Impromptu timing marker for 360ci

[Mr. Belvedere II]

So i have a 360ci motor with a timing chain cover that has the timing marks embossed on the driver side of the casting. I have a cast iron water pump with the outlet side on the driver side as well, very conveniently covering up any view of my damper and timing marks. I honestly don't think my timing has ever been correct since the motor has been put together because of this very problem. I have therefore decided to tackle this issue myself and have fabricated a little metal marker for the opposite side of the pump where there is no obstruction to viewing. I mimicked a similar one I saw pics of online. Here is my solution. I drilled a little hole on the new timing marker where I will now mark TDC on the damper. Now I just need the piston stop to find true TDC and I'll be in business!
The bolt where the new marker is attached to was 3/8 wide and was located at the bottom left of the water pump, I just created a slot instead of a hole in the metal piece since I couldn't extract the bolt fully with out removing the pulley.

 

[Kern Dog]

Uhhhh, okay but why stick with the iron water pump setup?

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

Uhhhh, okay but why stick with the iron water pump setup?

Is there some other setup I don't know about?

 

[Kern Dog]

The 360 was never built with an iron water pump. The 360 (As built) always had an aluminum pump, they always had the radiator hose on the right side.
The 360 was first introduced for the 1971 model year. The last year for the iron water pump was mid 1970.
ALL iron pumps had a driver side radiator hose nipple.
ALL Aluminum pumps had a right side radiator hose nipple.
My question was : "Why did you use the iron pump?" This was ME assuming that you specifically chose the pump. If youwere not aware that there are differences, I can see that. I could also understand a man keeping that setup because searching for the matching 1971 and later brackets and pulleys may be difficult. Your idea is a "workaround" that can actually work. The key is to determine the actual TDC and then maybe use a degree wheel to transfer the marks to your new pointer and tab.

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

So yeah I knew the 360 is a 70s motor. When I purchased the car 12 some years ago I had zero Mopar knowledge. I just loved that car. After needing to do repairs myself because I couldn't afford to pay anyone, I began to learn about what motors went in what cars. This is when I discovered that my VIN indicated that my car came with a 318 originally and that of course meant that it had the radiator inlet on the driver side, and had a water pump with the same. So somebody had swapped the 318 with the 360 at some point in its life and just kept the radiator and pump as it had been.When I went to rebuild my motor I kept the same radiator and just kept everything set up as it had been with the pump before as well. It was never really an issue but I'm now wanting to gain the knowledge of tuning for myself and coming across these challenges.

 

[rumblefish360]

In my wife's '67 Cuda I installed a 360 but retained the earlier timing cover and water pump like yourself. This is what I did;

Find piston #1's top dead center. (TDC)
Go to the passenger side and mark where the balancer lines up with the timing mark at zero. I used "Whiteout" to make the marks high lighted on the timing tabs numbers against the red paint. A black sharpie marker is used on the balancers shinny metal to mark TDC on it.

See below for a picture.

 

[rumblefish360]

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

View attachment 406968

Nice! Wow that motor is clean! I plan to install a timing tape after I use a piston stop method to locate TDC.

 

[rumblefish360]

Thanks, it only has approx. 20 minutes run time.

 

[Mr. Belvedere II]

Thanks, it only has approx. 20 minutes run time.

Sheesh that's not much at all! How long has it been in the cuda?

 

[rumblefish360]

A couple of weeks.