs...I'm about to go see.

Much thanks to everyone who offered help.

 

[slow04yellow]

One more question....I was at walmart earlier and they had 2 different impact wrenches. One had 250ft/lb and one had 500ft/lb of torque.

Will the 250 take the harmonic balancer bolt off, or do I need to opt for a 500?

Thanks.

 

[MLC Stang]

Slow04yellow,

A couple of things for you:

A). Forget about cranking the engine to get the crank bolt out… very dangerous. I’ve replaced my harmonic balancer twice on my auto tranny ’95. I use a very simple method of holding the flywheel in place so I can loosen the crank bolt. I just get a short piece of rope and pass a loop through one of the slots in the pulley that bolts to the front of the balancer, then I pass a loop through the bracket for a nearby accessory (such as the smog pump or another handy one down low near the pulley). I pass the rope through each one another time to get a double loop and then tie it off really tight. Once you start to back out the crank bolt the rope will tighten up even more and eventually stop the pulley and crank from turning. Then just continue to apply torque to the crank bolt unit it loosens up. Very safe method and works for me every time!

B). You don’t have to remove the radiator to do this work, but you do have to remove the fan shroud.

Here are some instructions I wrote up on removing the fan shroud when I did mine:

1. Remove the plastic front engine bay cover that covers the fan/radiator etc. Held in with plastic screw retainers. Unscrew the screws and then pry each of the retainers out of their holes. (If the screw won’t unscrew, that means its retainer housing is broken. Just pull the entire thing out with a pliers or something and get new ones.)

2. Remove the CCRM module bracket mounting screws (2), and remove the screw (1) that holds the top of the overflow bottle to the bracket.

3. Unscrew the very small hold-down bolt that holds the CCRM module connector to the CCRM module. It is a non-standard size! Not metric, not inch! Thanks FORD! So, you need a small adjustable wrench to remove it.

4. Now remove the CCRM bracket and CCRM module as a unit.

5. Unscrew the two small bolts that hold the fan housing onto the back of the radiator. One on either side.

6. Remember to pull the electrical connector off of the fan and the overflow bottle top cover, etc.

7. Now you can pull the fan housing up and out of the engine bay. Lift the right side (as you look at the car from the front) up first and angle it up and out of the engine bay with that side coming up and out first. (It mounts into two small hanger tabs, one on either side. You must get it back in those tabs when you reinstall it or it will rattle around and bang against your radiator.)

Note: You can also remove the overflow bottle now since the only thing holding it in at this point is the small tab on the bottom of the bottle that sticks through a slot in the radiator bottom bracket.

Hope that helps. Good luck with it.

 

[mojopony]

I admit that I didn't use the method of choice, but it worked in a pinch. FWIW installing a Romac was a major PITA!

 

[slow04yellow]

Slow04yellow,

A couple of things for you:

A). Forget about cranking the engine to get the crank bolt out… very dangerous. I’ve replaced my harmonic balancer twice on my auto tranny ’95. I use a very simple method of holding the flywheel in place so I can loosen the crank bolt. I just get a short piece of rope and pass a loop through one of the slots in the pulley that bolts to the front of the balancer, then I pass a loop through the bracket for a nearby accessory (such as the smog pump or another handy one down low near the pulley). I pass the rope through each one another time to get a double loop and then tie it off really tight. Once you start to back out the crank bolt the rope will tighten up even more and eventually stop the pulley and crank from turning. Then just continue to apply torque to the crank bolt unit it loosens up. Very safe method and works for me every time!

B). You don’t have to remove the radiator to do this work, but you do have to remove the fan shroud.

Here are some instructions I wrote up on removing the fan shroud when I did mine:

1. Remove the plastic front engine bay cover that covers the fan/radiator etc. Held in with plastic screw retainers. Unscrew the screws and then pry each of the retainers out of their holes. (If the screw won’t unscrew, that means its retainer housing is broken. Just pull the entire thing out with a pliers or something and get new ones.)

2. Remove the CCRM module bracket mounting screws (2), and remove the screw (1) that holds the top of the overflow bottle to the bracket.

3. Unscrew the very small hold-down bolt that holds the CCRM module connector to the CCRM module. It is a non-standard size! Not metric, not inch! Thanks FORD! So, you need a small adjustable wrench to remove it.

