cam install gone bad

Wes06

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hope you get yours worked out soon. I wound up throwing my timing chain when the phaser broke while hand turning. coulda shoulda woulda.

@2ny well arent you lucky :p

damn these cams are fun now that the trouble is over though
 

CPRsm

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Don't get discouraged. Happens to everyone. My first time I did cam and heads. Larger valves of course. After a few days of my buddy putting the plug wires on in the wro g rotation, we got her going. Ran great for a few days until the first time I took it to 6200 or so.
"Did you clay the motor?"
"Wut?"
LOL, to be a teenager.
 

Captainstr8edge

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Carnage

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Captainstr8edge

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that valve stem was wedged between the pison and head, when we lifted the head it flew up into the air like a spring, took us a minute of going "what the fuck was that?!" before we found it.
 

TGR96

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Man, stories like this are what has kept me scared away from doing the cams. I like to do all the work on my car myself, and I am no stranger to working on cars, but I have never done a cam swap. I want to so badly, but I am scared of a little screw up on my part will cost me an engine. My Stang is my DD as well, so I can't afford any down time IF something were to happen.

Hate to hear this happened to you, but glad to see that you are close to being back on the road.
 

Ssiptang

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Man, stories like this are what has kept me scared away from doing the cams. I like to do all the work on my car myself, and I am no stranger to working on cars, but I have never done a cam swap. I want to so badly, but I am scared of a little screw up on my part will cost me an engine. My Stang is my DD as well, so I can't afford any down time IF something were to happen.

Hate to hear this happened to you, but glad to see that you are close to being back on the road.

Exact same reason why my hodrods have been sitting in my garage for sometime. Most shop wants $700 to $1000 in my area. Fuck that
 

Captainstr8edge

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Honestly, one easy thing could have completely prevented this. Use a breaker bar and while you have the covers off just give a couple of rotations while watching the followers. If I had done that it would have become obvious something was wrong. Hind sight is 20/20.
 

702GT

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Honestly, one easy thing could have completely prevented this. Use a breaker bar and while you have the covers off just give a couple of rotations while watching the followers. If I had done that it would have become obvious something was wrong. Hind sight is 20/20.


^ This.

99.9% of any work you do yourself, procedure is what will put your nuts on the chopping block. If there's even a shadow of doubt, question your own work, and your buddies. Did he torque that? Fuck it, do it again. Did I spin the motor? Fuck it, covers comin back off and we're spinnin it.

I had gotten so comfortable on doing cam swaps, I forgot to torque the damn cam bolts in my car this last go-'round! Fortunately, I always work with a partner, and he caught it. We're pretty strict on double checking each others work. It's not a matter of trust by any means, there's just a lot going on under the hood, 1 little lifter can make all the difference.

My favorite, watching an ex-buddy of ours dyno his freshly "built" teksid 2v, and he didn't drill the coolant crossover like he was warned to. That motor didn't last long, nor his gasket. We didn't like him anyway. LOL.

Good luck OP! Reminder to all of us, we're not beyond checking our work, no matter what our experience level.
 

S197gt07

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When they placed the followers back on after they rotated the motor back to 12:00 one wasnt seated right. If they turned the motor over it would of became obvious.

Once they fired it up, follower fell off and trashed the head, and a valve dropped.
 

702GT

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What was it you actually did. Or didn't do. That caused the problem?

According to OP, a follower fell off and dropped a valve. A hand spin would have caught this and avoided a series of unfortunate events.
 

Hotrodder

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That sucks, sorry such an easy oversight caused soo much headache. Best of luck to you.
 

Wes06

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When i put mine in i went to hand crank it <like said> however one phaser bolt wasnt torqued down <due to a previous goof and had been used> Wound up throwing the passenger timing chain off when phaser slipped off the end of the cam. Stupid mistake. Atleast my work got double checked by mechanics at uncle's shop when they re-timed it <i didnt have the time/patience at this point to do anything else>
 

Timmbo

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The best thing is not having your hot rod as a DD. I think I spent a week putting my supercharger kit on and a couple days with the cams. Where you screw up is when you feel rushed or you start getting bored. I approach my car like my guitars. I play with them for a bit, hang them back up then go play with them again. It's more enjoyable to me that way.
 

HellsBells

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The best thing is not having your hot rod as a DD. I think I spent a week putting my supercharger kit on and a couple days with the cams. Where you screw up is when you feel rushed or you start getting bored. I approach my car like my guitars. I play with them for a bit, hang them back up then go play with them again. It's more enjoyable to me that way.

I play my guitar everyday and that's how I like it.
 

Bmr4life

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Exact same reason why my hodrods have been sitting in my garage for sometime. Most shop wants $700 to $1000 in my area. Fuck that

Check out Coupe Perfomance in Covington, GA. They did mine for $400 when I had my 05 GT.

The best thing is not having your hot rod as a DD. I think I spent a week putting my supercharger kit on and a couple days with the cams. Where you screw up is when you feel rushed or you start getting bored. I approach my car like my guitars. I play with them for a bit, hang them back up then go play with them again. It's more enjoyable to me that way.

Only a few people can be that fortunate.
 
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