Hand crank hole to pulley alignment

dan

dan

Senior Member
I was re-timing my car Sunday and had a devil of a time getting the hand crank to go into the pulley to turn the motor over. I had to press down on the handle pretty hard to get the end to line up--it seems like the holes don't line up with the center of the pulley. The misalignment amounts to almost a 1/2 inch. I haven't been able to find out any info on how the motor should sit between the frame rails, so there's no real way for me to tell if the problem is actually the motor or not.

The car has float-a-motor engine mounts (installed when I bought it) and I'm thinking that the front mounts may have the front of the engine raised a bit higher than stock. An alternate possibility is that the motor is sitting correct and the problem is at the radiator.

Has anyone seen a similar and/or want to offer suggestions for a fix?
 
There are three items that have to line up. The end of the crank, the radiator shell hole and the crank guide; which is held in place with the front spring u-bolts.

What parts are out of alignment on your car? You should be able to determine this by looking through the hole in the radiator shell.
 
I am having trouble with hand-crank alignment on my car; the front of the motor seems to be sitting low, and the crank guide / spring clamp seems to be shifted to the driver's side of the car; when I do get the crank engaged with the crank jaw, the crank is stick-up at angle, and pointing a bit towards the driver's side, like FDR's cigarette holder...
 
Special Coupe Frank said:
I am having trouble with hand-crank alignment on my car; the front of the motor seems to be sitting low, and the crank guide / spring clamp seems to be shifted to the driver's side of the car; when I do get the crank engaged with the crank jaw, the crank is stick-up at angle, and pointing a bit towards the driver's side, like FDR's cigarette holder...
Click to expand...


What motor mount do you have?

Seems like I read that the float a motor mounts often have this problem.
 
Special Coupe Frank said:
I am having trouble with hand-crank alignment on my car; the front of the motor seems to be sitting low, and the crank guide / spring clamp seems to be shifted to the driver's side of the car; when I do get the crank engaged with the crank jaw, the crank is stick-up at angle, and pointing a bit towards the driver's side, like FDR's cigarette holder...
Click to expand...
A simple check with a tape measure should tell you where the problem is. The crank guide and the crankshaft should be centered between the right and left frame rails.
 
From what you write...it sounds like you have the front float a motor mount (plate steel without any springs) and it was installed off-center.
If that is the case, replace it with the original design.
 
Could be the front motor mount. When I reinstalled my engine, I had to tighten down the nut under the cross member rather tight to get the pulley to line up with the front spring mount. Is this nut on yours tight? The engine mount I think is suppose to sit on two springs. If the nut underneath is not tight enough, these springs (if you have them) will hold the engine up. Also if the whole assembly (motor mount, engine) are shifted to the right or left, it will not line up. The hole in the cross member will allow this to happend a little bit.
 
this is common with F-O-M mounts. The front mount is a waste of money...tests in Model A Times showed the FOM in front actually increased vibrations...use the original. The rears could be sagging and lifting the pulley too. Often the trans mount is left off, which allows the rear side floatomotors to sag, as well as the frame, eventually.Old rear pads sag, dropping the rear and lifting the front. New rubber pads in the rears can be too high too, lowering the pulley. They can be cranked down with the thru-bolt..
 
dan said:
I was re-timing my car Sunday and had a devil of a time getting the hand crank to go into the pulley to turn the motor over. I had to press down on the handle pretty hard to get the end to line up--it seems like the holes don't line up with the center of the pulley. The misalignment amounts to almost a 1/2 inch. I haven't been able to find out any info on how the motor should sit between the frame rails, so there's no real way for me to tell if the problem is actually the motor or not.

The car has float-a-motor engine mounts (installed when I bought it) and I'm thinking that the front mounts may have the front of the engine raised a bit higher than stock. An alternate possibility is that the motor is sitting correct and the problem is at the radiator.

Has anyone seen a similar and/or want to offer suggestions for a fix?
Click to expand...

have seen this a number of times on the floater mounts. the rear mounts right and left at the clutch housing can be flipped upside down causing the misalignment at the crank hole. make sure they are installed properly
 
The crank bearing has bosses on the bottom that engage the front cross member, this keeps the crank bearing centered. If using original parts there is no reason the crank bearing should be shifted to the right ?

Ron
 
If you have the stock rear mounts its important to remember to loosen the bolts to the rear housing when making adjustments to the front yoke mount to line up the crank. Is this also crucial with the FOM rear mounts or is there enough play in the rubber discs?
I am running stock so I do not know about FOMs at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top