Well... after discovering in April that my TB was off by a tooth during the course of using the PorKen 32v'r for the first time, and thus causing inferior performance... I let my shark sit in pieces for four months (wife and I had our baby, Mia, in May; both are doing great!). I've been a tad busy with the new baby, and it kinda freaked me out that I probably wasn't going to be able to get the distributor rotor back on with all three screws in place given that the star pattern was off with respect to the cam gear. But, I put it all back together this weekend, with only 2 screws in one of the dist. rotors (yikes). The whole time I kept saying to myself "it's not going to start; it's not going to run" or something like that.

Defying all logic and odds... it fired right up and ran great! You have no idea how big the grin was across my face when I finally got to drive it again after 4 months away.

I also installed the 928 Specialists Twin Screw fan, and that is one fine product. I need to do something custom about the snorkels, though. I guess just sawzall off the top part of the old shroud and somehow attach it to the new fan? Any other ideas?

I'm going to be taking the shark in to Autotherapy in Rockville to get the TB corrected and retensioned. I don't have the time to do this properly, and I sure don't want it to sit again for another 4 - 6 - 8 months.

But damn it feels good to be back! Now... what's happened with the turbo threads... I need to get caught up!

 

Congrats on the baby ... ... what is that about usinf two bolts?? How does that work?

 

Spinning one tyre under hard cornering and unexpected kickdown can be hair-raising ... imagine spinning both as the revs kick to 3,000RPM mid-corner, and boost comes on like a freight train ....

 

well... there's three bolts that go through each distributor rotor to mount it to the cam gear/hub. BUT, in my case, one of the bolt holes is partially occluded because the TB is off by a tooth, such that the cam gear/hub is over-rotated, and such that I cannot put the third bolt in. So... for now, two bolts are holding on the distributor rotor.

PorKen said it was OK to put it back together this way... but it's definitely something that needs immediate attention! Can't say I'm happy about it... but I'm definitely happy it runs.

 

Congrats on having both of your babys in the world. The down time is a stresser but all is right W/ the world now. Enjoy

 

Congrats all around! Similar situation happened to me. 9 months on a TB/WB (porkension'r).

I agree, it really was nice to drive it again.

 

Normally I would agree with Porken on most things, but I am not so sure I agree that using one 2 of those botls is OK,

If they slip it could be bent valve time as you are already a tooth off.

I would back it off just enough to get the 3rd one in.

 

Did I say that? I think I said it's OK to mount it temporarily, until you restring the belt, and recenter the rotor holes in their slots.

The main clamping force is by the big bolt. The 5mm screws don't really do anything except hold the rotor on.

 

Indeed... I can probably find the post or PM. What can I say... it worked out fine. Helluvarisk, and the mechanic wasn't too thrilled with me when I dropped it off Wednesday. But he was a) very impressed that it worked and b) very impressed with your tool. He did say "someone has too much time on their hands" though.

I should have it back either tonight or sometime next week. Just in time for the floods...

 

you ran w/a tooth off and didn't bend anything on an 88? you are mr lucky!! congrats!