Never seen a 352-390-428 that had lifter bore problems, and I've seen quite a few- and only one 427 that needed lifter bore sleeves after a rough life with big cams- it's in my shop right now, a sideoiler race block with bronze lifter sleeves that also has thick sleeves in all 8 cylinders. Besides, a borescope will let you look right in there. Plugged oil gallery? Really? They are full-flow, full-pressure hot oil galleries like any other engine (except the solid lifter FE's which have no oiling, in most cases, to the lifters), seen lots of FE's that had been poorly maintained with the oil drainback holes in the heads completely clogged but pressure oil still flowing fine, and **** will ac***ulate in the rocker shafts, but the pressure galleries don't clog up and not flow- if they did, the lifter would be the least of your worries, since the bearings feed the same way. BTW, replacing the lifters on an FE without pulling the intake is the factory way, and actually quite easy- you need to brush up on your shop manuals before giving "advice" that makes folks do a lot more work and spend a lot more bux than necessary.
Mean gene 427 I guess you can't read can you or do you just think you are an expert. I said with the " timing " and firing order screwed up. Why don't you on your next Ford build run your firing order backwards ,spin it over and see what happens. If you are going to criticize a statement read it 1st.
Gotta go with MeanGene427, wrong timing can't possibly create the mechanical interference required to bend or break anything in the valve train. All it can do is make the spark plug fire at the wrong time. Nothing mechanical about it.
I sorta disagree with everybody......firing order all fuked up might result in a cylinder firing at a point when one or more pistons are at, say 3/4 way up the bore. It's about like hitting them with a hammer. I'd back off all the valves, check each cylinder at TDC with the leakdown tester....and make sure the cam is still bumpy all over.
I did read it, several times, and each time it made less sense, and it's still baloney Why would one want to do an idiotic thing like run the firing order backwards? Are you saying you can't figure out which way your distributor turns, find TDC #1, and put the wires on right? And then if there's a problem, blame it on "it's a Ford" Maybe the problem isn't on the engine end of the wrench
You can hit your pistons all day long with whatever hammer you want. It ain't gonna bend a valve or pushrod.
Mean gene 427. I said the op is the one with the timing and firing order messed up.You just don't comprehend what someone is saying when you read something. You said that no way could anything in the valvetrain get bent with the firing order wrong and again you didn't read the op's post about just stabbing the distributor and changing wires around. As hard headed as you are is why I said run your firing order backwards to prove the point to you but you can't even understand that. Give the insults a rest. You sound like someone kicked your Ford and was wearing a Chevy shirt. Grow up man .
I fully comprehend what you are saying- and it's still baloney. Again, for YOUR comprehension, if the cam timing was off, you could get into interference problems and possibly damage some parts- although these particular engines with a stock cam typically have deep enough valve reliefs to survive a jumped timing chain without any contact. Ignition timing or firing order off can make it kick back, backfire, sneeze, not fire at all, or run like ****- but your statement, and I quote- "Fords with non-adjustable valves are notorious for bending valves,pushrods and breaking springs when cranked up with the timing and firing order screwed up." is baloney. I know these particular engines pretty well, and ***ociate with a lot of other folks with as much or in some cases a lot more knowledge and experience with them, and presently have more than 20 FE's out in the shop including 10 various 427's up to a 505ci Genesis stroker, 3 428CJ's and an SCJ, at least six 390's, a 391HD truck engine, and a 352, heads from plain-Jane to at least 5 sets of Edelbrocks, about 10 sets of various 406-427LR-428CJ, cams/ valvetrain from stock to .725 lift, juice, solid flat tappet and solid roller, rockers from your "notorious" non-adjustables to stock adjustables, Isky's, several brands of rollers/ spacers/end stands/ HD shafts, and neither myself or any of my ***ociates have ever reported or heard of your "notorious" problem- with an FE, or for that matter a Chebbie, Briggs & Stratton, John Deere, anything. Your statement, again, "Fords with non-adjustable valves are notorious for bending valves,pushrods and breaking springs when cranked up with the timing and firing order screwed up." is baloney Ni-Ni now
This is a logical place to start. And do consult a good manual to show you where #1 should be on the cap, firing order, etc. When I was in the tune up business, I'd see care come in barely running and have the wires on the cap rotated around to get it to run. Some of these had jumped time, some were backyard tune up fails. Bob
I picked up a cherry old skiploader a couple years ago that had been worked on by a local "mobile tractor mechanic", wouldn't start, and he told the owner he had pulled the head and the engine was completely shot. Dealership had offered $500 for it for parts if they hauled it in, so I looked at it, valve cover was off, but head hadn't been touched, had compression, so I gave them the $500 for it as-is where-is. Dist hadn't been out or moved, still had the original paint on the lockdown bolt, but it was sneezin & fartin- the wires were off by one in rotation (they don't jump around the cap by themselves) and with only 3 cylinders it was off a bit. Put 'em back where they belonged, fired it up and drove it home, ran sweet, sold it a couple months later for $5400
Wrong firing order breaking mechanical parts? Anything is possible...But in the past I have screwed up and seen people screw up the firing order on many engine with no mechanical damage.As a kid I wired a Y Block 292 with a clockwise Chevy firing order . The engine actually ran ,very ****ty,but enough to get to the local garage.The mechanic laughed so hard he he didn't charge me for re doing the firing order.Engine ran fine afterwards.
Brings to mind the statement, "If it ain't broke fix it 'til it is" Sounds like the intake manifold gasket needed to be repaired at least and perhaps it still needs to be repaired, gasket not sealing could cause oil smoke. I do have to ask the obvious, aside from the distributer turning counter clockwise did you count your cylinders 1234 on one bank and 5678 on the other when you wired the distributer or did you go back and forth like a GM.
Oh yes, the spark not happening when it's supposed to can make a car run worse than home made ****. I used to see them come in sputtering, chugging and dieseling too. Bob
I was just wondering the same thing. When I got my first flathead (and first Ford V8) it all seemed so wrong to me Ford: (Front) 5 : 1 6 : 2 7 : 3 8 : 4 (Back) GM: (Front) 1 : 2 3 : 4 5 : 6 7 : 8 (Back)
Didn't the op say that he has no compression on 2 cylinders? (or was that another thread?) If I am right about the compression thing, I am betting that 2 valves or a few are either stuck or held open by push rods that are too long, and/or valves that are too recessed. I read on a site that when rebuilding or servicing these engines, different length pushrods were commonly used to compensate for wear, machining tolerances, etc. This was due to the stock lifters having very little travel for taking up more than just a little lash. A "re***ignment" of "custom length" pushrods from one valve to another would cause "issues". If "done right" these different length pushrods would be partially painted in a color that would denote their length, If done improperly, they might all have a natural finish and need to be measured.
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