Installation on a ford/saab V4

trogdor · Post by **trogdor** » Mon May 30, 2005 11:36 pm

Hi, i have recently come across this ignition and timing system and i am very interested in using it on my saab 96, it has a ford v4 in it and having read through the process it appears u need to weld the 36 toothed wheel to a crank pulley. Unfortunatly there is only a balance shaft pulley on my engine. i have no idea what speed it runs at. Is it possible to use this sytem on this engine? has it even been tried? would like some help as don't want to buy any bits without knowing if i can use them! Any help will be greatfully appeciated.

Todd Charles · Post by **Todd Charles** » Tue May 31, 2005 4:37 am

You will need to determine what speed the balance shaft turns before it can be said if it will work or not. If it turns at crank speed, double speed or half speed you may have hope of making this work for you.

Todd

dermot · Post by **dermot** » Tue May 31, 2005 9:26 am

Hi,

-I thought those Ford V4's had a crank pulley?? (or something at least), but it was a long time ago I looked at one :v)

-So there is a pulley for the alternator/water pump on the balance shaft? (balance shaft is at the left looking from the front I remember, crank pulley central of course)

-Dermot.

trogdor · Post by **trogdor** » Tue May 31, 2005 8:39 pm

well, this is a saab V4 which is atcually based on a german ford v4 engine so it will be different to the ones u find in transits etc! it has a pulley on the balance shaft that drives the alternator and fan and water pump. The crankshaft is hidden behind a front cover, it has a gear on the end of it driving the camshaft and balance shaft. Is it possible to run this system if the pulley rotates at twice the crank speed?

Paratime · Post by **Paratime** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:22 am

Depends, do you have space between the flywheel and the engine block, to fit a custom toothed wheel, and pickup?

It is possible to make a custom wheel with 70 teeth and two gaps for the cam. Or perhaps you could mount it behind the cover on the crankshaft?

Putting the wheel on a double speed shaft is more trouble than it's worth.

trogdor · Post by **trogdor** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:21 am

not sure about the flywheel, will have to look into that. But it could be possible to fit the wheel behind the cover, there may be enough space, buts its a fair bit of work doing that! will have a look and see if its possible to mount between the flywheel

trogdor · Post by **trogdor** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:13 pm

Have been looking at my engine and think i have a solution, will need work tho, the balance shaft pulley drives a belt which powers the water pump and alternator, but it also drives a mechanical fan mounted on the front cover, if i replace this fan with a electric one, i plan to do this anyway. i could put a pulley on that bearing that the fan was mounted to that would run at crankshaft speed? i think that possible! anyone agree? Would need to work out the ratios and fit an electric fan and find somewhere where i can get the pulley but is worth doing i think!

Todd Charles · Post by **Todd Charles** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:21 pm

This would probably work but you would need to use toothed belts and pulleys in order to keep it in time. Might be more hassel than mounting behind the cover.

Todd

trogdor · Post by **trogdor** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 10:15 pm

That doesn't sound good, the belt has notches in it, but i don't think its a toothed one. I don't think mounting it inside the front cover will work as it is inside the engine and had lubrication behind it, lubricating the timing gears. back to the drawing board i guess!

trogdor · Post by **trogdor** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 1:21 pm

Have asked someone in the know and the balance sharf does indeed run at crank speed but it turns the opposite way to the crank, is this a problem? otherwise i can atcually do this now!

dermot · Post by **dermot** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 3:45 pm

...which way it runs.. the balance shaft is fine if its at engine speed, you just need a suitable toothed wheel, plenty about those in these pages!

Obviously, any comments you find in a thread somewhere about the sensor being e.g. mounted in a specific place, would be incorrect, but otherwise the angles etc. are the same, i.e. classic Ford V6 rotates clockwise, the sensor has to be mounted to the left of the crank pulley from the front, in your case the pulley is going anticlockwise and the sensor must be somewhere to the right...

Hopefully, your pulley has timing marks like an engine pulley..

br
D.

trogdor · Post by **trogdor** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 2:26 pm

Yeah i am hoping it does have timing marks otherwise it will be abit hard working it out. From experience i can easily get the pulley off but will need to allign it to TDC as it will only go back on a certain way. When TDC is referred to which piston is it talking about? does it matter? any ideas of working it out with out talking the heads off? a source for the toothed wheel would be useful too, are there different sizes etc?

Todd Charles · Post by **Todd Charles** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 4:33 am

You should work with cyl #1 if possible. Just makes things easier to understand later. You can find TDC by using a piston stop. This is a solid object that screws into the sparkplug hole and stops the piston from reaching TDC. You then turn the engine by hand until it stops, mark the pulley in relation to something stationary, turn the engine in the opposite direction till it stops and again mark the pulley. The point exactly between the two marks is TDC.

Todd

Autosport Labs

Installation on a ford/saab V4

Installation on a ford/saab V4

You will need to determine wh

are u sure!

pulleys

How about a nice 67 GTO?

not sure about the flywheel,

crank speed pulley

This would probably work but

toothed belt

balance pulley

does not matter...

timing marks

You should work with cyl #1 i