dual pattern cams

[woodsnake]

The cam was installed "straight up". A compression test is scheduled for this weekend. My local go to guy also seems to think that it may be a spring that bound up some how, he advises against pulling the head just quite yet. The engine does (did) have almost three hours runtime on it, still early in the break in period. I just got the replacment rocker today, I hope to have it running again this weekend!!

[Rev]

I hate to say it but pulling the heads to check for valve train- piston damage is not premature at all from what I've read so far. Something is badly wrong here. I suspect valves kissing the pistons for some reason or coil bind as previously suggested. My advice is not to pussy-foot around on this. Take the heads off and see what the heck happened. With my advice and a couple of bucks you can get a cup of coffee.

Rev

[woodsnake]

Well, just to keep interested parties up to date: I did a compression test, and #8 is about 30 lbs less than #7. So it seems that I got very lucky and only have a mildly bent valve. I now am trying to find some garage space to pull the heads off and help keep everything as clean as possible.....
I will update when I have more info, thanks to all here who have tried to steer another Ford back onto the road instead of the scrap yard!!)

[Dark Knight]

Did you run the test on all the cylinders? Might want to. Hopefully it didnt damage the piston to much...

[woodsnake]

Update!
Well, I pulled the head, and there is not a hole in the top of the piston. There is a definate area of contact, but no visible cracks. So, Monday it's back to the machine shop to see what all is going on.......

[woodsnake]

Upon further inspection, ther is or was, no direct between piston and anything. The first impression was wrong. Something only happened to the valve itself, or the valve spring decided to bind up. I can pick up the head on Friday, it should be running again Friday after noon. :-)

[Dark Knight]

Cool, did they change the springs or retainers? Valve guides might have been to tight too..

[woodsnake]

Well, the head is back. The only thing we determined that could have caused a valve to stick was the quality and quantity of bad gasoline on a brand new motor. Since there is no evedence of any contact between the piston and the valve, this is what I'm going to work with. I know everybody says that it is very unlikely, and I certainly agree. But what else is there? If there is no contact, then what is wrong? Look in my '68 part 2' pictures, and keep in mind that this engine only has two to three hours run time.....

[Rev]

This reminds me of a time just after I had installed new CC Magnum roller tip rockers on my 306. At that time I was using 351W heads that still had pressed in studs. After I had adjusted the rockers 1/2 turn down after 0 lash, I took it out for a test drive.

It seems that I did not tighten down the locking screw tight enough, at least on one valve. One of the rocker polly-lock adjusters loosened enough for the push rod to come out of the socket and hit the rocker arm just next to the push rod socket. This caused all manner of hellish noise as the extra force on the rocker actually pulled the stud out of it's pressed in hole, about half way.

Fortunately , nothing got bent. All I had to do was get the stud pressed back in and make damned sure that I tighened all the polly-locks down enough. I now after adjusing the valves and tightening down those allen screws, come back with a socket and give those adjusters a slight nudge tighter (not enough to twist off a stud please).

I'm just wondering if something similar could have happened in your case. If you have screw in studs or bolt down pedestals, there wouldn't be the give that my stud pulling out allowed. Something else would have to give. My guess would be a bent push rod and/or that broken rocker arm.

I don't know that this occured in your case, but it would offer a possible explanation as to what happened in your engine.

Rev

[Phillyfanfrombirth]

I've had a rocker arm stud pull out as well on a set of 68 302 2v heads... my solution was to tape off everything around the hole where the stud was and I tapped out the hole for a screw in stud and was real careful cleaning up the mess of tap shavings. Worked great and never had to even pull off the head.

[Dark Knight]

I'd still bet that the retainer hit the top of the valve guide... or coil bind.. You MIGHT want to check the cam for damage or rounded off lobes...

[woodsnake]

Well, while I was at the machine shop, the guy pulledd off all the springs and we checked each valve for ease of movement. They each were very, very sticky. I do have screw in studs and guide plates. Unfortuantely, they didn't keep my old valves for me to see. But they said the one that I thought was bent came right out. In my mind I can see the valve gunked up enough to not close all the way. I'm going to try and get it back together today. I'm going to spray some foamy lube on the top of the valve spring to try and get the gunk off the head of the valve, and see if it will run. Again, other than the one pushrod and broke roller, we can't find any evidence of impact any where. IF the valve didn't close all the way, not because it was bent, but because of gunk, it would also show lower compression. I know it sounds like BS, but I'm at a loss.
We'll see what happens when I fire it up tomorrow !!)

And, why don't my links work properly down here?????

[Dark Knight]

Fresh heads shouldnt have been gunked up from bad gas though...

Try putting [url] in front then the same thing with a / in front of url after the link.

[woodsnake]

I know the heads shouldn't be gunky, but did you see those pictures?? If you cut and paste, the link works fine.....

PS, the machine shop only took off .006 from the head, just enough to true it up......

[Phillyfanfrombirth]

Originally Posted by woodsnake

I do have screw in studs and guide plates.

Another stupid question...

But your rocker arms wouldn't be railed would they? One of my friends about 10 years ago had a hard time getting his 289 to run after it was rebuilt...

After a couple minutes, I pulled off the valve cover to discover that there were railed rocker arms that were put on the engine. He was lucky that he didn't lose any retainers as the rails were pushing on the valve spring instead of the rocker pushing on the valve. A quick replacement, and the thing ran like a charm.

[Phillyfanfrombirth]

Nevermind... just took a look at your pics.

[woodsnake]

Well, in order to avoid further breakage, I sent an email to Edelbrock customer service, with my specs and part numbers. Apparently I ordered ( I have no idea how I did it) The wrong valve springs. The ones I have fit the bill as far as specs go, but the coils are thicker than for a Ford motor. Also, the Edelbrock timing gear set that I used was for 84+ motors. So, fellow Fordsmen, take note, 7811 is for newer motors, 7820 is for the earlier stuff. They both "FIT" but the 7820 has a different thickness, to work better with a single piece fuel pump eccentric. I used the 5794 springs, and I should have used 5722. IF you go to summit and look at the suggested parts for the 7122 cam, it will list the correct parts.
Thanks to all who looked at my post, hopefully someone else gleened some usefull info as well!!)

[Dark Knight]

Hopefully it runs goos once everything is fixed.