[Jiffy]

seriously - the end of the cam has broken off?

Unfortunately it sounds like it all has to come out again and be checked over - that missing piece of cast iron will be floating around somewhere.
Sorry...

 

[extech]

the pistons will connect with the valves if its out of time

 

[galaxiex]

Interference engine. Probably bent some valves.
Maybe damaged pistons too.

 

[cwazywazy]

Why did the cam bolt come loose? I still haven't found an answer to that question. The comp cams timing gear (CCA-2108) does appear to be a different style to the OEM but I don't see why it wouldn't work just fine. The bolt was given blue loctite and cranked to 45ft lb, as far as I can remember. Maybe that wasn't enough torque? The bolt doesn't appear to have stretched and the threads are still fine, on the bolt and in what's left of the cam.

But anyway, I found that the #8 intake valve was the only one of the bunch unlucky enough to touch piston and its lifter did not have a good time.

This is what I could extract, the bottom part of the lifter fell down into the pan. The other 15 still look perfect. The cam lobe and lifter bore both got gacked pretty badly. The pushrod is still nice and straight, but its got some scuffing on it.

So yeah, looks like the engine's coming back out. I'm pretty bummed about this.

 

[galaxiex]

Did you install the factory original "C" shaped spacer behind the cam gear when you changed the timing set?

The pics look like the spacer is still on the front of the camshaft.

That spacer (if it was installed) is NOT supposed to be used with the new cam gear.
The new timing sets (Cam gear, crank gear and chain) have the spacer "built into" the new cam gear.
You are supposed to leave out the factory spacer or catastrophic damage happens.....

The new timing set should have come with instructions that tell you to LEAVE THE SPACER OUT!

... but we never read the instructions..... right?....

To the best of my knowledge ALL new timing sets come with the spacer "built into" the cam gear and require the factory spacer left out.
Even the new replacement timing sets from Ford back in the day, deleted the spacer.

 

[cwazywazy]

Did you install the factory original "C" shaped spacer behind the cam gear when you changed the timing set?

The pics look like the spacer is still on the front of the camshaft.

That spacer (if it was installed) is NOT supposed to be used with the new cam gear.
The new timing sets (Cam gear, crank gear and chain) have the spacer "built into" the new cam gear.
You are supposed to leave out the factory spacer or catastrophic damage happens.....

The new timing set should have come with instructions that tell you to LEAVE THE SPACER OUT!

... but we never read the instructions..... right?....

To the best of my knowledge ALL new timing sets come with the spacer "built into" the cam gear and require the factory spacer left out.
Even the new replacement timing sets from Ford back in the day, deleted the spacer.

Dang you're spot on. I read the part of the instructions about the timing marks and pretty much ignored the rest. I never noticed there was a spacer in there, until I pulled the pieces of it out.

So I'm guessing I'm gonna need a machine shop to repair that lifter bore?

 

[galaxiex]

Dang you're spot on. I read the part of the instructions about the timing marks and pretty much ignored the rest. I never noticed there was a spacer in there, until I pulled the pieces of it out.

So I'm guessing I'm gonna need a machine shop to repair that lifter bore?

Yes, lifter bore can be sleeved.

Be aware that you MUST use the factory thick washer under the cam sprocket BOLT.
Or an equivalent hardened thick washer.
Do NOT use a stack of thin cheesy hardware store washers to make up the thickness, or it will fail again.
It is a special washer there for a reason.

 

[cwazywazy]

I can't find a machine shop that says they can do an FE lifter bore. So should I find a new motor or try and salvage this one with a flappy wheel?

 

[extech]

it won't ever be right without a sleeve

 

[cwazywazy]

I've torn the block bare. A little scoring inside the oil pump, very worn rod bearings, but nothing real bad other than the one lifter bore. Still haven't found a shop willing to fix it, so I hit it with some small drill hones until all the gouges were smooth to the touch, however when I put a lifter down it, there's a lot more wiggle room than in one of the healthy bores. With a digital caliper I got .001 inch clearance on a healthy hole and .003 inches on the bad one.

