Rebuilt my 390fe for my 65 T Bird, installed CompCam K33 kit with lifters, springs, timing chain/gear, also installed new valves break in went well drove around the block 6 times every 2 trips pulled in the drive way to check for leaks everything was good drove up the block 1/2 mile and bam lifters sounded loose pulled valve covers cylinder 2 had a bent push rod and a broken lifter, pulled the intake, heads to further investigate couple of the other lifters have some nicks im guessing from the pieces of the broken lifter was able to get a few pieces out with a magnet, what would cause the damage
As has been written about on here often, did you use the proper break in oil that contains zinc and the other additives required for our older camshafts? Did you check the clearances of the lifters into their bores when assembling to make sure they move freely? Are you using the stock Ford non adjustable rocker arm assembiles?
Dirty valve guides. A valve seized in the guide and bent the pushrod, allowing excessive lash.. the lifter is now in free flight and self destruction mode. Another possibility is that the lash was incorrect on assembly. Any sign of piston to valve contact?
No valve to piston contact, thats good........I used the cam break in lube that was with the kit also added some Lucas breakin additive to the oil.......seems like the valve hung up and caused the problem,will check later on the movement of the valves....looks like im starting all over again
What's the carburetor in your picture? It looks like a customized, chrome plated Thermoquad. Just when you think you've seen everything...
That may be the Ford God's getting back at you for using that carb. It is a Ford FE, Put a Holley on it for Christ's sake. I agree with Finn, most likely a stuck valve. Check your valve guide clearance. Remember, as the guides warm up, the ID gets smaller, not larger. Metal expands uniformly in all directions, which means internal holes get smaller as the metal expands, and the valve stem gets larger. Good Luck.
Cam walk original cam may have had a thrust washer, new cam has thrust washer cast in. assembling new cam with original thrust washer pulls cam out of the hole a bit and will kill the cam all all lifters.
I'd also guess guide clearance. I had that problem with a race engine yrs ago. Took the head porter 3 tries to get it right.
StreetE="ClayMart, post: 11169764, member: 41881"]What's the carburetor in your picture? It looks like a customized, chrome plated Thermoquad. Just when you think you've seen everything... [/QUOTE] Street Demon made by Holley, nothing custom
Interesting will check, followed procedures step by step and watched a rebuild series on youtube by aroosterrepairservice, I
Im sure I destroyed the cam as well, will check into the thrust washer area when I pull the cam, sure sucks, living here in Germany makes it twice as hard and $$$$$$
I did a budget build on a 1963 1/2 Galaxie 500XL, 352 25 years ago. put a new cam, lifters, new bearings hone and re-ring. Took the car on a 1200 Km round trip, just got home and the engine was rattling like crazy. Di-section found all bearings fritzed, cam had chips on the lobes and all lifters had chunks missing off them. fault caused by me not picking up the difference between the original and after market cam, never made that mistake again, built another 6 since then all went strong.
Did the same new bearings, hone there was no ridge at the top of cylinder walls just shiny walls, re-ring the kit I used was complete with matching lifters, springs and timing set, just pulled the cam out its wasted as well as bearings not sure about the crank bearings will have to pull the engine anyway looking into the block while cam and lifters still installed I could see that less than half the lifter has contact with the cam lobe, with the original cam next to the compcam they are the same length, will post some pics
Blacknred.....you called it I had the spacer between the cam and gear its not needed with a metal gear, just looked in the shop manual its called a spacer at first you threw me off calling it a thrustwasher I was thinking of the thrust plate all I can say is blank blank blank damn im pissed, lesson learned costly one
Glad to hear you found the problem. Don't forget that the frost plug in the back of the block that goes in the cam bore goes in "backwards" from all other frost plugs. Putting it in wrong can lead to a similar problem with the cam walking out of place. This is correct.
Sometimes you learn the hard way, will start the rebuild soon, got to sell a Chevy 6.0l Vortec I have in the garage to get some funds.
This was a common problem I used to run into when I was a Ford parts person. Later timing gears had the spacer built into the timing gear. We would always have to caution and explain to the customer that the spacer was not to be used or you would have bad results. Too bad you had to learn that this way. Bill
Why 2 different styles of cam gears, the new cam and bearings I ordered are on back order so it gives me time to pull and clean the block.
It actually had to do with the cam thrust system in the motors. The '62 and earlier FE's had a thrust button mounted on the inside of the timing cover that kept the whole cam and gear assembly in place. As all automakers do (not just Ford), the engineers came up with a better performing and cheaper system for the '63 and later model years (thrust bearing plate bolted to the front of the block). The fun starts with the aftermarket companies since cam manufacturers only make the later style of cam (which makes sense (cents) since there were many more years and FE motors produced after '62, then before.) However, since timing chains gears are wear items, the aftermarket guys still produced both sets of timing gears, and sometimes they get mixed up.
Ja I read about the earlier style FEs, this was my first V8 rebuild before was a couple aircooled VWs, that FE sure sounded sweet before it let loose
Yep, the sweetest motor sound in the world always occurs right before the worst sound you will ever hear. "It ran great until it didn't" RIP, Yogi.
Car fired right up, at 3000rpm oil pressure was just over 60 and at idle was at 25, small issues exhaust leak I have the wrong donut gaskets knew they were going to leak and the gas pedal/carb linkage is binding, will work those out set the timing, change the oil, bleed the brakes..........then go for a road test
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