4. Now remove the CCRM bracket and CCRM module as a unit.

5. Unscrew the two small bolts that hold the fan housing onto the back of the radiator. One on either side.

6. Remember to pull the electrical connector off of the fan and the overflow bottle top cover, etc.

7. Now you can pull the fan housing up and out of the engine bay. Lift the right side (as you look at the car from the front) up first and angle it up and out of the engine bay with that side coming up and out first. (It mounts into two small hanger tabs, one on either side. You must get it back in those tabs when you reinstall it or it will rattle around and bang against your radiator.)

Note: You can also remove the overflow bottle now since the only thing holding it in at this point is the small tab on the bottom of the bottle that sticks through a slot in the radiator bottom bracket.

Hope that helps. Good luck with it.

Thanks a ton! I'm quite a bit more confident going in if I actually have an idea of what's going on.

 

[Knightstallion]

Slow04yellow,

A couple of things for you:

A). Forget about cranking the engine to get the crank bolt out… very dangerous. I’ve replaced my harmonic balancer twice on my auto tranny ’95. I use a very simple method of holding the flywheel in place so I can loosen the crank bolt. I just get a short piece of rope and pass a loop through one of the slots in the pulley that bolts to the front of the balancer, then I pass a loop through the bracket for a nearby accessory (such as the smog pump or another handy one down low near the pulley). I pass the rope through each one another time to get a double loop and then tie it off really tight. Once you start to back out the crank bolt the rope will tighten up even more and eventually stop the pulley and crank from turning. Then just continue to apply torque to the crank bolt unit it loosens up. Very safe method and works for me every time!

B). You don’t have to remove the radiator to do this work, but you do have to remove the fan shroud.

Here are some instructions I wrote up on removing the fan shroud when I did mine:

1. Remove the plastic front engine bay cover that covers the fan/radiator etc. Held in with plastic screw retainers. Unscrew the screws and then pry each of the retainers out of their holes. (If the screw won’t unscrew, that means its retainer housing is broken. Just pull the entire thing out with a pliers or something and get new ones.)

2. Remove the CCRM module bracket mounting screws (2), and remove the screw (1) that holds the top of the overflow bottle to the bracket.

3. Unscrew the very small hold-down bolt that holds the CCRM module connector to the CCRM module. It is a non-standard size! Not metric, not inch! Thanks FORD! So, you need a small adjustable wrench to remove it.

4. Now remove the CCRM bracket and CCRM module as a unit.

5. Unscrew the two small bolts that hold the fan housing onto the back of the radiator. One on either side.

6. Remember to pull the electrical connector off of the fan and the overflow bottle top cover, etc.

7. Now you can pull the fan housing up and out of the engine bay. Lift the right side (as you look at the car from the front) up first and angle it up and out of the engine bay with that side coming up and out first. (It mounts into two small hanger tabs, one on either side. You must get it back in those tabs when you reinstall it or it will rattle around and bang against your radiator.)

Note: You can also remove the overflow bottle now since the only thing holding it in at this point is the small tab on the bottom of the bottle that sticks through a slot in the radiator bottom bracket.

Hope that helps. Good luck with it.

It's a 5.5mm

 

[revhead347]

Buy the impact gun. It will save you time, and it's a tool you will definitely use throughout your life. Advance and Autozone rent the balancer removal and installer tool, so that's a freebie. Definitely use the installer; don't try and whack the balancer back in with the impact. If you put the balancer in the oven at a low temperature for 45 minutes or so before installing, it goes on so much easier.

Using nitrous has absolutely no affect on the wear of the timing chain. They just go bad. Definitely get a double roller chain, but be careful of the brand. There a bunch of them coming out of China. Make sure it's a name brand part.

Kurt

 

[Knightstallion]

Buy the impact gun. It will save you time, and it's a tool you will definitely use throughout your life. Advance and Autozone rent the balancer removal and installer tool, so that's a freebie. Definitely use the installer; don't try and whack the balancer back in with the impact. If you put the balancer in the oven at a low temperature for 45 minutes or so before installing, it goes on so much easier.

Using nitrous has absolutely no affect on the wear of the timing chain. They just go bad. Definitely get a double roller chain, but be careful of the brand. There a bunch of them coming out of China. Make sure it's a name brand part.

Kurt

I'm doing this job to my 95 gt tomorrow, well ill probably spend tomorrow putting up a cover across the 2 buildings I'll be working at, i won't get the parts until around 6pm probably, but everything except cover is ready, I'm not letting weather dictate this job. What will slow me down is what will speed up any other times i have to go back in, when i took the upper intake and valve covers to work on the injectors, i tapped every hole and chased or changed every bolt, now that section comes apart like i just got it from the factory