OK Guy's I am back again! My son and I started tearing down the V10 engine and ran into a bit of a snag. The main bearing caps are not just bolt in. There are what appears to be shims (kind of refraining from saying hammer in or press in shims) which are between the block and the bearing caps. Can anyone please tell me what the removal and installation is for these shims? They do not appear to be threaded in any way and the head on top of them is like a circle with two sides flattened out.

BTW, I have not heard any response on the solid aluminum rod bearings used in these hard worked engine. Sure does not make any sence to me when I saw my back two cylinders bearings all chunked up to where the rods locked up the engine.

Thanks, Andy

 

The main bearing caps are cross-bolted on the Ford modulars. This means that there is a bolt going through the side of the block into the side of the main bearing cap on each side of the block.

If you are going this far into this job, GET A SERVICE MANUAL. It would have been obvious if you had a service manual.

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As for not answering about the bearing material, some of us do have lives outside of FTE

 

Well it was obviously not obvious when I pulled up the truck engine crankshaft removal on Autozone.com and there is absolutly no mention of any side bolts. Now don't get me wrong, the site is really too generic from what I see and I have ordered a service manual. On top of that I looked at the engine and yes there are (easily missed) side main bearing cap bolts.

I too have been wrong before but when I am on the upside of the information loop I try to teach, not be sarcatic to thoughs that have not experienced what I have yet in life.

Andy

 

i think ur taking what Krew. wrote the wrong way...

i beleive hes just saying having a genuine service manual will help u out immensly.. as u can get info rite away instead of having to post here and hoping for results..

what ur doing is some BIG work.. having that manual will really help you...

 

I have ordered a haynes manual and it should be here today. Seems as though you guys are talking about an actual Ford manual. What source do you recommend? Ford dealer item only??

I know, I am new to all this V10 stuff and the blown out sparkplug stuff but it just makes me, being a long time Ford man, really upset at Ford for making faulty heads and not backing their product. I guess it is all about the money to them, not customer satisfaction. Truely disappointed.

Andy

 

Andy, I am not being sarcastic when it comes to the service manual.

The Ford modulars are all cross-bolted. They have been manufactured from 1991, beginning with the 4.6L V8 in the Crown Victoria.

Autozone's website is about as generic as it gets. It MIGHT be useful for torque specs, but that's about it.

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If you took my bearing-material comment as sarcastic, I'm sorry.

But again, we all don't have the time to check back here every few hours

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Ford's "faulty heads" are not really faulty. There might have been a production-line issue, which they did try to fix, and there might have been a mistake made when they went with platinum plugs and said "no maintenance for 100K miles" on spark plugs, and didn't use anti-seize or zinc-plated (galvanized) plugs at the factory (replacements ARE plated).

Plenty of people here have done the maintenance on their plugs and never ever have an issue. Even the '99's. For more information about plugs and Ford's attempts at remedies:

December 1996 - 4.6L 4V alignment feature added
February 1997 - 4.6L 2V head alignment feature added
September 2000 - WEP (Windsor Engine Plant) 2V head alignment feature modified (4.6/5.4/6.8)
November 2002 - WEP introduced long thread heads on 2V (all)
May 2003 - REP (Romeo Engine Plant) introduced long-thread heads on 4V 4.6 and 5.4
November 2003 - REP introduced long-thread heads on 2V and modified alignment feature

In 1999, and 2001, an interim fix was done for a cross-threading issue.
Original process:

Step 1 - Zero torque spark plug (air tool)
Step 2 - Torque to 16-20Nm final torque (DC Run down), monitor at 6-12Nm, and final torque must be reached within 0-360 degrees.

New process (addressed the possibility of applying installation torque for more than 25 degrees of rotation)
Step 1 - Zero torque spark plug (air tool)
Step 2 - Torque to 16-20Nm final torque (DC Run down) start monitor at 6-12Nm, and final torque must be reached within 3-25 degrees.

Another action to address cross-threading was the addition of an alignment feature to lead the plug into the hole.

 

Thanks for all the excellent information.

The Haynes manual was quite a bit more specific but I had to look for the side bolts to be actually mentioned.

I have never messed around with one of these modular engines. I did not think Ford did the side bolts thing.

Andy