Hope it's not a major problem

[weather man]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAIR-Ford-R...ash=item25af2a48a6:g:BF8AAOSweuxWTp7m&vxp=mtr

 

[BruceH]

Contact a machine shop or a few of them and inquire about a line hone. You might be able to shave enough for free rotation while still staying within the .001-.003" factory specs. I'd even go so far as to hone the problem journal by itself because you have nothing to lose. As long as it's within .001-.003" clearance and rotates freely it will work. If you can't make the clearance then try the bearings that ebay sells. That is provided you can find a shop who will machine the heads for the bearings.

This is specialty work in that it requires a machine shop, it doesn't require a mod motor specific shop so please broaden your search for shops to fix it.

 

[sportinawoody]

Yeah , the only thing you have to lose is destroying an entire engine if the geometry doesn't work. I'd just replace the heads and be done with it. Not worth the risk IMO unless your pockets are deep and if that's the case,,,,,

 

[BruceH]

Yeah , the only thing you have to lose is destroying an entire engine if the geometry doesn't work. I'd just replace the heads and be done with it. Not worth the risk IMO unless your pockets are deep and if that's the case,,,,,

If it doesn't work the cam will bind just like it does now. How would the whole motor go if the cam freely turns and the proper clearance is maintained for each journal?

 

[sportinawoody]

I misinterpreted your comment obviously

 

[BruceH]

Any updates on this?

 

[lskiller]

Warped heads will cause that. Also, slightly bent cam tower will do the same. Warped head is usually the cause assuming correct bearing caps are in place.

 

[wht67]

Ron (I think) at fox lake suggested I try straightening the tower that is binding with an aluminum bar and a few whacks on it. I have obtained a 1" diameter aluminum bar and a dead blow hammer. I plan to do plastiguage all aound the binding journal and see which direction it needs go. Probably won't mess with it until after the holidays. Right now I'm in Choctaw celebrating my 26th anniversary with my lovely and understanding (and suprisingly tolerant of my Mustang mistress!) wife.


Merry Christmas and happy new year!

 

[wht67]

After a long break of not even looking at the engine project I unbagged it and started tinkering. First thing I tried was remove the caps and rock the cam on the pivoting journal/tower. Decided it needed to move outward. Set my aluminum bar on it and gave it a few good hard whacks with a 2 lb. dead blow hammer. Did not seem to make a difference. Tried a few more with no change and decided that I just did't have a big enough hammer.... So I figure I had nothing to lose so I got out my old stock cam, wiped it down and then put some metal polish on the #2 journal. Laid the cam in with polish on #2 and assembly lube on the other journals, put the cap on #2 with the bolts finger tight and some resistance to spinning the cam felt and started spinning the cam. When it was noticeably easier to spin, I tightened to cap a little more, spun some more until it got easy to spin. I then removed the cap, cleaned up excess polish applied more the put cap on, tightened the bolts until I felt resistance to spinning, repeat process until I felt the bolts were close to final torque value and the can spun relatively easy.

I then removed the old stock cam, cleaned off the polish out of the journal and any residue I could fine. Applied assembly lube to the new 127550 cam and laid it an and ran the bolts down to finger tight and started to torque in sequence to spec to check how much force was needed to spin the cam after my polish job and of course my heart sank when the outside bolt on the #2 journal just spun. It is stripped. The good news is that with all of the bolts (except the stripped one) the cam with spin with <5 lb/ft. So, I get to do my first heli-coil... Once I get that fixed I can then check the clearance on the polished journal and see if the clearance is too much now.

I did do the rocking test and now the cam does not do any rocking while sitting in the head with the caps off. Once I get the stripped hole fixed I will check the clearance in several places of that journal (top, bottom, left, right).

Anyone happen to know what size the cam cap bolts are?

 

[slackinoff]

Sweet, I cant wait to see if this works.

 

[sportinawoody]

either 6x1.0 or 8x1.25. measure it to see if its 6mm wide or 8mm at the thread.

 

[wht67]

either 6x1.0 or 8x1.25. measure it to see if its 6mm wide or 8mm at the thread.

Thanks, I will this check it weekend. I was a little worried about stripping the threads but based on the number of youtube videos out there it is a fairly common thing. I am really hoping that my clearance is OK on that journal.

 

[05stroker]

I have 4 Heli-coils in my cam caps. The bolts are M6-1.00.

 

[wht67]

I have 4 Heli-coils in my cam caps. The bolts are M6-1.00.

That makes me feel a lot better. Thanks for the info. I picked up a kit tonight and did a little more polishing after fixing the stripped threads. Got the cam turning with a little over 10 lb/ft compared to 25ish before and the clearance went from 0.001 to 0.0015. Think I'm good to go!

Now I need to locate all the timing part parts and degree the cams...