Completed Project Brandon's mild 4.0 OHV build

[Glen4X4]

Good to hear it start. Could you possibly not have the valve cover torqued to spec and leaking for that reason?

 

[jd4242]

My exhaust, and thought my tags were expired. He looked up under the truck, ruled out my exhaust then reran my tags and they came back clean so he just said, "Okay... nevermind" and left lol.

I have a scanguageII I'm clearing them with.

I would cut power,idk if what your doing will clear a hard code.well atleast they let you go,i got pulled for my exhaust 3years ago and got a dui,no exhaust ticket just a dui!!he just wanted to give you a hard time or check out that mean sounden motor!! Hahha

 

[Tyson128]

That's you passed the boys in blue. Its sounds wonderful!!

 

[Xeek]

good job. first time on the road and an under cover pulls you over lmfao

 

[Brandon96]

LOL!! I asked him if he wanted a race in a few weeks..

He replied and I QUOTE, "This isn't your standard 5.7 police package kid. This puppy's got the 6-1 with some special sauce on it. It's my private car, factory ordered SRT... without the SRT" I said, "oh.. I'll uhh... I guess I'll see yah round sometime?"


Basically this guy had the baseline charger, the SXT or whatever? .. and the SRT driveline with 'special sauce' and was using it for his patrol car? I didn't even know they could do that.. I did notice his strobes were a lot different than most if not all of the unmarked chargers around here, so maybe he was tellin the truth

DON'T SPEED IN HANOVER COUNTY, ESPECIALLY NEAR THAT GUY, you will lose.



OKAY, on to my explorer..

For some reason I'm having some bogging down issues, it's almost like it's running waaaay rich because I can sometimes smell gasoline around it. I was trying to back it up on the trailer to bring it home and it didn't have enough power to make it up like a 8" ramp.. I had to pull forward then nail it to get the arse up on the trailer. BUT, when I got home and pulled it off the trailer I let it set for a bit and warm up, then I took it for a test spin down the street. After only getting up to about 2k RPMs I noticed a huuuge difference in power, so I got a little curious and on my way back down the street I gave it some juice and it downshifted and actually broke the 33" tires loose rolling from 15mph. Scared the **** out of me!! WTF is going on!? hahah

I've got the battery unhooked for tonight, I'm gonna see if the P0340 goes away in the morning, if not I'm going to reposition the cam sychro when I replace the valve cover gaskets tomorrow.. I'm thinking about just adding a little bit of RTV on the top/bottom of the gasket and letting it set up. I did torque it down correctly, but actually did it on the tighter end of the torque range.. maybe that caused it.. who knows.

 

[Ronin8002]

After only getting up to about 2k RPMs I noticed a huuuge difference in power, so I got a little curious and on my way back down the street I gave it some juice and it downshifted and actually broke the 33" tires loose rolling from 15mph. Scared the **** out of me!! WTF is going on!? hahah

I've got the battery unhooked for tonight, I'm gonna see if the P0340 goes away in the morning, if not I'm going to reposition the cam sychro when I replace the valve cover gaskets tomorrow.. I'm thinking about just adding a little bit of RTV on the top/bottom of the gasket and letting it set up. I did torque it down correctly, but actually did it on the tighter end of the torque range.. maybe that caused it.. who knows.

The 422 really shows its stuff starting around 1800 rpm and it keeps pulling all the way to redline. One dyno run I remember doing when I had the 422 on a naturally aspirated 4.0 had me hitting max torque around 2200 RPM and it stayed over over 200 ftlbs all the way to redline. I'll see if I can dig it up and post it.

As far as the valve covers, I had to RTV them as well to keep them from leaking.

 

[jd4242]

Yea at 3000 my motor turns into a hole new beast!! Well prob 1500 now it starts sounding like a new motor now!!

 

[Brandon96]

Now, granted the road had a TINY bit of sand residue on it from where the snow trucks came through almost a month or so ago, I could not BELIEVE the ole 4.sl0w turned over a set of 33x12.50's with my 4.10 gears. I was shocked!

Looks like I got the day off tomorrow as my Professor's sick, woot woot I get to wrench on the truck all day!

