new motor, BIG PROBLEMS why won't you run?

[Cobraguy]

I wonder if your valve covers are clearing your roller rockers --if not you will have a valve or two not closing completely

JT, I wonder about that. The 1.7 rollers I had on one of my engines required a modified Mustang rocker cover, plus a special FelPro gasket that was essentially a double thickness gasket. (that is a real problem solver!) Then they cleared. So your comment is a very valid one. But my God...that thing would make a horrendous racket if the rockers were hitting don't you think? They sure did on mine until I removed part of a baffle.

 

[Turdle]

JT, I wonder about that. The 1.7 rollers I had on one of my engines required a modified Mustang rocker cover, plus a special FelPro gasket that was essentially a double thickness gasket. (that is a real problem solver!) Then they cleared. So your comment is a very valid one. But my God...that thing would make a horrendous racket if the rockers were hitting don't you think? They sure did on mine until I removed part of a baffle.

You've been there too eh?

Yes-I also needed fel pro "cork lam" valve cover gaskets. They are about 5/16" thick if I recall correctly.

 

[local7teener]

Ok. Back from a day off this god forsaken project I started. So THIS is why it didn't orignally run. This is why you don't rush rush rush to get things done. I'm embarassed.

2nd time around. It would run and idle, just not very good, with a consistent misfire, with a timing light on each wire showed it, so it wasn't a random misfire. I THINK i forgot to plug the one vacuum line in that curves under the intake, like where the 2 coolant lines attatch to the manifold. Rush to start, things get missed. My 2 friends standing there in anticipation doesn't help either.

So the misfire might be solved. I THINK... I won't know untill iget the motor back in the truck.

OK now to the real problem at hand. Oil pressure. I have a spare new oil pump in my attic i'm going to install just for peace of mind, going to replace the one main bearing with a gouge in it. Pipe tap the plugs in the front of the motor behind the timing cover. Run new break in oil and pretty much try to start again. I drove it probably 400 feet from when the oil pressure died to my garage, so i believe everything is still ok. Lifters wern't ticking, caps looked good except for that one.

jtsmith, I've had trick flow valve covers for about a year now, they have no baffles inside and i did turn the motor over and checked for any clearance issues.

If theres one lesson to be learned here, its don't bother taking your time and putting everything together nicely, it will never work the first time around *although i rushed it at the end*

 

[CDW6212R]

It looks real good under there. The baffles in the valve cover may be helpful for the hose leading to the TB. Watch that for oil being sucked into the TB. Other than that hopefully you will be fortunate and not have any damage. The galley plugs would bother me also if one blew out. Tapping any of them is not ideal with it in the truck. If you do that then use a small magnet(pen type), and find every tiny fragment of metal. Those galleys go straight to the bearings and valvetrain. Take your time,

 

[local7teener]

I don't run the breather hose into my intake.. My car isn't the most "green" vehicle so I think i can let one more emissions issue slide. I zip tie it up then let it drain down so it keeps it from running out if oil gets in the filler. I'm nervous about the tapping as well. We use this no-ox stuff. Its like an antisieze but its thicker than grease, so we use it to catch metal shavings when tapping bus bars inside electrical panels. It still makes me nervous tough, No one had a balancer puller tonight so I will have to wait until tomorrow night to get the timing cover off as well as the one .020 over bearing I need to replace.

 

[local7teener]

So the motor is just about ready to go in. I ended up replacing all the main bearings, tapping the 2 plugs behind the timing cover i could get to with a tap. Cought all the shavings and everything went pretty good. I couldn't get one, the first lifter was in the way and i didn't want to pull the intake off again to yank the lifter. Made upwards of 50psi of oil pressure with a drill running the pump.

Well time to put the motor in.

 

[ReLoaDeD BuLLiTT]

damn man, sorry to hear about all your bad luck. i had a similar experience when i took a motor out of my 93 notch and put it in my mountaineer. i isntalled everything perfectly and it would run, but like absolute crap.

it turned out to be collapsed lifters and a stuck pushrod.

hope you get your project running well. it's definitely a great feeling once you do.


took me about 2 months off and on to get everything 100 percent drivable with my cam and everything.

 

[ZBlackBeast]

Any updates man?

 

[local7teener]

good, not great.

Well good news.

