Broken Eccentric adjustment plate

Unknown

Damn, damn, damn!



Perry Spring loaned me his eccentric adjustment wrench to adjust the

timing chain tension. I removed the three bolts and inserted the wrench.

Immediately, a piece popped out of the adjustment plate....an old break,

obvious upon inspection. Someone in the Town Sedan's earlier life

apparently had tried to adjust the eccentric, broken the adjustment

plate, and then just put the piece back in.



Which leaves me with several questions:



1.l The plate, I subsequently learned, is stuck fast. I presume this

means I need to disassemble the whole mechanism to free it up.

Fortunately, Perry showed me a spare assembly he has in his shop, so I

have a good idea what's in there.



2. Is it necessary for me to replace the plate? (The piece broken off

is about 1/2 inch wide and about 1-1/2 inches long. Even with the piece

removed, there's no oil leakage. But it does hinder the ability to

adjust chain tension with the piece missing; I lost one "anchor point"

on the plate, and the one that's most accessible at the current chain

tension setting.



3. If the plate needs to be replaced, would I be wise to get a new one

cast from stronger metal? (It appears from inspection that this is

YAAPOPM (Yet Another Accursed Piece of Pot Metal). Or, is replacing "in

kind" sufficient?



4. Geoff lin New Zealand: I know you're aware both of the general issues

and the possibility of breakage, because you warned me about it. If I

need to have a replacement cast, do you have a spare that can be used as

a model, or would I have to provide one?





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Lew Phelps

Pasadena, CA

1929 Hudson Town Sedan

http://home.earthlink.net/~lewphelps/hudson_29