Technical 352 FE Timing Jumps Around & knocking

I had an oddball issue on a 361 Edsel FE. It had really low compression across all cylinders like yours does. I pulled the bottom end and heads in the car and the guy who overhauled the engine had installed the wrong rings. Not sure what the rings were from but they had around 3/16" ring gap. The engine ran okay, but was hard to start. It didn't have any knock to it though.

Doubtful it's not the wrong rings in your 352. Low compression across all cylinders would be the rings aren't sealing. You should have around 160 psi or so? Advancing or retarding a cam 4 degrees or even the wrong timing isn't going to cut the cranking compression in half.

Was this engine rebuilt with new everything or overhauled with standard rings and bearings?

 

Make sure the damper isn't loose on the crankshaft and/or the Woodruff key and slot wallowed out.

 

Sometime in the 60's Ford changed the timing chain and gears on the FE engines. As I remember, one set utilized a loose spacer on the the cam gear, and then they started making the spacer part of the gear. So, depending on the application, when replacing the timing set, you could wind up without the spacer, and the camshaft would move back and forth. On the other hand, some made the mistake of trying to install the later gear and the spacer too. Probably not the case here, but food for thought. As others have stated, a cylinder leak down test, is by far the best way to analyze engine problems. If you have air leakage, you can listen in the carb, exhaust, or oil fill, to tell if it is rings, intake, or exhaust valves.

 

The earliest 352 have a spring and button at the front of the cam to control end play. Pull the fuel pump and poke the camera in.

 

that's what I was waiting to hear. I put a new timing set in and left the spacer, not knowing it was there. Ate the distributor drive gear off the cam. No way it would last 500 miles though. That was in a 360

 

Doan Spencer could build a "Y" block that would perform, he gone so who's left that can assess "Y" block problems. I remember they all smoked and had valvetrain noise when they were new. They're not a good place to start a nailhead Buick I say, will make your problems go away.

 

Y block and FE are different engine families.

 

Timing jumps around. Have you checked if there are springs on the advance weights Pull the cap and see if the rooter just flops back and forth. also look for loose shaft bushings.

 

timing marks may be off because pulley is loose on the dampner.

 

So what happened?? Did you fix the problem???

 

Enquiring minds want to know.

 

Motor is toast….. spun 5 bearings…. Crank is done…. Total roadkill…..

 

Sorry bro

 

Bummer. Salvage what you can and move on. Lots of FE's still out there.

 

If the block is still good, time for a stroker...

 

If it will go 4.050...that's standard bore 390, you can build a 445!

 

That takes a .030 overbore, or .080 over on a 352. Most will take it, but you do need to sonic check cylinder wall thickness.

 

I ran into this issue , years ago the vacuum advance arm lost the clip , holding the arm to the breaker plate . The plate was floating around when Engine was running . Tough one for me to locate .