302 Valve Clearance
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2012
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From: Peine, Germany
302 Valve Clearance
Today I finished my 302 roller cam conversion on my '89 E150.
It started right up, ran for about 10 seconds and suddenly died without any strange noise.
I saw that the distributor had moved and might be out of timing.
Long story short:
The crank is cranking, but the cam not camming
There must be a fault at the (new) timing chain.
Until I remove the timing cover, my biggest concern is:
Is there enough valve clearance, so the Valves don't hit the Pistons?
I'm worrying about my valves and heads.
The Camshaft is a CompCam 35-12-8 and I have 1.6 roller rockers
It started right up, ran for about 10 seconds and suddenly died without any strange noise.
I saw that the distributor had moved and might be out of timing.
Long story short:
The crank is cranking, but the cam not camming
There must be a fault at the (new) timing chain.
Until I remove the timing cover, my biggest concern is:
Is there enough valve clearance, so the Valves don't hit the Pistons?
I'm worrying about my valves and heads.
The Camshaft is a CompCam 35-12-8 and I have 1.6 roller rockers
FTE Legend
Joined: Jun 2006
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From: Ottawa, Ontario
P-V clearance is not a problem with the lift and duration that cam produces, it's about the same as the HO cam with 1.7 rockers which is a common bolt-on for the Mustang guys, and the cam I have in my '90 truck motor produces even more lift and duration and it's been running problem free for years.
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Joined: Jul 2012
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From: Peine, Germany
That calms me down a bit.
So now I have to find out what went wrong.
My theories so far:
- New chain broke
- Key in lower sproket broken off
- Camshaft pin slipped out or broke
- Camshaft bolt lossened
Whatever it is I'm sick and tired of taking it apart again
So now I have to find out what went wrong.
My theories so far:
- New chain broke
- Key in lower sproket broken off
- Camshaft pin slipped out or broke
- Camshaft bolt lossened
Whatever it is I'm sick and tired of taking it apart again
Hotshot
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 11,141
Likes: 25
From: south louisiana
Hard to believe a new chain would break. I'd suspect the camshaft pin as the culprit, this pin needs to have a press fit once it's in the hole (cam) it should not move at all. The cam bolt needs to be torqued to 45 ft/lbs
Elder User
Joined: Mar 2013
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From: In my house..
P-V clearance is not a problem with the lift and duration that cam produces, it's about the same as the HO cam with 1.7 rockers which is a common bolt-on for the Mustang guys, and the cam I have in my '90 truck motor produces even more lift and duration and it's been running problem free for years.
Elder User
Joined: Mar 2013
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From: In my house..
I suspect it was not installed correctly, that kind of stuff just don't happen when it's put together right..
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Joined: Jul 2012
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From: Peine, Germany
The camshaft pin is the most likely propability.
What bothered me was that when I tried to push the pin till the bottom of the camshaft hole, the trapped air inside was pushing it back out
It was similiar on the old cam - but there was a "plop" from a vacuum when i pulled it out.
I din't re-use the old one, I just wanted to know the length because the CompCam came with 2 new pins - 1 long and 1 short.
There was the short one in it and I tried to get the long one in, bit it didn't fit.
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Hotshot
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 11,141
Likes: 25
From: south louisiana
Ain't the air pushing it back out, it's the trapped oil. Should be a press fit (tight) that prevents this. The cam bolt washer would prevent the pin from popping outta the hole, maybe you left the washer off the bolt ? The long pin is used to drive the 1 piece mech fuel pump eccentric. The shorter one is used with the 2 pc eccentric and the stamped steel "counterweight" piece that came with the EFI motors. I say "counterweight' as I'm not sure really what that part was intended to do, it's too light weight to be a counterweight although it looks like one. Could possibly be for a camshaft sensor, although I've seen them used in pre Explorer applications.
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Hotshot
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 11,141
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From: south louisiana
Some things are better left unsaid. We can't all be perfect like yourself
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2012
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From: Peine, Germany
It really bothered me not to know what happened - so I took the timing cover off.
The Pin and the Bolt snapped.
I did not have another screw that fitted into the camshaft, so I could not try to spin it.
But I guess it acted as a failsafe and something is blocking the cam.
Probably a "Dogbone" went off the "Spider" and now a lifter is jamming the cam.
My next step is to take off the intake manifold ... oh what a joy ...
I'll do that on Saturday.
Tomorrow I'll pump iron as anger management
The Pin and the Bolt snapped.
I did not have another screw that fitted into the camshaft, so I could not try to spin it.
But I guess it acted as a failsafe and something is blocking the cam.
Probably a "Dogbone" went off the "Spider" and now a lifter is jamming the cam.
My next step is to take off the intake manifold ... oh what a joy ...
I'll do that on Saturday.
Tomorrow I'll pump iron as anger management
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 210
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From: Peine, Germany
The van has been bugging me for the last few years, that this picture gets more and more inspiring
