Camshaft break in prior to setting timing on rebuilt 289?

ks65stang · Nov 14, 2012

I'm getting ready to start my rebuilt 289 for the 1st time later this week or weekend.

I plan to set the 1# piston and TDC and then back off to 12 degrees before TDC on the balancer, prime the oiling system w/ a oil priming rod and a drill, then drop in my distributer pointing the rotor at #1 cylinder, then twist the dizzy till I can visually see my dizzy cap and rotor lining up on #1. Start the engine and follow the break in instructions that came with my cam. After this is complete this I will set timing exactly at 12 degrees before TDC.

Does this sound right and should I be able to visually get everything set close enough to run for the break-in or should I time 1st thing after starting?

Thanks in advance!!!

Fstbk · Nov 14, 2012

It sounds like you have given this a lot of thought and you should be fine. FWIW All I did was point the distributor to where it usually is and went for it. Its not like you are going to be at idle or anything so its just gotta be close enough to run at high enough RPM to break in.

rbohm · Nov 14, 2012

sounds good to me.

ks65stang · Nov 16, 2012

Ok, I will start this weekend, just put headers back on last night.

Fstbk · Nov 16, 2012

Did you coat the cam well and did you use a good oil additive for break in? Be sure you do!

zookeeper · Nov 17, 2012

Another new-engine start-up tip that works well for me is to pre-fill the carb. I use a little squirt bottle I stole from my wife's kitchen and use it to fill the carb's vent tube with gas. The vent tube pours it into the bowls, so fill it a bit, pump the linkage by hand until you see it squirt into the engine and your ready to try to fire it. Grinding on the starter waiting for a mechanical pump to fill the carb doesn't do a new cam any good.

rbohm · Nov 17, 2012

zookeeper said:
Another new-engine start-up tip that works well for me is to pre-fill the carb. I use a little squirt bottle I stole from my wife's kitchen and use it to fill the carb's vent tube with gas. The vent tube pours it into the bowls, so fill it a bit, pump the linkage by hand until you see it squirt into the engine and your ready to try to fire it. Grinding on the starter waiting for a mechanical pump to fill the carb doesn't do a new cam any good.

excellent point that is often overlooked.

ks65stang · Nov 18, 2012

Well, I had wiring issues, my engine harness is shot. So I rigged it and only cranked the un-broken-in engine for about a total of a minute during the trouble shooting process till she started. I did lube the cam w/ the lube in came w/ and, used a name brand oil w/ a break in additive, pre-filled the carb w/ fuel and primed the oiling system prior to starting. I also ran a fan in front of the radiator while running and during cool down.

If you are reading this and doing this yourself have a garden hose near w/ the water on. I did and good, beacuse I had two fires, one from a rag on top of my jack stand supporting the frame (close to headers) and other was a spark plug boot. I sprayed the rag out but had the shut the engine down for the plug boot.

During the 1st run, it ran never below 1500 RPM and fluctuated the RPM often (per cam directions). I was able to run about 10 minutes before the passenger, #3 boot caught on fire (it was setting right on the header). During this run the engine put out blue smoke during the first 7-8 minutes and then just all a sudden she ran clean, the rings seated!!! The passenger side bank headers did get semi red hot. I did some reading and discovered this could be due to timing, fuel mixture and/or vacuum leak.

So a very nervous me pressed on and wrapped the #3 plug in header wrap and ran a second run for 32 minutes, never below 1500 RPM and fluctuated the RPM often (per cam directions). Passenger bank did get hot again and one tube on the drivers side bank got a little hot. This has to be a timing issue for sure as I just got the timing semi-close by eye and ran with it. After 32 minutes I let it idle at 800RPM, pretty rough due to the timing, tune and new cam profile, but I considered yesterday a sucess, nothing broke, popped, leaked and seem to go as planned.

Now I need to order a new wiring harness and plug wires and tune next week.

rbohm · Nov 18, 2012

sounds like you had a successful break in period.

woodsnake · Nov 18, 2012

Just out of curiosity, what brand of cam did you use? What oil and break in lube? Keep your eyes on the oil for a few days, just to make sure nothing shiny shows up.

ks65stang · Nov 19, 2012

My setup is a 65 289 block, bored .040" over, flat top pistons, stock rods and a freshly turned stock crank, summit knock off of the Performer cam (Sum-3600), Performer intake w/ a 600 CFM Edelbrock carb, rebuilt GT40 heads from 93 Cobra w/ Scorpion Pedestal Mount roller rockers and hooker headers.

Used Lucas oil additive.

Think I will hit the 300+ horse power mark? That is my goal and to still maintain drivability.

woodsnake · Nov 20, 2012

I would think 300 at the wheel fairly easy. I have a similar set up in my 68. I've had bad luck with oils, or just ty Edelbrock camshafts, one of the two, as I'm now on my 3rd cam. This time I used Joe Gibbs break in oil. And now for some reason, when the engine warms up, I only have 20 lbs of oil pressure....

