My (plodding along) engine test stand project has inspired this thread. I am continuing to creep along toward spinning the engine (289 truck V8), with the goal of eventually cranking, running, & evaluating it's condition. When I got the engine, it had a rather grungy looking Delco distributor (non window type) installed. I hadn't given it much thought while attending to more pressing details. Now that I have reached the point of wanting to spin the oil pump for pre-lubricating the engine, I gave it a closer look. From what I could tell, the distributor was out of position. Searching through pictures, I concluded that the orientation of where the vacuum advance was installed, it would interfere with the throttle bellcrank/linkage. So, I rotated it about 180 degrees, but I think I missed a gear tooth. So, I gotta go back & reset it again.
Looking at the manual pics, it looks like the distributor engagement slot in the oil pump is slightly offset. So I need to position the oil pump to accept the distributor tang as well as engage the proper gear mesh between the cam & distributor drive gears. I have done this successfully many times, but so long ago, I think I need to "retrain" myself. My plan is to use a drill & a straight shaft to spin the oil pump before reinstalling the distributor. That's when I got this goofy notion to use a borescope to aid in positioning the oil pump. Perhaps it is just another silly excuse to buy another tool toy to play with.
Anyway, so I finally got on eBay and typed in borescope. Good Grief!
What a surprise! Thousands of items popped up. Even when I narrowed the search to U.S. only, new,and "buy it now" offerings, the available items are still in the thousands. I had always thought such an item would be expensive, so I was not surprised with the ones with prices in the hundreds of dollars. However, there are some, supposedly little cameras on the end of USB cables, selling for near pocket change.
That has caused me to come here and ask for forum opinions. I don't want to overpay for a toy that will be rarely used. Nor do I want to jump in and buy something totally "useless" for my purposes. Some of these are advertised as "Borescope/Endoscopy" uses. I didn't read far enough to see if anyone is selling them as used "colonoscopy" units.
(Ugh!) Some of the more expensive ones seem to be stand alone units. Others look like I could use them in conjunction with my iPhone or laptop. For those of you who have one, how, when, where, why, etc. Is it a worthwhile tool?
Looking at the manual pics, it looks like the distributor engagement slot in the oil pump is slightly offset. So I need to position the oil pump to accept the distributor tang as well as engage the proper gear mesh between the cam & distributor drive gears. I have done this successfully many times, but so long ago, I think I need to "retrain" myself. My plan is to use a drill & a straight shaft to spin the oil pump before reinstalling the distributor. That's when I got this goofy notion to use a borescope to aid in positioning the oil pump. Perhaps it is just another silly excuse to buy another tool toy to play with.
Anyway, so I finally got on eBay and typed in borescope. Good Grief!
What a surprise! Thousands of items popped up. Even when I narrowed the search to U.S. only, new,and "buy it now" offerings, the available items are still in the thousands. I had always thought such an item would be expensive, so I was not surprised with the ones with prices in the hundreds of dollars. However, there are some, supposedly little cameras on the end of USB cables, selling for near pocket change. That has caused me to come here and ask for forum opinions. I don't want to overpay for a toy that will be rarely used. Nor do I want to jump in and buy something totally "useless" for my purposes. Some of these are advertised as "Borescope/Endoscopy" uses. I didn't read far enough to see if anyone is selling them as used "colonoscopy" units.
(Ugh!) Some of the more expensive ones seem to be stand alone units. Others look like I could use them in conjunction with my iPhone or laptop. For those of you who have one, how, when, where, why, etc. Is it a worthwhile tool?
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