Any advice timing chain replacement 62 imperial

[emmd61]

I am pretty sure timing chain is bad on this 62. Any advice appreciate?

 

[detmatt]

What makes you think that? A good and simple test would be to put a socket on the bolt on the front of the crankshaft and turn the engine over by hand with the distributor cap off and watch the rotor. Rotate it one way and then The other keeping track of how long it takes for the rotor to change directions. If you remove several or all of the spark plugs you will have an easier time of turning it over by hand.
Beautiful Imperial by the way!

 

[jeffsunzeri]

Ditto - that is a beautiful automobile. On the 413's, wear in the distributor drive can mimic timing chain wear. Wear can occur in the quill that drives the distributor shaft as well as wear on the driven portion of the distributor shaft. Just a couple thou here translates into a lot of timing slop on an older engine, or one that didn't get the oil changes it deserved.

 

[Davea Lux]

The '62 Imperial still has all metal timing gears which generally were good for the life of the engine. As Dematt noted, check the chain for excessive play before tearing into the engine. The easiest way to do that is to line up the timing marks at TDC for a reference point. Have a helper slowly rotate the crank shaft back and forth until the distributor starts to move. The timing chain is shot if there is 15 degrees or more of slop. As jeffsunzeri noted check the distributor gears and shaft for excessive wear before going after the chain. Mopar distributors of this era often had loose bushings which in turn caused the timing to be erratic. A metal timing gear could and did fail if the engine was sludged up from poor maintenance or the engine was left idling a lot which could starve the chain for lubricant. Your Imperial does not appear to be a high mileage unit, so I suspect the timing gear is probably not bad.

Dave

 

[jeffsunzeri]

If you do find a bad timing chain, it should be pretty straightforward to replace. Remove the radiator and condenser for access. When installing the new one, make sure the oil flinger is on the correct way and pre-lube the chain generously.