Well, didn't get as far as I wanted to get tonight since I got off work later than expected, but managed to get a few things done. Namely this:



and this:



Got my crank pulley tool made so if anyone local needs one for their timing belt change, let me know.

The crank bolt came off easy. TOO easy. Got my 25" breaker bar on there and it took no effort to break it loose. I wedged the new tool on the frame rail.





A couple more things I found. Drained the oil via the drain plug. Didn't drop the pan. Caught the first quart or so in a cup before letting the rest go into the drain pan so I could look at it more closely. I let it set for a while so any particulates in the oil would be at the bottom. Slowly poured it from the cup to the drain pan while watching for any metal, or anything at the bottom of the cup. Nothing found except black oil. I ran a couple of tanks with fuel injection cleaner so cleaning some carbon out of the top end may explain some of the blackness in such a short time.

Also, took the alternator to O'Reilly to have it tested. Grabbed the pulley and spun it for the parts guy, and he didn't even bother to test it. It's gone. New alternator in the garage along with a new negative battery cable, and a new positive terminal to replace the beat up one that is currently there.

Saw a wire loom that had melted on the right side exhaust manifold and it appears to be the battery to starter cable. Looks like it got hit so that will have to be replaced. I'm wondering if the starter got shorted and is partially engaging? Maybe causing the noise I heard? Wishful thinking. Will look into further tomorrow.

Need to rent a harmonic balancer tool tomorrow so I can get the rest of the timing cover off and finally get an answer on the timing. Didn't have time to get to it tonight.

And a neat little artifact I found wedged between the Y pipe and the transmission:



Wonder what else I'm going to find?? Sorry for the long update. Hoping to document this saga from start to finish for anyone else new that comes along. Hopefully this thread can be of some use in the future.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Jay

(Edit: Link to website showing how to make the crank pulley tool. Credit to the website owner.)

Homemade crank pulley tool