Completed Project Superchargered 347 Stroker Build

[rjcooperss396]

It's not an ignition issue and I don't thinks it's a fuel issue. I'm going to pull the upper intake sometime this week so that I can pull the valve covers to take a look.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I had a good friend over who is a mechanic and took him for a test drive. He thinks the engine is still not balanced correctly. So I'm going to have my brother drive it as well and see what he thinks. If he has the same opinion then I'm going to pull the engine and disassemble it to have it balanced.

 

[Dono]

Oh boy. Your taking this very well. I guess in the end, what choice do you have? Once you start, you have to work thru the issues. Id have tears of sorrow dripping in my beer.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

RJ, this is almost certainly off base, but I had to
post it after reading about your trouble:

As you're well aware, there are 2 different firing
orders for Ford V8s, and cam grinders might
possibly get them mixed up or interchanged.
I have heard of this happening.

The later order is 13726548, and is probably what
your's is.

The earlier order is 15426378.

It might be worth it to recheck the firing order to
see if the cam firing order matches the ignition order,
before tearing the engine down...???

 

[rjcooperss396]

The cam is a Fox body cam that was reground so it has the later firing order, plus I adjusted the valves one at a time so I know that it has the later firing order.

 

[CDW6212R]

I had a good friend over who is a mechanic and took him for a test drive. He thinks the engine is still not balanced correctly. So I'm going to have my brother drive it as well and see what he thinks. If he has the same opinion then I'm going to pull the engine and disassemble it to have it balanced.

I hope you figure it out soon and have it running great before too long.


FYI, the firing order we call normal/common now is the Cleveland firing order. The first engine to use that is the 351 Cleveland, my first engine. It was always special until Ford started using it again on the Windsors of the mid 80's.

13726548

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

The cam is a Fox body cam that was reground so it has the later firing order, plus I adjusted the valves one at a time so I know that it has the later firing order.

I was sure you had checked that, just thought I'd
mention it. Too bad about the vibration, and good
luck with it.

Another interesting fact about the different firing orders
was that the earlier 15426378 order would hammer the
front main bearing and cause early failure.
(Because the two front cylinders fired consecutively.)
No wonder Ford changed it.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I hope you figure it out soon and have it running great before too long.


FYI, the firing order we call normal/common now is the Cleveland firing order. The first engine to use that is the 351 Cleveland, my first engine. It was always special until Ford started using it again on the Windsors of the mid 80's.

13726548

Actually, that firing order was used on the 351W in the early 60's before Ford started making the 351C which was back in 1969 I believe.

We went to my brother's for Christmas Eve and he's off on Wednesday so I'm going to have him test drive the car then.

 

[rjcooperss396]

My brother drove the car on Thursday and still thinks that it's a balance issue so I called CHP Friday morning and told them that I was going to bring the car down to get their opinion. I picked up my buddy and we headed down there. Eric (CHP) felt it and listened to it and said that it's not a balance issue. Well at first he didn't even notice it. I had him sit in the car because that's the only way you feel it. He said that if it was a balance issue it would get worse around the 2800-3000 range. I asked him what he thinks it is and he said he thinks it's a tuning issue but I don't agree. I've not been driving the car because I was worried about the vibration doing damage but he said that even if it was a balance issue that it is so light that it wouldn't cause any engine damage and my brother agreed. So I'm going to wait until I have it tuned and see. My buddy is going to talk to Steve at Powertrain Dynamics next week when he is back at the shop to schedule and appointment to have his Mustang tuned and I'm going to try and see if I can come up with the cash to have mine tuned then as well.

 

[Dono]

my fingers are crossed.

 

[rjcooperss396]

Thanks. I think tomorrow I'm going to pull the upper intake off so that I can check the injectors and pull the valve covers.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I pulled the upper intake off and tested the injectors with a tester I made. They all worked fine. Then I pulled the valve covers and checked all the springs, rockers and pushrods and they were all fine too. So I'm going to put it all back together and see how it runs after tuning.

Here's the tester.

 

[rjcooperss396]

Scheduled an appointment to have the car tuned this Friday.

 

[Dono]

Not so patiently waiting

 

[rjcooperss396]

Well I have good news and bad news. First, the good news. The car made 56 rwtq more than it did with the old engine even though Steve stopped the pull at 4000 rpms because the AFR was below 10:1 as soon as he went full throttle. Now the biginning of the bad news. The chip I have is Autologic which can no longer be programmed. So I have to buy a new chip so Steve can tune the car. Since I don't have the money to buy it now I'm going to have to wait for the tune. The rest of the bad news is that Steve also says that the vibration is a balance issue. So I'll be calling CHP on Monday and see how they want to procede but the engine is going to have to come back out and torn back down.

 

[Dono]

Thats definately bad news. Hopefully CHP comes to the table.

 

[CDW6212R]

I'm sorry to hear that too. It's hard to put that kind of time and money into an engine and just hammer it. You want to be sure that it's right before pushing it much. I hope it works out soon.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I forwarded the email I received from Steve stating that the vibration is due to an imbalance to CHP yesterday asking what our next steps are and haven't received anything back yet. I'm going to give them until noon and then I'll call them.

 

[Dono]

I sure hope this doesn't get ugly.
It's a hot potato.

 

[rjcooperss396]

Steve tunes one of the owners cars so I don't think there is going to be an issue with his email stating it's an imbalance issue and not the tune.