Here's the plan, and I'm going to write it down so i don't forget;

1 - hook up the battery, start her up to see if the P0340 code comes back.
2 - If so, take out the alternator (to go get tested) and fire her up, to see if it's the alternator causing the low voltage reading. If it doesn't come back, ignore this step.
3 - Dig into the motor to see if I can replace valve cover gaskets with RTV, HOPEFULLY I can get away with not draining too much coolant, though I could probably just put it back in.
4 - Fix fuel pressure regulator O-Ring.
5 - Put it all back together.
6 - Add in some wire extensions on the IAT sensor, as it doesn't reach the intake.
7 - Figure out why my brakes are pulsating (any ideas anyone?)
8 - top off Power Steer fluid
9 - Test Drive
10 - Video.

 

[Maniak]

I kept getting valve cover leaks on our 4.0 ohv too until I switched to the rubber valve cover gaskets. I got mine from Ford (via an EF vendor).

~Mark

 

[Brandon96]

Mark and James,
Where were the words of advice BEFORE I put it all back together and used crappy valve cover gaskets!! : kiddingg!!

James, or anyone else who's done it before;

Do you think I could get away with one thick nasty coat of RTV as a gasket? Instead of a gasket/RTV combo? If so, which RTV to use? Stay with the black (oil resistant) stuff?

 

[Maniak]

The problem with RTV only on the valve cover is the mess it leaves next time you take it off.

I use "Right Stuff" for just about everything. It works very well.

Also, check your valve covers. If the metal around the holes is bent it will be tight at the bolt but loose between them. I had to flatten out the valve cover on the Van because of that issue.

~Mark

 

[Brandon96]

... If the metal around the holes is bent it will be tight at the bolt but loose between them. I had to flatten out the valve cover on the Van because of that issue...

That's EXACTLY what I think happened to me.. I may have torque 'em down to tight.

 

[Ronin8002]

Mark and James,
Where were the words of advice BEFORE I put it all back together and used crappy valve cover gaskets!! : kiddingg!!

James, or anyone else who's done it before;

Do you think I could get away with one thick nasty coat of RTV as a gasket? Instead of a gasket/RTV combo? If so, which RTV to use? Stay with the black (oil resistant) stuff?

Not sure on just using RTV as a gasket. You could try it and see. I think it would be even more effective if your valve covers are bent since it will fill any gaps that might be left.

 

[matt0248]

The truck will start with a cam sensor code, the pcm uses a default program of timing and fuel based on the crank sensor only. So it will crank for a few seconds longer and start. The cam sensor is probably not-adjusted right. A few years back we had a customer with a taurus that drove with that code for two years. IT turned out that the sensor was destroyed, but it still ran ok.

 

[Brandon96]

The truck will start with a cam sensor code, the pcm uses a default program of timing and fuel based on the crank sensor only. So it will crank for a few seconds longer and start. The cam sensor is probably not-adjusted right. A few years back we had a customer with a taurus that drove with that code for two years. IT turned out that the sensor was destroyed, but it still ran ok.

I do agree with what you say, the only thing that is bothering me is that I spent a ridiculous amount of time researching and measuring angles to make sure I had the Cam synchro assembly, and the sensor in correct, and my truck starts on the first crank every single time. I've never had it turn over more than twice. It's weird.. :scratch:

 

[Xeek]

maybe the sensor is just going bad

 

[Brandon96]

I'm hoping it's either that or my alternator.. I REALLY don't feel like tearing into this thing again to get the synchro out.. arghh.

 

[Ronin8002]

ah the joys of a motor rebuild lol

this is why I decided against putting a s/c on my SOHC...just don't want to crack open the motor more than I have to

 

[Brandon96]

I've got good and bad news!

Good news is I unplugged the battery and over several startups the p0340 code has not come back. Looks like I just needed to reset the hard code I tripped when I started it up the first time without the cam sensor plugged in.. WHOOPS

Bad news is, foolishly enough it's not an oil leak! It's a gas leak with residual oil off my transmission from where I HAD an oil leak with the old motor .

I guess on second thought it's good news.. I won't have to dig AS FAR into the motor as I thought I was, it looks like the gas is pooling up on the lower intake between #3 and #6 and draining, making it's way onto the lip of the valve covers and running around the lip to the last bolt eye where it drops out and runs down the back side of the engine onto the flex plate and drips right onto the exhaust Y-Pipe. I swear my truck is trying to burn itself to the ground...

I'll probably still end up replacing the valve cover gaskets anyways, just to be safe.

 

[Ronin8002]

I'm thinking it's a loose injector or fuel line then.