I received my "new" engine from Paul a few weeks ago and with 100k on the clock and lots of thinking i did a complete rebuild. I will say it was very clean on the inside and had new head gaskets, at the mileage and the fact it was already out why not.

The new engien did not come with a fly wheel so i reused mine. I finnished everything up and went to fire her up and it was ugly. low RPM's knocking and spitting then she shut down and would not fire back up. After poking around i removed the Crank position sensor that came with the engien and this is what it looked like.





I did have the spacer ring installed:


What could be my issue, Ideas to correct this?

 

If the engine had a manual behind it the CkPS might not be shimmed correctly for an auto. What year is the new engine? Also..... what does the reluctor ring now look like?

 

Remove the flywheel cover and take a look at the tabs on the flywheel that the cps sensor uses to determine where timing. If they are damaged and bent you will need to remove the engine and replace that part that is damaged the engine will never run properly without fixing that part. once the engine is out you will want to test fit a new sensor and make sure it is shimmed correctly before re-installing the engine. The noise and knocking was due to that problem.

 

All Paul Grant said was it was from a 96' with 117k on it. I did check the reluctor ring and it looks ok. I got lucky with that.

Do they make shim kits for this, or will I need to make something to make it fit at the right place?

 

Look at the CkPS off your old engine, see if they're the same depth/length. Shims are for either auto or manual. Those are the only two I'm aware of. I don't know if the later engines like 97 thru 99 are any different depth wise, doubt it. Whew, lucky on the ring for sure. If the engines are both 96 there shouldn't be a difference between the two crank outputs but something nailed the nose on the CkPS hard..... like a bolt head maybe? I'd hand turn the motor with plugs out to see what bit the sensor.

 

Um, kinda obvious there Captain don't ya think? We try to move somebody forward not show them where they already are...... but thanks kindly for offering to help.

 

You know Arts and Entertainment Monkey you sure have some kinda luck....... no twofer's!

 

Yea, luck has been interesting for me. I have really enjoyed rebuilding this beast but I sure have had my fair share of setbacks.

I spun the crank and no damage any place. I did see a reluctor bolt head with a nice scratch on it from the strike.

Both are the same length. I have the one from my truck but I was waiting on a confirmation of my thought before I muck up another one.

 

Just one bolt had the scar or are there more? If it's only one then it might have been the one that took out the CkPS before the others got there or it might be standing proud of the others, you'll have to dig a little deeper before I call it. The Rave lists engine serials for two different flywheel mounting configurations, check that. There is a min distance to the block, you may need a thicker flywheel shim.....again......check that. I'd measure the length of the good CkPS and the measure the distance to the reluctor, that bolt coincidentally may have been right at the CkPS as you started and bent it's nose right away. I'd get that measurement and make something to bolt into the opening with and check an entire revolution of the motor to see if the flywheel is warped or the bolt being proud of the others or.....? Piece of scrap metal, soft scrap of some sort.

 

Lucky for sure on that ring, I had a bent tab on my truck that caused it not rev passed 2K RPM while cold then once warmed up it was fine, the tabs had to be 5 mm apart from the next tab, after that it was good as for the spacer on the third picture it looks half the depth that I have seen, if you still have your old engine or CPS check if the spacer is the same length.