Is this just gonna ruin any new cam/lifters I throw in it as-is? Should I just get a new motor?

Before honing:

After:

 

[Jiffy]

You'd need to find an oversize lifter - I'm not sure if they exist, but I bet they do.
I have read that Mopar lifters are a larger diameter, so look into that.
Also these guys advertise oversize roller lifters, maybe they know of an oversize flat-tappet?

 

[cwazywazy]

Coming back together now. More details later. Currently building a new exhaust, which I hate doing, but I'm trying to do it right.

Also I figured out the wheels are from an AMC Spirit AMX.

 

[m in sc]

im really curious what the solution you went with for the lifter bore.

 

[cwazywazy]

im really curious what the solution you went with for the lifter bore.

I decided to pretty much ignore it. Yeah, it's not what I want to do but I think it'll be okay. After all, the service limit in the ford manual for lifter bore clearance is .005" and it's still less than that.

 

[ahaywood5785]

I am not sure how I missed this thread. Great looking car OP, I have a 4-door as well, really enjoy it. You are a braver soul than I am with pulling the engine, I did that a few times in my youth. I currently have a 289 in my Gal, but maybe someday will do the FE upgrade. Keep up the great work, love what you have done so far.

 

[cwazywazy]

Ooh, that thing's mighty shiny. I should wax mine or something. Thanks for the kind words.

Engine's pretty much ready to fire up, but I wanna get the exhaust done first so I don't have to worry about it later. I'm doing dual 2.5 into single 3 inch, straight out the back. V bands will make it easy to add a muffler later if I change my mind about that. I got the Sanderson headers in plain steel flavor. They barely fit on the driver's side (.020" clearance to the frame with feeler gauges) so I'm worried it's gonna rattle, but they do fit. I also need to bend the shift linkage a little more so it doesn't touch in park. Stock starter fits perfectly fine which I'm happy about.

 

[cwazywazy]

Finished exhaust and did the first start/cam breakin. It fired off immediately, but at first it wouldn't stay running because the idle mix screws were way out of whack. After fiddling those it seemed to run good. It's also a lot louder than I thought it would be. Those stock manifolds must have been incredibly restrictive, it's so much louder.

Completed exhaust:

Next step is valve spring swap, retorque head bolts, then go use my preferred method of breaking in piston rings. 😀

 

[cwazywazy]

Retorqued head bolts, swapped in new valve springs, and drove it probably 20 or 30 hard miles. It sounds so good. On the first drive I was leaving a huge cloud of smoke behind me every time I lifted off from a pull, and it was intermittently smoking at idle. I put a cheap PCV valve in line with the hose to the exhaust and that seems to have moslty alleviated the smoking.

I changed the oil today, saw a few bits and pieces inside the filter, nothing too concerning. I used conventional Powerstroke oil for the first start and switched to Rotella T4.

I reckon the carb needs some work. It idles okay, throttle response isn't great. It's not awful but it certainly doesn't snap like the old 2 barrel did. And today when I was driving it, it felt like it was surging and unhappy soon as I got it up in the RPMs. The only changes I made were adding more inital timing and installing the air cleaner, so I'm wondering just how restrictive that thing is.

I like how the engine is 3 different shades of blue now.

 

[m in sc]

fwiw, the pcv valve should be vertical, not horizontal.

 

[cwazywazy]

Yeah, I gave up on that and put the stock pcv setup back in. The exhaust pcv seemed to work very well at times, only under certain speeds/loads though. I also decided to keep my stock air cleaner, but I had to hack it up to make it work in this application. First thing was to grind out the little shroud around the carb inlet, I believe it was doing something to screw up the secondaries. Second thing was a twin snorkel. I mashed some 2.5" exhaust pipe into the same shape as the original snorkel and welded it in. I put some ducting in for a cold intake, but I'm not so sure about the look. Kinda looks like the vacuum guy from teletubbies.