Further manifold intake questions

[saxybill1]

I wanted to thank all of you for assisting me so far; however, I do have further questions that I hope you don't mind asking regarding the intake manifold. I'm down to the intake now; however, I'm having a difficult time with the bolts, but I suppose they'll come out soon I hope. My question is this, since I've done this much, would you consider going ahead a changing the water pump? Right now there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the one that's on there, but the car has 80,000 miles. If so, would you consider a rebuilt pump? Another question, I'm going ahead and changing the thermostat and purchased a 180. Will this be fine? One major goof up. I took the distributor out, marked the location of the rotor and now that it's out, I can't find the mark. How much will I (as a novice) have to go through with this?
I did purchase new o rings for the injectors as I thought this would be a good idea instead of using the old ones. Can I spray brake cleaner into the injectors to clean them out? For valve cover gaskets, what would you suggest?


aGAIN, MY THANKS.
bILL

 

[rrubel]

Let's see.

With 80k miles on it, if it's the original water pump and timing chain I'd change it AND the timing chain. If you're not comfortable doing the second, I'd not bother doing either and let a pro handle it since the pump has to come off to do the chain anyway. I may have an extra low-mileage pump; I pulled mine with my rebuild and replaced it with a Flo-Kooler. If that works OK, then I'll have the stock pump for sale cheap. I think it's a rebuild; they're fine. If you go to the dealer, you won't get a new one anyway... just a rebuild.

Distributor. As I've discovered, this can be a pain to line up right. Read this thread: http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52719 to see if it's something you want to tackle.

Injectors. I wouldn't personally use brake cleaner; if you've got the time (2-3 weeks) and money (about $100), I'd send them to be professionally cleaned. There are a couple places I know of; I used cruzinperformance.com because they came highly recommended. I'm happy with the work so far, based on cost, time to complete, quality of parts, and thoroughness. Haven't fired the car up yet, though .

Hope this helps. And the bolts were sent out today via FedEx Ground. You may have them tomorrow, but most likely Monday.
[RICHR]

 

[saxybill1]

Hi Rich, glad you responded. Where can I get a timing chain? How much would you want for the water pump?
Nice to hear from you.

 

[rrubel]

I'd recommend getting a roller timing chain (I don't believe the stock ones are). You can get one from Summit or any decent racing house like Competition Products (www.competitionproducts.com) for anywhere from $40 on up. Example: the Cloyes single roller is $35 from Competition Products. The rollers help eliminate a small amount of friction for a tiny bit more power. I think they also run cooler and quieter.

I'd probably want $10-$15 for the pump.
[RICHR]

 

[saxybill1]

How difficult is it to replace the timing chain? I just checked with competition products, which timing chain should I get?

 

[saxybill1]

Rich, got the bolts and I thank you very much. They are better than the old ones as well.

 

[rrubel]

You're quite welcome on the bolts.

For a '91, I would get the Cloyes single roller if you're not planning on doing a lot of other stuff. PN C3092. How difficult is replacing the chain? Well, the water pump has to come off, the timing cover has to come off, the crank pulley has to come off, and the oil pan has to come off or at least be very loosened (to replace the timing cover). For a first-timer, I'd allow 6 hours at the least, more if you have the factory oil cooler (the crossover line makes it hard to take the pan off). And it's not fun putting the water pump back on, either. Taking stuff off is pretty easy, and as long as you get the engine to top-dead-center (which you'll need to replace the distributor, too) then it's easy to put the chain itself on. Crank pulley needs a special tool (available at AutoZone for free rental) to pull off and on.

You know, it never ends... go to fix or improve one thing, and you find more that are "just a little bit" more effort. While you've got the manifold and timing chain, etc, off, why not change the cam to a slightly higher-performance one? It's only a tiny bit more work .

[RICHR]

 

[saxybill1]

I think I'll leave this alone for a bit, sounds like more than I can handle. Wish you lived closer Rich.

 

[rrubel]

Heh.... you think that means I'd want to go through that AGAIN? Once was enough, at least for this year... doing the oil pan was the absolute WORST.
[RICHR]