Progress Thread Darn Stock Block Problems - Getting the Engine Together

Hoytster · Jul 1, 2021

@a91what I just ordered their crank trigger wheel, that's perfect. Thanks

Hoytster · Jul 14, 2021

The recommended distributor gear for my cam is composite. I pulled the existing gear off my cam synchronizer and measured the shaft as .530. I ended up ordering a Comp 37100 composite gear which was listed everywhere as fitting a .530 shaft. Well, I get the gear and of course it says .531 printed directly on side of it and it just slip fits on my existing cam synchronizer shaft without being pressed on, which won't work. I called up Comp and the tech basically stated he doesn't know why it's listed as .530 everywhere (website, catalog, ect).

I'm looking at two options, either find a cam synchronizer with a .531 shaft or get the Comp composite gear for the smaller ford shaft and have it machined out to the correct tolerance. Does anybody use or have a genuine Motorcraft F7TZ12A362AC cam sync (from 96-98 v8 explorers) and know the shaft diameter? I've been thinking of switching to the Motorcraft one anyways since I haven't been hearing good things about the Chinese reproductions like I currently have (cardone) when turning some RPM.

Hoytster · Jul 21, 2021

Ended up ordering a new Motorcraft synchronizer from Rock Auto. I'm hoping the shaft is .531 but I have another idea if it turns out to be a slip fit like that Cardone.

Hoytster · Jul 21, 2021

I can't recommend the UPR timing point. I'm not sure if it was a machining issue, or just a piss poor design, but the collars that slips into the back plate and gets the bolts put through them ended up crushing and almost pulling through the backplate when torqued down. I double checked everything and I can't see where I did anything wrong.

Ended up ordering a Jegs SBF timing pointer, which is a much nicer piece then the UPR IMO. Also got my crank trigger wheel mocked up to check pulley alignment and to see how I'm going to fab a sensor mount for it.

a91what · Jul 21, 2021

Hoytster said:
I can't recommend the UPR timing point. I'm not sure if it was a machining issue, or just a piss poor design, but the collars that slips into the back plate and gets the bolts put through them ended up crushing and almost pulling through the backplate when torqued down. I double checked everything and I can't see where I did anything wrong.

Ended up ordering a Jegs SBF timing pointer, which is a much nicer piece then the UPR IMO. Also got my crank trigger wheel mocked up to check pulley alignment and to see how I'm going to fab a sensor mount for it.

Did you reach out to UPR? I would think they could do something for you, everything I order from them is top notch

General karthief · Jul 21, 2021

He don't want to admit he used a 1/2" impact gun on it.

Hoytster · Jul 21, 2021

General karthief said:
He don't want to admit he used a 1/2" impact gun on it.

Those bolts get torqued to 250 ft/lbs, right?

a91what said:
Did you reach out to UPR? I would think they could do something for you, everything I order from them is top notch

I reached out to them last Friday, they got back to me asking for pictures, and I sent them over. I have not heard back and I touched base again this morning. This is my first issue with a UPR product as well....

Hoytster · Aug 6, 2021

UPR ended up refunding my money on that pointer. No word, nothing, just gave my money back. I'd really like to know what was up....

Received my Motorcraft cam sync and can confirm, it has a .531 shaft. The composite gear still doesn't press on quite as hard as a steel or bronze gear, but it might just be a characteristic of the material. Almost seems self lubricating, like teflon. I ended up using Loctite 648 retaining compound on the gear and shaft to guarantee it's mated well and not going to shear the roll pin. Got my end play down to .030 in the block with a total play of .065, so I'm going to leave it there.

We have lifters.... finally. Now I can finally start figuring out my pushrod length. Also got my valve covers in, pretty happy with how they look.

And as is typical of anything I do in life, if I didn't have bad luck, I would have any luck. I removed the roller rockers I received about a month and a half ago and noticed half are marked 1.6 while the other half are marked 1.7. Comp sent me a split ratio set packaged in a 1.6 ratio package by accident. Of course the 1.6 roller rockers are now on backorder through the end of the month so I get to wait some more.

General karthief · Aug 6, 2021

Run the 1.6 rockers on the intake side and the 1.7 rockers on the exhaust side, old 5.0 trick, don't know if it works or not, a lot of talk about it in the past but I think they were used that way on E7 heads to help with exhaust side.
just reminiscing, you know useless crap.

