What have you done to your mustang today?

GlassTop09

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Replaced all the cam followers w\ new improved FoMoCo 3L3Z-6564-A cam followers due to finding 1 broken when checking VCT solenoid screens for restrictions. Never heard it break (1 of the intake valve followers on #7 cylinder) or picked it up w\ a mechanics stethoscope....got lucky as the rest was undamaged....cam lobe was like new so broke stuff never hit it, valve spring\stem was undamaged as well as lash adjuster. Follower failure looks like fatigue related (they had 153,000 + mi on them) as there was no evidence of anything rubbing on something prior failure.

Something for us high mileage car folks to consider changing out while the getting is good (if you haven't already)………….

PS--(2-12-20)--From my experience w\ this I will also suggest to pull the valve covers & make a visual inspection from time to time as if it is only 1 of the 2 intake valve cam followers that breaks the engine will still run good enough using the 1 operational intake valve so it can go undetected. From back tracking my data records it appears that this follower broke sometime after a dyno run session that was done on 10-8-19....started getting cylinder misfires during cold starts in mid Nov of same year that set off a P0307 DTC.....some 6 weeks later. I even had the car checked again on the dyno on 12-27-19 w\ this follower apparently already broken (we lost low end HP\TQ vs last dyno session & logs showed slow VCT response at lower RPM's....this is what got me to pull the valve covers to check the VCT solenoids for trash in the screens as this can't be checked no other way or I may have never done this) so I dodged a potential MAJOR engine failure. The only other clue that I had to go on was when monitoring the car thru cold starts after resolving the cylinder misfires (both real & fake) & smoke testing the intake tract & resolving the vacuum leaks found there, was once the PCM went into CL the B2 STFT went way lean (+%) vs B1 STFT (both should go -% for a few seconds before returning to stoich from picking up on OL cold start fuel enrichment) until the ECT >82*F & #7 cylinder kept showing a lot of misfires in Mode 6 data relative to the other cylinders but the #7 cylinder wasn't physically misfiring. Found this was due to air entry into cylinder thru the stationary intake valve's guide which wouldn't seal due to no oiling to the valve stem seal from the busted follower which was not mixing w\ any fuel from air from the intake manifold (where the injector is located) so the cylinder was lean which was spiking the B2 O2 sensor until the stationary valve stem heated up enough to seal the guide clearance sending the air\fuel mix back into balance & was causing the CKP velocity pulse to be lower on #7 cylinder when firing than the others so the PCM thought it was misfiring when it wasn't until the errant air leak stopped. Once I replaced the broken cam follower then ran this test again I saw both banks STFT's go rich (-%) as they should then return to stoich which verified what I typed above. But how many would equate the O2 sensor/STFT spiking/false cylinder misfire data to a broken cam follower?

I didn't before...……………..but you can bet I will going forward now as I know what to look for thru FORScan reading the live data...…...

Food for thought...……………………...

Hope this can help someone else.
 
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Midlife Crises

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Pulled the blower and hardware off the engine today and sure enough, it’s the plumbing on the back of the intake manifold that hits the firewall when I tip the engine. Drained the coolant from the radiator and inter cooler lines so the manifold can come off tomorrow.
 

MrAwesome987

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Pulled the blower and hardware off the engine today and sure enough, it’s the plumbing on the back of the intake manifold that hits the firewall when I tip the engine. Drained the coolant from the radiator and inter cooler lines so the manifold can come off tomorrow.
What manifold? I pulled my 3650 with my DOB manifold and blower installed. Is the t56 bigger, and that causes the issue?
 

Midlife Crises

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It’s the Roush manifold for the TVS 2300 setup. The inter cooler tubing and hoses get smashed against the firewall before it looks like the T56 mag. will slip out of the bell house and clear the chassis. Not going to risk deforming or cracking the tubing.
 

dark steed

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Replaced all the cam followers w\ new improved FoMoCo 3L3Z-6564-A cam followers due to finding 1 broken when checking VCT solenoid screens for restrictions. Never heard it break (1 of the intake valve followers on #7 cylinder) or picked it up w\ a mechanics stethoscope....got lucky as the rest was undamaged....cam lobe was like new so broke stuff never hit it, valve spring\stem was undamaged as well as lash adjuster. Follower failure looks like fatigue related (they had 153,000 + mi on them) as there was no evidence of anything rubbing on something prior failure.

