06 Gt Hot Rod cam install

eighty6gt

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You will not solve your shifter play because of the required degrees of freedom in the links. I have an aftermarket shifter and it's 1" each way in gear.

MGW might be a bit better

I have a design on the board (requires blowfish bracket) that eliminates play entirely. It will be ages before I make one, though.
 

ShelbySteve

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No first hand experience, but I think I read on here that someone makes a brass bushing that is supposed to eliminate the shifter slop?
 

kstall

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So for an update on the gear install..as of today its been in the shop a week. Mechanic contacted me last week when he started on it and said the diff cover had some slight damage to it and was leaking a bit of oil. Now I noticed the housing looked greasy but I thought maybe that was because of the dump exhaust just in front of the axle. No prob, order us a new cover and lets go. So today we talk and he said for 2 days now he's been working on getting backlash and depth dialed in. Said the drive and coast are waaay out and that the pinion centerline and axle centerline aren't square. He wondered if it had ever been wrecked or possibly beat on by previous owner and had stressed the axle. Carfax is clean. I dont know about the guy beating on it but just from the time I was around him, he didnt seem like the type that would do that. Who knows.

He suggested to try a set of Yukon 4.11's and see if they fit any better. If they dont I guess we need a new diff assembly? Those should be in tomorrow so hopefully by Friday we should know either way. Ugh I really hope we dont need a new assembly.
Yall have any thoughts?
 

mustanger

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Did the factory gears make any noise or show any significant wear? If the factory gears were okay I would have a hard time believing there's an issue with the housing so it could be a bad set of gears. I see you got Ford Racing gears. Those are usually good quality though. It's not out of the question an axle tube could be bent, especially if the previous owner smacked a curb or something. However, the pinion and carrier centerline are contained in the carrier which seems like it would be much harder to twist or damage outside of a very bad accident. How much experience does this mechanic have with gear installs? Did he replace the pinion bearing races? If so it may be possible he didn't get them seated evenly which would throw things off. Hope it turns out okay for you.
 

kstall

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No noise from the oem gears. Everything was smooth and quiet. We ordered the ford racing 4:10s. The guy has been in business for 25+ years and I've heard and read nothing but good reviews about his shop. I've only dealt with him once prior to this and that was for an oil and coolant change. I've actually trouble finding a shop that wanted to mess with it and he would so I went with him. This is the kit we ordered.

https://www.americanmuscle.com/410-gear-oil-kit-8609.html
 

kstall

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Also he said something a pin being broke? I can't remember exactly what he said in regards to that.
 

JEWC_Motorsports

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Id go pick up my car and find someone who knows how to set up an 8.8 properly. It took a buddy of mine less than a couple hours to set my gears up using a solid pinion spacer.
 

kstall

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Just heard from the mech, he said the Yukons are night and day better than the ford gears. Said the pattern looks very good. We will be picking it up today...thank you Jesus!
 

kstall

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Got the car picked up this afternoon....holy freakin cow! I never knew gears would make such a difference in the ole "tickle the taint" factor. Man those gears really woke things up. My son doesn't get excited often, or at least not the point of showing it, but we went for a little ride and I told him to stretch her legs a bit...he mashed the gas and run her up to around 5500 and we both laughed and giggled like 2 school girls. Just seeing him that excited did me so much good. Talk about pushing you back in the seat! Fun times for sure.

Gonna get the cams installed here pretty soon. And he's already talking about getting some long tubes. I think this will be a summer he will always remember. And me too :)
 

07 Boss

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Just heard from the mech, he said the Yukons are night and day better than the ford gears. Said the pattern looks very good. We will be picking it up today...thank you Jesus!

Yukon and Richmond are my two go to's for gears. Never had an issues.

Oh, and I have never used the wedge tool. I have always used a piece of folded heater or washing machine hose folded over and jammed in there. And I only used the spring tool once. I just position the side I'm working on till the least followers have any pressure on the cam. Mark the gear and chain with a sharpie in case it comes off. Loosen phaser bolt. Back all the journals off evenly and reverse the process to install. It's pretty fool proof. Afterwards I rotate the cam and verify the torque on the journals. Done. Move to the other side.
 
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Laga

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Yukon and Richmond are my two go to's for gears. Never had an issues.