72 fastback · Nov 24, 2012

woodsnake said:
I would think 300 at the wheel fairly easy. I have a similar set up in my 68. I've had bad luck with oils, or just ****ty Edelbrock camshafts, one of the two, as I'm now on my 3rd cam. This time I used Joe Gibbs break in oil. And now for some reason, when the engine warms up, I only have 20 lbs of oil pressure....

Having only 20 psi at idle on a small block ford is unusual. I woild check it with another guage to be sure.

zookeeper · Nov 24, 2012

Also, don't think just because your sending unit may be new that it's good. Last year my nearly new 306 dropped it's oil pressure during startup. It went to zero so I shut it off. I did some preliminary checks and found nothing so I bought a new sending unit and sure enough, even though it had less than 1000 miles on it, the sending unit was toast. No problems since then, but it is good peace of mind to see the gauge go up where it's supposed to.

woodsnake · Nov 25, 2012

My fear, is that when the last lobe failed, somehow I got material somewhere it isn't supposed to be. I am in NY for the next few months, and so will have to wait until I get back to Colorado to diagnose further. I would be a very happy camper if it were only a bad gauge, and that I don't have to polish the crank and get new bearings! The engine only has around 3500 miles on it.

Hack · Nov 25, 2012

Here's a link to a similar build for power estimate. GT40p's are comparable to slightly better than GT40s. This guy made 287 at the wheels with untouched GT40ps and slightly over 300 at the wheels with heads that had some cleanup work. Of course all the details matter such as compression ratio, cam details, etc. He's probably running a roller lifter camshaft which I would expect to make a little more power than your flat tappet. Also, he has a T5 and you're running a C4. The automatic will soak up a little more power than a manual would. Same with an 8.8 vs. a 9 inch rear. His EFI tuning will be pretty accurate and it's hard to get a carb that right on, so if you don't spend time working on getting the carb just right that will also drop your numbers down a little. I would expect your power at the wheels could be anywhere between 200 and 320 depending on how good the air and if it's a happy dyno, etc.
http://forums.corral.net/forums/5-0-5-8-engine-tech/1394532-gt40p-gt40x-gain.html

Hack · Nov 25, 2012

woodsnake said:
My fear, is that when the last lobe failed, somehow I got material somewhere it isn't supposed to be. I am in NY for the next few months, and so will have to wait until I get back to Colorado to diagnose further. I would be a very happy camper if it were only a bad gauge, and that I don't have to polish the crank and get new bearings! The engine only has around 3500 miles on it.

Yeah if you trashed a cam and didn't tear everything down you had some metal fragments migrating around through the engine. That could have toasted the bearings.

ks65stang · Dec 7, 2012

I fixed my wiring issue thanks to you guys here on Stangnet.

I set the timing to 12 degrees before tdc and the engine started running much smoother. I also swapped the coil to a Summit knock off performance coil.

Engine still got pretty hot and spit some coolant, but it maybe overfilled and I do need an overflow tank. Not too worried about the heat issue. The header tubes heat temp per my laser thermometer were between 300-500, some tubes had a 200 degree difference? Im guessing this is due to intake runner length and feul / air mixture.

Also im running stock 93 mustang plugs with a large gap vs. stock 65 plug gap?

I plan to change the oil (total of 1 hour on the break in oil), get my Mustang Steve cluch cable set up and do my alignment (just did Arning drop) and will post more tuning updates.....

Thanks for all your help!

Fstbk · Dec 7, 2012

These cars will pule coolant since they do not have an over flow tank, they sorta find center on their own. I was going to add an overflow, but it would look out of place under my hood since it looks "Stockish" and restored.

bartl · Dec 9, 2012

ks65stang said:
I fixed my wiring issue thanks to you guys here on Stangnet.

I set the timing to 12 degrees before tdc and the engine started running much smoother. I also swapped the coil to a Summit knock off performance coil.

Engine still got pretty hot and spit some coolant, but it maybe overfilled and I do need an overflow tank. Not too worried about the heat issue. The header tubes heat temp per my laser thermometer were between 300-500, some tubes had a 200 degree difference? Im guessing this is due to intake runner length and feul / air mixture.

Also im running stock 93 mustang plugs with a large gap vs. stock 65 plug gap?

I plan to change the oil (total of 1 hour on the break in oil), get my Mustang Steve cluch cable set up and do my alignment (just did Arning drop) and will post more tuning updates.....

Thanks for all your help!

If you're measuring temp close to the exhaust port it should be fairly consistent. Would suspect one side of the carb is running rich/lean as opposed to the others or a vacuum leak. If you're not running a HEI ignition system I'd keep the plug gap at .045" or less.

Camshaft break in prior to setting timing on rebuilt 289?

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