The motors in, and running. Oil pressure is 45-55 psi. Have about 150 miles on it. Changed the oil tonight. Its not 100% however. I'm contributing it to the cam, but i'm getting about half of the vacuum i should have, around 15 in of merc. I replaced the upper and lower intake gaskets. Did it the right way I have a slight steady misfire at idle. I can flow a lot more air now, e cam, 1.92 intake valves, reworked heads, and my 1.7 rockers from before.

Not sure this is it, but its my 'theory'?? let me know what you guys think. I got a code saying the air/fuel is too rich or too lean for pcm to adjust. So its sucking so much more air its acting like an intake leak giving the slight misfire at idle.. ? There's a guy that does sct tuning, i'm going to have him tune it for me.

It would sound pretty cool at idle If not for the misfire. But it does pull pretty good at around 2800, and with the rebuilt trans with the shift kit it keeps the power going to the ground. You can definatly tell it needs some tuning.

 

[ZBlackBeast]

Glad to hear it man!! Yeah, it doesn't suprise me it needs tuning. Are you running a larger maf, heavier injectors?

 

[reserved50]

isnt the brake pedal stiff at 15inches of vacuum

 

[CDW6212R]

That's plenty of vacuum for the brakes etc, but just a little low. I'd be hoping for the upper teens, 16-18 inches.

 

[local7teener]

The pedal actually feels mushy. Its never been good no matter how much i bleed the lines, the seals are shot in the master. Its running pretty rough. I've got to get this thing tuned.

 

[Cobraguy]

What cam did you say you put in it?

 

[local7teener]

Heres the specs on the motor.

FMS e303 cam
FMS hyd roller lifters
Proform 1.7 Roller rockers

Heads-
I believe they are 91 f-150 stock cast heads. (i'll check the casting number, i've got it written down somewhere)

They have larger valves installed and the seats to match, 1.90 intake, 1.60 exh. Also there has been extensive exhaust porting and some done on the bottom of of the intake runner. I also swapped in my crane cam springs from my old heads that only had 10 k on them.

Then there is the previous work done.

Tmh's, full exhaust
Home depot cold air intake
1" intake spacer
Electric fan
SCT Livewire
blah blah blah.. way too much money.

So does anyone know what values I can datalog to check for problems? fuel trims? I've had some luck finding places to tune, but i'm still looking. I'm getting a terrible idle and very poor throttle response, but revs up fairly cleanly.

Also just off subject a bit, on the wire harness that goes on the top of the trans (Where the 02's plug in) Which o2 sensors plug into which harness??

 

[local7teener]

ENgine light is on, but very unhelpful. 1260 and 1729

 

[410Fortune]

P1260 theft detect
P1729 = 4x4 low range something or other? Having a hard time looking this one up on All Data

Do you have your 4 ea 02 sensors hooked up?
Whats with the theft system code?

I can tell you the E cam does not idle smooth, but your throttle response should be wicked cool, sounds like you still have a miss? check the wires/plugs?

Looks nice! Picture of the intake gasket is funny, its so easy to do that with the gt-40 intake in the explorer with a spacer, I cant tell you how many friggin times I set the intake in place, careful as I can, then realize I forgot to put the long dumb bolt int ehback of the intake, as you know the bolt wont go in after the intake is set in place... lol

So glad you found your issues, my 98 project has 0 oil pressure when spun with a drill
I am now Homer Simpson saying



"Doh!"

 

[local7teener]

I'm still thinking the larger valves, the rocker arm ratio, and cam all flow more air than the computer can understand making it run like it has an intake leak. Its a consistant misfire at idle, and under a load (freeway driving), not a random, it shows up on all the wires when i throw a timing light on them. I've checked and rechecked the wires and coils, nothings arcing or touching.. I used the accel header plugs and gapped them at .056 (stock is .054-.056). It is running rough.. 410, did you have any symptoms like this when you swapped in a ecam?

I expected it to not run at 100% withough tuning, i just didn't think it would run this poorly

 

[local7teener]

Oh about the o2's, i'm pretty sure they are, i'm going to pull my console and check it out shortly. I'm not sure about either of the codes. I'm stumped. There were a lot of unpleasant words when i saw the intake gasket.. haha. I feel for you on the oil pressure thing. I was so depressed when i lost oil pressure.. it sucked.

 

[Turdle]

Try tightening the spark gaps down to .050"