bent valve rods!!! wtf happened????

[samuraichamploo]

bent pushrods!!! wtf happened????

I went to do my conversion to carb today, and what do i find when I take off the lower intake? A bent rod and 2 parts of a lifter!@!
2 lifters (both from the same piston) were ****ed up, and 1 of the rods was loose as hell, the other one bent beyond all recognition.
What may I ask would have caused this? It worrys me since both of the lifters belonged to the same piston.

sorry for the quality, cellphone camera took these.
(and if this bitch was as fast as it was with 7 cylinders the mother ****er is gonna fly when i fix it!!!!)
and those 2 round things in the galley right there are parts of the 2 lifters that broke. (the thing that sits on top of the spring with the hole in the middle of it.)

 

[11sec87]

OUCH!

if you look across the the top of the rockers, do the rockersit higher thanth rest? the rockerstud could have pulled up if you were running hard. when the studs pull up the pushrod can catch the side of the lifter and bend a rod. as hard as that one hit id worry about a bent valve.

 

[samuraichamploo]

any way to check short of pulling off the heads?
I did get the rod out of there, and I have .540 lift right now with
1.72 roller rockers and a competion cam magnum 280 camshaft.
the lifters were a matched set for the camshaft.
Im really hoping that it isnt a bent valve since those are TFTW heads.


edit-
Also, if there was a piston / valve clearance issue, Wouldnt more than 1 bend?

Can I just go get 2 new lifters and 1 new rod, install them and call it a day?
also- I dont remember if the rr's were higher than the others.. I know that one of the rr's was real loose though- it looks like it wasnt screwed in tight since the screw only took 3 more turns (by hand) to pull off the RR.
(the loose RR was on the NON bent rod)

 

[11sec87]

how long have you been running that combo? that is quite a bit of lift.
is that .540 wtih the 1.7s or before? if its before the 1.7s your total lift is over.580. a lot of aftermarket heads come with springs that coilbind at .575

 

[samuraichamploo]

540 with the rrs and cam taken into effect.

 

[samuraichamploo]

and i havent been running this combo more than 100 miles. I bought a totaled mustang (dead block)
and put a new block on it.
Its just been problem after problem with it.
But if it was a issue of valve clearance wouldnt it have happened on more than one cylinder?

 

[11sec87]

were ther heads yours or did they come with the block?
do you know what was wrong with the old block?

 

[11sec87]

were the heads yours or did they come with the motor/

do you know what was wrong with the old one?




sorry comp kicked me off-

 

[samuraichamploo]

they came with the block, but I had them checked and decked by napa and they said it was all good.
and also the old block had a cracked cylinder wall or something.
it wouldnt keep compression in one of the cylinders (not the same cylinder thats having problems now.)

 

[11sec87]

was the bad cyclinder one of the end cylinders or one of the two middle?
is it the same cylinder on the head, just on the opposite side of the block?
things that will kill compression are bad rings, bad piston,headegasket, crack,
or valves not closing. if that valve is bent it could have hung open while you were running and smacked a piston. that will definitely bend a rod.

or it could be that those two rockers were set with the lobe up instead at the base. this will give enough slack for a pushrod to jump out of the pocket and beat the lift to death. still need to check the valve before you do damage.

 

[11sec87]

last thought, when valvetrains run with that much slack it can knock the lobe off a cam. i have a e303 in the garage that a retainer broke, the lifter spun in the bore and chiseled the lobe off!

 

[samuraichamploo]

there isnt more than 30 miles on this engine.
I dont think thats enough to do all this damage.
Im just going to hope that I didnt tighten down the roller rocker enough, and caused it to have slack in the rod which in turn cause the exhaust to have extra length, which caused it to go farther than it should and hit the outside of the hole.

 

[Michael Yount]

Did you measure piston to valve clearance? How much did you have int/exh? How much did NAPA take off the heads? That reduces your p to v clearance by an equal amount.

Of course you can simply replace the damaged parts, put it back together and hope for the best. But that's akin to treating the symptoms instead of trying to diagnose and treat the disease.

 

[samuraichamploo]

Im taking it that I can just go buy some plain jane lifters.
The lifters int here now was a matched set for the cam. =/

 

[Michael Yount]

Is this a roller motor? Looking at the pictures closer, it appears to be a flat tappet motor. I don't see the holes for the spyder bolt down - but maybe it's a picture quality issue. If it's a flat tappet cam, I couldn't tell you what kind of lifters or pushrods you're gonna need.

 

[samuraichamploo]

its a slider block, so you are correct. it is not a roller motor.
I have a competition cams, 280 magnum cam.

 

[Michael Yount]

Valve rods and slider blocks - I have to admit you're using terminology I've never heard before. Guess I'm learning something. Push rods and flat tappets to me. I guess I'd pull one of the other lifters and pushrods out and take them with me to the parts store. Most of the guys here have HO motors which, of course, have an entirely different set up. Lifters are rollers, and the pushrod length is likely different. Be sure you specify with the parts guys - although one look at the lifter will tell you what you want to know. Depending on the base circle of the cam, it may have had custom length pushrods.

And because it's a flat tappet, I'm not sure what's gonna happen if you replace two lifters. Typically, tappets and cam lobes have to stay together once broken in. You may have a difficult time with 2 new lifters wanting to tear up the lobes. So there's all kinds of mystery with this one.

The bigger issue I think still remains why did it happen in the first place. Have you solved that yet?

 

[samuraichamploo]

on another note michael, im picking up a 240 today.
question would be, the volvo is a at now, can i reuse my ford pedals? or do i have to go junkyard hopping?

 

[Michael Yount]

Why would you think you could use Mustang pedals in a Volvo????? Yikes. You will need a Volvo pedal assembly.

Is this the motor you're thinking about transplanting? If so, I can almost guarantee you that if you get the motor straightened out, you will have severe traction issues.

 

[Michael Yount]

Got any pics of the 240? What year? 2 or 4 door? Diesel or gas?