My new 347

[Dono]

Block's back home.
The cam was out 1/2 degree from dot to dot. Still well worth having checked before putting back together. $100 to have checked. Not outrageous considering the block movement time, setup time, etc.

I started assembly. Time permitting, I will have the motor together by the end of the weekend.

Back on the quality control of the lifters, I test fitted the morel linkbar lifters and the actual fit in the bore is much more consistent than the oem style I had. With the oem's there was even one lifter that was too tight in the bore and I had to give it a wet sand and polish to get it to fit properly in the lifter bore. I think this speaks to the lower quality control of the oem's compared to the USA made Morel lifters.

I've also been reading, and looking at different ways to deal that lifter valley effectively. I read about one builder that uses the cork, but removes the double sided tape, and any residual glue. He then trims the cork as required and uses ultra black to stick them down to the valley and let it dry over night before seating the lower intake. I think I'm going to try this. Once tack the cork down and let it dry I'll see just how stuck it is before proceeding. At least if it goes bad, I can re-do without pulling the motor.

 

[CDW6212R]

It's good to hear you know the cam is timed right, that's big.

Avoid any cork gasket substance, it can be fine when new but eventually the heat and oil breaks it down and it becomes porous, oil will seep through it. That takes years of course, so short term it's no big deal. Most people use only RTV for the ends, and with a little practice it doesn't leak and lasts forever.

 

[gmanpaint]

I used a felpro gasket and let the ultra black set up a few mins, then torqued the intake. Let it sit overnight, and it needed another torque. That stuff shrinks as it dries.

Knowing that, i'm not sure if letting it sit with no pressure will let it seal properly. I avoid cork like the plague. lol

Even doing that gasket per instructions, it's hit or miss. I have to redo mine after 2 years.

 

[4pointslow]

intake gaskets

I never use cork, did once and it leaked, will never do it again.
I use Ultra copper RTV for everything, looks like crap but never leaks.
I keep two tubes in my garage at all times.
Also use it for my supercharger plate to lower manifold, holds the boost and everything.

 

[Dono]

Well, I'm the cork experiment.
I used them.
I was very careful to make sure the ends of the china wall were sealed with ultra black. I'm actually happy with how it looks. I think I have a great seal. Time will tell.
Honestly, if I get some time with this motor with out pulling it again, I'm happy. My expectations have become pretty low I guess.

I ditched my wife tonight to get some work done. A few drinks to help the body aches go away, and I'm ready for bed. I expect to be running and looking to make a wheel alignment appointment early next week.

 

[Dono]

Here's some pic's of the china wall.
To prep the cork, I peeled all the double faced tape off, then used lacquer thinner to remove the rest of the glue. After that, I trimmed the cork to a perfect fit and glued them to the china wall with ultra black, making sure the ultra black was filling in the ends of the cork to head joints perfectly.

When installing the lower intake gaskets, I used a drop of ultra black on both sides of the cometic gasket in the corners also.

Oh, and when the heads wen't on....yup, a dab of ultra black at china wall on either side of the head gasket.

I'm really hoping that there is no leaks for a few years.

I'd have been further along, but on sunday I couldn't find anything. It was a disaster. Couldn't find the heater pipe. No where, no how. Made no sense.
Finally, I spotted it on top of my front Diff. I had looked there at least 5 times, and didn't see it. Ugh. Its a bit dark where I had the diff, but still.......geez.

 

[jd4242]

Man that things is a beauty! !

 

[Dono]

IAT Sensor location

While I'm at this, I decided to move my iat sensor in preparation for water/meth.

I wanted the iat sensor the read the lower inlet temps when spraying, and the higher temps when not spraying. This created a few things to think about as my current iat reading comes from my maf.

Everything I have read says spraying w/m before the maf is a bad thing and will destroy the maf. Um, ok. So I need to spray after the maf, and still be able to read the lower temp.

The trick flow lower intake has a port for what I'm guessing to be exactly for this purpose. Cylinder# 5 , just before the injector. assuming there are no heat soak issues (I'll be able to log and see whats going on) its a perfect location and the pcm will get a temp reading of exactly what temp of air is going in to the cylinder.

I need to find some automotive style weather pack connectors.

 

[CDW6212R]

The IAT used to be in that #5 intake port, all EFI 302's until the Explorer. It's a great spot to add a 2nd IAT for the comparison.

