Any thoughts on my plan to address 5th gear power loss / ticking / exhaust holes?

[Studebaker]

Why not use the parts off of your parts car to fix it? The parts car will have to be a late 92 or 93. Different cranks and parts

[ricko1966]

A real world old school fix for this problem is drill and tap three holes at say 12-4and 8 1/2 way intersecting the crank and the pulley loctite and thread allen set screws into the holes and your pulley will be more secure than it was when it was new.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q261/chawkins2000/IMG_7109.jpg

looks like some people just use one or or two dowels and drilling them in the car.Use to be three allen set screws was the way to go.I think I'd be tempted to try it not much to lose,but a little time.

[RayRay]

...two months later...

I've been trying to get around to fixing it, but ultimately ended up with the wife getting hit in Dallas while driving our truck...got it band-aided back together when the transmission went out...fixed up another beater and got it sold so we had enough $$$ to buy her a different car with minor front end damage...been fixing that car up for her, turns out it's gonna need more work than we noticed...

...haven't gotten any further on the Festiva motor fix, and now have it offered for sale to help fix the other two non-running cars in our family. Wife says they come first. Probably because she thinks I'll die in a wreck in the Festiva.

My hope: it doesn't sell and I can get around to doing the dowel attempt. If that fails, the swap attempt. If that fails, a good known motor swap.

Thanks yall :-)

[wfcruzr]

If you do fix the pulley, if you do it motor out, take a few moments to take the timing cover off and I wouldn't mind betting that the timing marks are out by a tooth or two. Old timing belt or worn adjusters will contribute to it and will make it run like crap at odd times and then won't play up at all.

[ricko1966]

RayRay I have looked at the pic of the dowel fix again. I stated in the begining old school was three allen set screws at like 1 oclock 4 oclock and 8 oclock I think the reason for that was so the gear wouldnt try to walk up on just 1 screw because it would have even pressure distribution in three spots. That being said if I did dowel it I would use at least 2 1 at 6 one at 12 I would also make a drill jig out of a washer and a spare crank bolt.

[RayRay]

Well, you're absolutely right about the timing belt. wfcruzr! Sadly, things got super tight and I've had to sell both Festivas (one was a parts car), however the new owner informed me the belt was indeed at least one tooth off. I'm afraid I simply wasn't able to give the car what it deserved...and, factually, we hadn't given our landlord what HE deserved on January 1st...so I had to make the very difficult choice of setting them free. Their new home already has TWO Festivas in their family, and they're only about 30 min's away from here, so I'm hoping to stay in touch...and hope they don't feel like I abandoned them. :-(

Ricko you are singin' my song. That was my exact same thinking. Original plan was to Very Carefully line things up, create some kind of mechanical jig/rig so as to not rely on my shaky hands and poor depth perception, and do at least two pins / set screws / dowels / bolts / whatevers, maybe three if I felt like I could do so without risking screwing something up (like breaking a drill bit somewhere). Sadly, between the Festiva going down, then the wife's truck got hit, then the hit managed to clog up the tranny and lose the 3-4 clutches so her truck won't drive over 25 mph, then investing in another car for her which requires more work than we realized...I got over my head. :-/