Completed Project Brandon's mild 4.0 OHV build

So, as of 5 hours ago Ronin8002, or James' built OHV block became mine; and with the stea.. I mean deal I got and all the extra goodies he threw in, he seemed a little too happy to get rid of this thing :shifty_ey... lol! But WOW this thing is in good shape! As a christmas gift from my parents, I've been given the opportunity to really dig into an engine like I've always wanted to do. I've watched and assisted a couple chevy 350 builds over the past few months but have never done anything by myself.. so here goes nothin!

The Meat (James' Block):
- 1995 block bored .030 over and torque honed
- Keith Black Hypereutectic 1995 Style Pistons (staying around 9:1)
- Total Seal piston rings
- Clevite bearings
- Stock Water pump/timing cover (awesome shape!)
- Stock Fuel Rail
- SOHC Oil pump/pan - to strengthen up the bottom end
-- Possible port/polish on the lower intake, we'll see when I get there

The Goodies:
- Comp Cams 49-422-8 Cam
- Comp Cams 988-12 dual valve springs
- 95tm heads with minor porting/polishing

(on the way, supposedly 11/28/10)
- SI sev2027 and sev2028 valves
- Delta Cam rockers
and pushrods will come later down the road when properly measured

I'm going to keep a diary as things progress on the motor, once I get all the parts in it really should start coming together quickly. I'm down for any type of constructive criticism you have, if you don't like the way I'm doing something PLEASE let me know, as this will be my true first solo go at an engine! JD4242 has really given me a lot of direction when it comes to the 4.0, by reading through his posts in the forums I'm still baffled by the amount of knowledge he has of these things. So, many thanks to you JD!

First order of business, I need help tracking down a full gasket kit, reasonably priced as the budget is dwindling down, I hear an ebay seller has them for around $130??, as well as new head stud/bolts. I'm not feeling ARP's $400 set of head bolts/studs. Does anyone have any suggestions or leads on either?

Thanks for lookin! Here's a couple of teaser pics! Pics of the motor when I get it all unpackaged and on a stand.

-Brandon

 

[jd4242]

very cool built, but the time and effort still wont put out the fun of a 5.0 with small mods. i had a 3.8 mustang that I put all kinds of engine work into. Put out 220 hp at the rear wheels and 230 lbs of torque. It still ran slower times them my stock 5.0 mustang...

its not about HP with the 4.0 and im sure i put out more torque than a stock 5.0 and i have ALL KINDS OF FUN with mine!! i also dont care what anyone says it not an easy or cheap task to put a efi 5.0 into a first gen,i can pull my motor,rebuild it and put it back in in one day!!yes i have done it

 

[jd4242]

That's what I was thinking.. Well I'm going out to give it hell..

I'm going to record this with my phone.. should be kinda funny.




I like the line, "yeah it's a V6"

Plus, how many builds like this do you see running around, FEW.
I may stand corrected but I may have the first OHV/SOHC hybrid! :

JD's is the only other one I know of with the amount of work mine is about to have..

people still dont believe me its a v6 even after i show them the motor
and man i hate to be the one to correct you but lets just say your one of few that have the hybrid. over on RPM they have some way crazy 4.0s

 

[Brandon96]

... i hate to be the one to correct you but lets just say your one of few that have the hybrid...

Blasts!! hahah, I figured to be stretching it..

Anyways, The chain wrench method was my next choice, however I wanted to try and not tear up the balancer as I wanted to reuse mine, it's in such decent shape.. somehow..

I successfully did the starter trick, for some reason she wouldn't fire with just the battery hooked up, I tried plugging in the crank sensor/cam sensor as those were the only two left to no avail. So I ended up just giving the starter power and jumping the leads with the key in the on position. Worked PERFECTLY.



When I finally got the timing cover off I noticed my motor had no balance shaft on it (I believe is what it's properly called) that was supposed to come on the 4X4 motors. Did that not start until a later year, or not come with the OHV at all? I might have my facts mixed up here.. :scratch:

Also, I'm an idiot and forgot to take my camera, so instead, here's a teaser of the work completed tonight! I promise another pic update soon! But all the timing was rigged up and the whole bottom end of the new motor is now complete!!

 

[Brandon96]

^^^
Oh crap, I just realized my plates expire next month..

 

[jd4242]

Blasts!! hahah, I figured to be stretching it..

Anyways, The chain wrench method was my next choice, however I wanted to try and not tear up the balancer as I wanted to reuse mine, it's in such decent shape.. somehow..

I successfully did the starter trick, for some reason she wouldn't fire with just the battery hooked up, I tried plugging in the crank sensor/cam sensor as those were the only two left to no avail. So I ended up just giving the starter power and jumping the leads with the key in the on position. Worked PERFECTLY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q_ouHy2_ZU

When I finally got the timing cover off I noticed my motor had no balance shaft on it (I believe is what it's properly called) that was supposed to come on the 4X4 motors. Did that not start until a later year, or not come with the OHV at all? I might have my facts mixed up here.. :scratch:

Also, I'm an idiot and forgot to take my camera, so instead, here's a teaser of the work completed tonight! I promise another pic update soon! But all the timing was rigged up and the whole bottom end of the new motor is now complete!!

