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Me again
I thought I'd share some pics from today.
Finally freed up an engine stand. Got her pulled apart.
Rod bearings were worn, but not as worn as the main bearings
that spacer is a alignment dowel, look for a hole that it is driven into, oil wise how much of the pump pickup was gummed up? bearing wise i would have a shop mic the crank up, along with checking the bore for wear and being out of round
that spacer is a alignment dowel, look for a hole that it is driven into...
I think it went between the timing cover and block. The two lower bolt holes are designed for these alignment dowels. The bolts passed through the middle. You can see the two larger holes in the picture showing the timing chain. Was there anything in those holes? If they remained with the timing cover, you're good. If missing, you will have to get one more, or two if the one you found is damaged.
Do you think that dowel could have fallen out during removal of the timing cover? If not, somebody was obviously in there before you.
Don't omit them, thinking they aren't that important. They keep the bottom of the timing cover aligned flush with the bottom of the engine block. Otherwise you end up with a step, and may have trouble getting a good seal with the oil pan. The timing chain slings oil right there, so this is a prime spot for leakage.
good call Karl, i knew they were most have alignment, just were?? i'll admit having a brain fart, as the last SB ford i built was a 66 K code 289 which didn't use them
good call Karl, i knew they were most have alignment, just were?? i'll admit having a brain fart, as the last SB ford i built was a 66 K code 289 which didn't use them
I bet the earlier engine used the solid style pins. All the engines up into the 80's used some sort of alignment system for the timing cover. Only after that they started to not use alignment pins, and then that requires you to have a special tool to align the cover to the crankshaft before you tighten it down. If you are not careful, the front seal will not be concentric and will leak. They cheap out on everything now.
Some one has been in that motor before look at the timing chain cam gear, it is all steel not plastic.
Think that is the only reason the chain did not jump.
Mic the crank, and throw a set of bearing in it, new rings with a quick hone and call it good LOL
I had a non-Ford motor that the main & rods showed copper, the crank measured good.
Piston rings were stuck in the pistons.
New bearings and rings, quick hone, large cam with springs and dropped it in my drag car as I had a race, no time or money for a machine shop.
Motor had great oil psi and ran great to 6k where it ran out of breath through the lights. I would have put a smaller cam and dropped it into a street car if I did not sell the race car.
Dave ----
That is basically my plan.
Hone cylinders
New gaskets and seals
New timing chain
New bearings all around
The camshaft is something somewhat new to me. I cant figure out what I have in there now. It "looks" good, but that does not mean it is.
I will replace it, but not sure with what. I want something that will freshen up the engine, but will not make me do a bunch of extra work to the heads and components.
I am not looking to race. Just get me from point A to B and if it has some extra poop in her, I would love that.
I have a line on a new stock grind cam and lifter combo, but I don't know if that is the direction I should go
On my "throw together" motor I for got to check the cam bearings
I also cant see them getting a lot of wear unless oil was never changed.
I also did not have the tool to remove or replace the cam bearings so guess not checking them was ok.
Best to not know they were bad and not to worry
I did buy a spring compressor for the valve springs as the little one I had for doing them with heads on motor I would still be changing them LOL
As for the cam if it was an after market it may have something on the end where the gear gets installed. If nothing I would say it was factory.
Did you like the power the motor had all wore out? Just think how much better it will be after the rebuild.
On the cam I would look at factory spec. and them after market ones that are close to that.
The thing to know is if you go bigger as you said you need to then look into push rods, springs (might be good to replace anyway as the old ones may be weak). Then the working RPM range goes up. Say the factory is from idle to 5500 RPM a large cam may then be 2500 to 6500 RPM.
This then brings on needing more compression and higher stall speed converter for an auto transmission and even may need a rear gear change, etc.
You might be best to talk to the cam people with the info of your truck, motor spec, trans, rear gear and what the truck will be used mostly for.
That is their job and should know what would work best for you.
On the drag motor I ask for the largest cam with out needing to do machine work. I had adjustable valve train and the push rods from the blown up race motor worked out to be right size. Cam was still to small for the 4.56 gear out back at the finish line.
Now I also used clay to make sure the valves would not hit a piston just like you would with any motor with a large cam.
Just because it was a junk yard bomb that could put windows in the block is no reason not to follow good motor building rules.
Dave ----