Oh, and I have never used the wedge tool. I have always used a piece of folded heater or washing machine hose folded over and jammed in there. And I only used the spring tool once. I just position the side I'm working on till the least followers have any pressure on the cam. Mark the gear and chain with a sharpie in case it comes off. Loosen phaser bolt. Back all the journals off evenly and reverse the process to install. It's pretty fool proof. Afterwards I rotate the cam and verify the torque on the journals. Done. Move to the other side.
You can get the wedge tool for around $20. If you never did the job before, like me, it’s cheap insurance.
 

kstall

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So we have decided to do the cam swap next Friday. Gotta get with Lito and get the tune but other than that we have our wedge tool now and mentally prepped lol. 2 other questions:

What sealant do you suggest for the valve covers and should we get new gaskets?

Also thought we might was well change the plugs while everything is broken down. What plugs do yall suggest? I was looking at the Brisk 1 piece but as with most things on American Muscle website, its out of stock.
 

RED09GT

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Permatex RTV black for the sealant, readily available and works fine.

I re-used the stock gaskets and have had them on and off a few times and never had a leak. I would bend one back and forth a bit and if there is any cracking, or if it feels hard and brittle, replace it. Probably a good idea to have them on hand and if the original one is in good shape, just take them back to the store.

I'll let others that have a pre '08 car to chime in about spark plugs.
 
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Aerofinz

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What plugs do yall suggest? I was looking at the Brisk 1 piece but as with most things on American Muscle website, its out of stock.

I have a set like new, off an '07, recently swapped due to adding a S/C. American Muscle item #386435, recommended up to 450hp typically non turbo/supercharged applications. Right at about 7,000 miles of use (car only has 10,000 total) no track/racing/strip use. I can gap to your specs, pack and ship in Brisk packaging. If interested let me know, I'll post with pics, following Forum "for sale" rules. FWIW, they are what I use on another '07 with a cam/intake/headers, etc. and tune and the same brand I upgraded to with the supercharger. I'd keep them for the other '07, but it only has 11,000 miles, I'll never need them, LOL!

Here's a link to a small part of a 15 year collection of parts I am selling:

https://www.s197forum.com/threads/new-nos-and-take-off-mustang-parts-1-of-2.138840/
 
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kstall

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Well tomorrow is the big day, we are going to install the cams starting first thing in the morning. Got the tune from Lito last night so we are go for liftoff. Yall say some prayers for us. We are going to hold off on the spark plugs and just do the cams. Just want to focus our attention on one thing and get it right. We can do plugs later. I'll try to post some pics and definitely a first start vid
 

07 Boss

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Well tomorrow is the big day, we are going to install the cams starting first thing in the morning. Got the tune from Lito last night so we are go for liftoff. Yall say some prayers for us. We are going to hold off on the spark plugs and just do the cams. Just want to focus our attention on one thing and get it right. We can do plugs later. I'll try to post some pics and definitely a first start vid

You should just change the plugs if you're going to pull them to spin the motor. I mean might as well since they're out.
 

kstall

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Ok let me ask this, do they have to be pulled to spin the motor? My fear was one or more would break and we would spend a lot of extra time messing with that.
 

xxsurvivalism

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How do you guys confirm you have aftermarket gears in the rear end? My grandpa told me to mark the driveshaft, spin the back wheel one rotation and count how many times the driveshaft rotates. If it rotates 3 3/4 of a turn, they're 3.73's. Just over 4 rotations would be 4.10 and so forth. Can anyone confirm?
 

Juice

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How do you guys confirm you have aftermarket gears in the rear end? My grandpa told me to mark the driveshaft, spin the back wheel one rotation and count how many times the driveshaft rotates. If it rotates 3 3/4 of a turn, they're 3.73's. Just over 4 rotations would be 4.10 and so forth. Can anyone confirm?
Confirmed. But both wheels need to be off the ground. The limited slip would make turning one wheel difficult, and you would have to devide your results by 2 if only one wheel was turned.
 

07 Boss

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Ok let me ask this, do they have to be pulled to spin the motor? My fear was one or more would break and we would spend a lot of extra time messing with that.

No, but it makes it easier to turn it over when there is no compression pushing back at you.
 

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