H-Bar angle?

[Bluefin]

I am installing my new motor in the Howard soon and wanted to know what the relationship should be between the pump shaft and the H-Bar. Should it be a parallel line, with the motor a little highger? I also need to know what would be pushing the crank forward in the motor. The H-Bar is hollow so the pump shaft is not hitting bottom. My last two motors show excessive wear from the crank being pushed forward, would the 871 cause this? Any Ideas, Thanks Mike

[Moneypitt]

line things up as close as possible, the shafts,(crank and jet) need to be straight inline, horizonally, vertically, and as parallel as you can get them. The H bar as you call it, (actually a constant velocity joint, and difficult to eyeball in because its cast) will allow for small errors, but trust me, the smaller the error the better. I made a fixture that bolts to the back of the crank, and uses a drill rod attached to the jet shaft to indicate in the alignment. The better the alignment, the less vibration, and vibration not only uses up parts, it robs hoursepower.......Moneypitt

[TJS]

Hey Moneypitt,
Do you have a picture of this fixture. I kind of use your same idea to align my headstock on my lathe to the tail stock, except I attach a magnetic mounted indicator on the headstock (less chuck) and then indicate it on the outside portion of the tail stock. Thanks for the idea.
T.J.

[Moneypitt]

I used a CMM to locate 3 crank bolt positions,(from a flexplate) added 3 set screws to "rock" the fixture to dead center, added a piece of drill rod to the center. bolt it up, and indicate it from a stationary point. The drill rod should be at least 3 inches long so you can check latterally from end to end to assure parallelism to another piece of drill rod hose clamped to the jet spline.(I use feeler gages for this) I may be able to post a picture later, but you can use a flywheel or flexplate to get the irregular bolt pattern, from a prior C/L hole. I had the CMM print out of the pattern, but can't lay my hand on it right now.....Moneypitt

[Blown 472]

I think you might be overlooking the fact that u joints need to run a little off as this moves the needle brgs around and keeps them from wearing in one spot.

[TJS]

Moneypitt,
Thanks for the reply. Yes a pic would be nice and a drawing with measurements would be better.
Thanks again.
T.J.

[HBjet]

Blown 472:
I think you might be overlooking the fact that u joints need to run a little off as this moves the needle brgs around and keeps them from wearing in one spot. Your going to have to excuse my friend Blown472 here. See, he's a perfectionist, and when he drops in a new motor, he can line up the motor to the pump using his trusty eye and get them perfectly in line with a zero degree of difference in the U-joint.
The rest of us ordinary people can eyeball it and get it pretty damn straight, but when it comes down to degrees, it won't be perfect..... So the don't worry about wearing in one spot. Blown472's statment is true, but not an issue you need to worry about. Get it as straight as you can, you will be fine.
HBjet
[ July 14, 2003, 05:57 PM: Message edited by: HBjet ]

[Cs19]

i think a slight angle is desirable, i read something here on ***boat before that the splines can make excessive noise if its perfectly straight in line. i saw how mpd did my motor plates and they set it on a certain angle if i remember correctly.(2 degrees?) i may be wrong. good luck

[Chris J]

I'd have to agree with HBJet. If your motor is rubber mounted you'll have all the mis-alignment you need. If not rubber mounted there's probably enough runout on the H-bar, crank, pump shaft ect.
Bottom line, I've yet to see any serious damage to anything that was a direct result of a perfectly aligned driveline. I'm sure we could fill up several pages of failure that were due to mis-aligned drivelines.

[Blown 472]

HBjet:
Blown 472:
I think you might be overlooking the fact that u joints need to run a little off as this moves the needle brgs around and keeps them from wearing in one spot. Your going to have to excuse my friend Blown472 here. See, he's a perfectionist, and when he drops in a new motor, he can line up the motor to the pump using his trusty eye and get them perfectly in line with a zero degree of difference in the U-joint.
The rest of us ordinary people can eyeball it and get it pretty damn straight, but when it comes down to degrees, it won't be perfect..... So the don't worry about wearing in one spot. Blown472's statment is true, but not an issue you need to worry about. Get it as straight as you can, you will be fine.
HBjet HBjet has left the building.