Something for us high mileage car folks to consider changing out while the getting is good (if you haven't already)………….
This is something I have been thinking about before installing the hot rod cams I’ve had on the shelf for five or six years LOL.
I bought a new Ford racing timing kit, but stories like this make me think I should replace the followers too. The cams are not wildly aggressive, but they are more than the stock ones.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

GlassTop09

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This is something I have been thinking about before installing the hot rod cams I’ve had on the shelf for five or six years LOL.
I bought a new Ford racing timing kit, but stories like this make me think I should replace the followers too. The cams are not wildly aggressive, but they are more than the stock ones.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I hear you dude. To give more context I also didn't change these out when I installed a set of Lunati VooDoo cams last June even when my gut was telling me to do it due to high mileage (didn't due to many mechanics stethoscope tests coming back negative meaning no noise heard from the valvetrain so I passed on changing them out due to the results telling me the followers & lash adjusters were good) & their cam lobe lift is .222" vs OEM cams @ .217" so no extra valve spring tension load on the followers per se but I ended up having 1 to fail (all indications\evidence point to metal fatigue). This can happen at any point in time but the longer they've been in service the odds of failure are increasing so you gotta weigh it out & be ready to accept the potential consequences of your decision. Had no issues until approx. 6 mos after cam install. Think about it.....you will already have the OEM cams out of the way when swapping cams.....the perfect time to change both the followers and the lash adjusters...……..

I was blessed that the failure didn't cause any other collateral damage on my part this time but this is few & far between w\ these 3V's...……...why I didn't waste any more time & replaced them all after this.

The 1 good thing concerning replacing these now is due to the improvements Ford made to the replacement parts to accomplish 2 things: provide better oiling to the follower roller needle bearings due to reacquiring the oil squirt hole direction to aim at the roller\cam lobe interface point AND to reduce engine oil pressure loss thru reducing the oil squirt hole port size in the new replacement followers vs the original parts so you get better oiling to the parts that need it but reduce the amount of oil volume needed thru the lash adjusters to provide it thus helps to maintain engine oil pressure\volume to the rest of the rotating engine components......a win\win in my book for replacing the originals ASAP in these 3V's.

The thing I don't know is if these improvements are incorporated on the cam followers that come w\ the complete FR follower\lash adjuster kit. I'm finding that more of these parts that are sold as FR parts are improved production parts so they may be but I do know the FoMoCo replacement part# given above are the new improved ones (why I typed it so others will know what to look for if deciding on replacing theirs).

Here's a picture showing what I'm talking bout (new replacement follower is the bottom 1):
IMG_0178.JPG
 
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Anti

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Wow, the top one looks like it is aiming no where. Lol No wonder it takes a bit for valve train noise to go away after startup on my car.
 

ghunt81

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I got the transmission back into my car today. It was actually not as hard as I thought it was going to be. Apparently the trick is to angle transmission by about 20-30 degrees (bellhousing up). I used some wood on my modified transmission cradle plate, then you can raise it straight up into place. I got it to where the pilot shaft was roughly where it needed to be, then was able to lift the rear of the transmission (using the wood as a sort of fulcrum) to guide in the pilot shaft, put the transmission in gear, and spin the flange a little to get the splines to engage, and it went right on. Much less of a struggle than getting it out. Still not fully seated but close enough, I ran out of time on it today.
 

Forty61

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I moved it from the top of the driveway to the bottom so I can slap the step rails on my work truck. I may wash it today and go blow the dust off it!
 

Vandal

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What did you go with?

JBL Club 8620. I put a set in the doors a few weeks ago to try them out. Decent bass from a small speaker. Better sound now than the stock speakers. I’m trying to keep it light and simple.
 

kazman59

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Removed hood liner and weather strip. Washed, clayed and 1st coat of wax, 2nd coat tomorrow. Griot's liquid glass poly wax.
 

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