 

[Dono]

The IAT used to be in that #5 intake port.

I just looked at what I typed.... # 5 is where it is. I corrected my post. I wonder how many work related errors I make while I'm posting on explorerforum at work?

So here I am, filling my face full of food while Tim's busy outside installing the front diff.
Does that make me a bad person?

 

[4pointslow]

stuffing

No it makes you a hungry person. lol

Good to see progress being made on your awesome ride!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

So here I am, filling my face full of food while Tim's busy outside installing the front diff.
Does that make me a bad person?

no, not at all. just like does it make me a bad person when i say i left a bolt loose, but wont say which one?



AND WHAT THAT HELL ARE YOU POURING IN???!!!! LOL

 

[Dono]

Does it make me a bad person when i say i left a bolt loose, but wont say which one?

LOL. Touche

Well, motor runs.
We had to lift the upper intake off to tighten the gas line a bit more.
Tim was under the truck while I was adding to the power steering reservoir hearing the dripping asking me WTF Are you doing? LOL Another 1/4 turn and no more leaks.

I haven't driven it yet. I've started garage clean up. Lots of oil soaked cardboard, oil, other bodily fluids (truck fluids that is), and winter road crap in there.
I need to get a wheel alignment booked and start tuning again with the new cam.

 

[skpyle]

Glad you've got it back together again.
Good Luck!!!

Seth K. Pyle

 

[Dono]

LOL.
Good luck...Exactly.

I'd love to say 7 is my lucky number, but I'm not even sure if this is 7 pulls or not anymore.

It's in getting a wheel alignment right now. So far, so good. On tonight's agenda is an oil change and some tuning. I'm definitely running rich at startup now. This typically means the motor is passing more air. That's a good thing.

 

[gmanpaint]

Im just amazed at how fast you guys have got with the R&R's.

 

[Dono]

Practice makes perfect?

I still have that pesky oil leak. I can see it leaking down the side of the block at the back, so thats a good thing. But where from? I find it hard to believe its the china wall as it seems to be the same leak as last time(at least I think it is). I'm starting to think pcv system maybe??

I'm going to try plugging the pcv for a day and see if i still have a leak.

 

[CDW6212R]

Do you by chance have one of those scope video cameras, the kind on a flexible "cable" that feeds by USB to a PC? Those might be handy to root around and see the tight spaces to find the leak.

 

[Dono]

I agree. that would be handy. I keep thinking about it, but have I actually ordered one? That would be a 'no'.

So, the top of the china wall is dry. Is it possible that the corner of the china wall to head is leaking, and going straight down the block? I would have thought there would be a trace of oil on the top of the block though. This is a WTF?

I tried the cork because anything else I have tried hasn't worked. This should not be so difficult. But yet, thats the only spot the oil could be coming from that makes any sense.

So, I gave up on the oil leak and moved on to tuning. Livelink won't work on my laptop anymore. "Root element missing"? Now what??
Un-install, reinstall....nope.
Un-install, reboot, reinstall....nope. Mother @#$%!
Log looks like its calling .net. Try to reinstall .net LOL. no way. Windows 10 laughed at me.
Ok, find a .net repair on MS's web site. Nope. Ok, .net must not have anything to do with the root element missing.

What changed on this laptop? The last update maybe? Ugh.
Couch, and fetal position. That's whats going to happen here, right now.

 

[Dono]

I called sct support. The support guy logged on thru teamviewer within seconds and had a look. It was a rights issue with livelink. I'm not sure what or how the rights changed, as I had no issue 6 weeks ago. Anyway, he knew exactly what to do and I would say the phone call was less than 2 minutes total and LiveLink was working. Thumbs up for sct support!

I've resigned myself to the fact that I have to have a leak right at where the cork/rtv is at the corner where the head/china wall meet. It can't be anything else. There is no other spot that oil can leak from to cause the type of leak I'm seeing.

Well, at least all I have to do is drain a bit of coolant and I can pull the upper and lower intake off. I'm really hoping that as I tear down, the issue becomes obvious. Last night I was thinking of just taking it to a shop and saying 'Fix it'. Today I have new found energy. I'm certain that that there is no shop within 1000 miles that can have that lower intake off as fast as I can. The leak isn't all that bad, but I won't be content till there is no leak.