Awww nice gloves!! Didnt wanna get your hands dirty!!! Hahaha just given you a hard time!!

 

[Mountaineer1113]

Awww nice gloves!! Didnt wanna get your hands dirty!!! Hahaha just given you a hard time!!

HAHA.

Glad to see you got your pulley bolt out finally. I couldn't think of any way of getting it out without removing the crank entirely.

Nice work so far!

 

[Brandon96]

Hey WATCH IT!!

I've got so many cuts on my hands from the last few days of work when I was messing with that Purple Power cleaner stuff it was stinging like a sonofagun..

 

[Maniak]

Hey WATCH IT!!

I've got so many cuts on my hands from the last few days of work when I was messing with that Purple Power cleaner stuff it was stinging like a sonofagun..

Just wait until you get a hole in the palm of the glove and it fills up with solvent/cleaner. You won't be able to get the gloves off fast enough

And yes, I wear gloves when I work too.. at least most of the time.

~Mark

 

[Brandon96]

Just found out tonight that I will NOT be using the '95 cam position sensor... facepalm**

The '96 and up had a completely different connector to it, and instead of fooling with my truck's wiring harness, I decided to just use my old one. However '96 up requires the use of some sort of tool that I don't have, looks like I'll have to relearn this process of dialing in this sensor .

Anyone want to point me in the right direction? Once again Hayne's makes no sense and suggests I leave this task up to the dealership, which I WILL NOT!!

??? to 1995 is on the left
1996 to ??? is on the right

 

[jd4242]

this may not work but cant you just switch the tops of them. or buy a new one use the alignment tool and take it back
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/pa...ifier=916454_0_0_&oemPartNumber=F67Z12A362AAB

 

[Brandon96]

Can't do it

The '95 is kinda a one piece design, the only thing removable is the face plate on top. I think I'll do that method, buy the new one, use the tool and then return it.

GAH!!

 

[jd4242]

Haha its like $30 something at rock auto befre our discount.thats pretty cheap might be worth just replacing it!

 

[Brandon96]

I've heard/seen bad stuff on the forums about the chinese ones.. between lasting 3k miles and blowing up. I'll have to look into it.

 

[Tyson128]

I ended up using the newer sensor and assembly on my 95 limited with a 98 engine with an 8 bolt flywheel. The Haynes manual shows the pinouts on both the old connector and the newer piece. I soldered the new connector from Rockauto on the harness. The older one has a shorter reach into the block driving the oil pump.
I looked at a You tube video the set the timing of the cam sensor.

 

[Brandon96]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I got a call from the machine shop yesterday, they said they finally got around to working on my heads. The lower intake is all finished, woot! They said they found some issues with the heads and will need to resurface them They hope to have them done monday, if not, tuesday. It's getting closer!!!

Also, I made a comment earlier about not finding a balance shaft in my motor, though it was a 4x4 version. Upon further research it appears only the SOHC 4x4 motors came with balance shafts, I'm an idiot.

I think I'm going to do the throttle body mod today or tomorrow, I'll post some pics of that when I get on it.

I ended up using the newer sensor and assembly on my 95 limited with a 98 engine with an 8 bolt flywheel. The Haynes manual shows the pinouts on both the old connector and the newer piece. I soldered the new connector from Rockauto on the harness. The older one has a shorter reach into the block driving the oil pump.
I looked at a You tube video the set the timing of the cam sensor.

Are you saying that the '96 and up synchro is too long for the '95 oil pump drive? If it is.. CRAP.
Can you provide a link to the YouTube video you used? I came up dry..

 

[Brandon96]

Got the throttle body half-shaft mod done today. I also cleaned up and polished the insides up a bit. Even after soaking in the Purple Cleaner for 48 hours there was STILL black gunk build up and sticking to the metal. The wire brush wheel on the Dremel BARELY got the crap off. I really hope I'll see a difference with all this cleaning I'm doing to the intake system.. it was absolutely disgusting!!

I feel as if after I got it all back together it isn't reaching WOT, check the 3rd pic and let me know what you think.

On to da pics

 

[Brandon96]

Mark, These next couple of posts are for you.. as I consider you fairly knowledgable on the rocker assemblies..

I laid the rockers out and took pictures of the wear on the pushrod side. There's only two that I see I should be concerned about.. but the HD pictures seem to make them look worse than they are. The two worst looking ones are the only ones I can feel when I rub my finger over them. But anyways, here's the pictures, I'm going to let you all be the judge on this one..

 

[Brandon96]

The bottom three rockers..

 

[Scott B.]

That's some nasty pitting. Are you going to try to re-use those, or get some reground ones from Delta Cams?

 

[Brandon96]

That's some nasty pitting. Are you going to try to re-use those, or get some reground ones from Delta Cams?

I'd really like to reuse them as the money is growing short, and since I haven't bought the pushrods yet I was hoping maaaaybe I could regrind them. BUT, I have no experience with that and wouldn't know exactly what I was doing therefor not knowing what and how I could screw it up..

But if I really need new ones.. so be it