90sickfox · Aug 6, 2021

Yup thief. That was the e7 power combo. Port exhaust side ports...1.6 intake 1.7 exhaust rockers. It was proven to work on a budget.

Hoyster, that engine is looking good. It sucks having set backs. The part manufacturers, packers, and retailers aren't what they used to be. Seems like pride has gone out the window.

Hoytster · Aug 6, 2021

General karthief said:
Run the 1.6 rockers on the intake side and the 1.7 rockers on the exhaust side, old 5.0 trick, don't know if it works or not, a lot of talk about it in the past but I think they were used that way on E7 heads to help with exhaust side.
just reminiscing, you know useless crap.

That was the first thing I thought of when I figured out it was a split ratio set! IIRC, they did that back in the day due to lack of good cams and aftermarket cylinder heads that had really crappy exhaust flow. Especially when running nitrous and superchargers.

After I was done reminiscing, I came to my senses and realized this cam is already optimized to my heads, and not to screw with it and just get the right set. What's another month really?

Hoytster · Aug 6, 2021

Thanks @90sickfox. And I totally agree with you. The manufacturers are def. not what they used to be. Now everything is going corporate and small companies that have been around for years are getting bought up by these investment companies. I work with a lot of these investment type companies in healthcare and elderly care, and I can tell you that ultimately it is never a good thing to see this type of consolidation. Pride and quality of product/service always suffers.

Hell, people can't even get a good flat tappet cam and/or lifter anymore that holds up. The amount of trashed flat tappet engine builds that I hear of daily is mind boggling, and the companies that make the product don't seem to be doing a thing.

Hoytster · Aug 7, 2021

Finished fabricating my crank sensor mount. Made this from 1/4" aluminum stock and 10 guage aluminum flat bar I had laying around. I'll drill the final hole in my bracket once I pick my sensor but now I need to figure out how I want to finish this. Paint, anodize, brushed and clear.ed.....

90sickfox · Aug 9, 2021

I think it would look awesome brushed and cleared. The sensor will, more than likely, be black. It'll tie in the color combo you've got going on. Too shiny won't look good....black would get lost in the sauce.

Hoytster · Aug 10, 2021

90sickfox said:
I think it would look awesome brushed and cleared. The sensor will, more than likely, be black. It'll tie in the color combo you've got going on. Too shiny won't look good....black would get lost in the sauce.

That's the direction I've been leaning towards, thanks for the input.

Was able to check my pushrod length and was pretty happy with the result, .045 sweep right in the center of the valve tip with a measured 7.200 pushrod. I made solid rollers out of two of my old FMS lifters which ended up measuring ~.050 shorter then the Morel 5323's I just got. So with the intended pre-load on the Morel lifter around .0375 (3/4 turn) all should be good with that rod. Ended up ordering a 3/8" .080 Comp set.

Hoytster · Aug 31, 2021

Got the heads torqued down, lifters and pushrods installed, and now I'm just waiting for the correct roller rockers from Comp to finish up the valvetrain.

I've also been going through all my brackets and front accessories and getting them painted and cleaned up. Ordered new bearings for all the idler pulleys and am getting those changed out. I think I'm going to paint all my pulleys and accessories (charger, alt, PS) satin black to contrast with the satin silver of all the brackets/heads/intake. Really not trying to make this a show car, but I do want the engine bay to look nice.

And I decided to use all yellow zinc grade 8 bolts to replace all of the stock hardware on the front of the engine. I was going to use ARP SS hardware but I'm just going to go this route for right now. I like the contrast.

Hoytster · Aug 31, 2021

Anybody ever order from Alternator Start Rebuild Kits? I'm looking to rebuild my 3G alternator while I paint the case and found this company online. Seems they have a quality rebuild kit and offer an upgraded stator and rectifier kit as well.

Hoytster · Sep 20, 2021

Went ahead and ordered that rebuild kit and upgraded stator and rectifier, so we will see how that goes. If I wasn't planning on painting my casing, I would have just bought a rebuilt alternator. But now I can say I modded my alternator......

I got my rockers from Comp finally. Installed those and set my lash to 3/4 turn on these Morel's to see how that does. I've "heard" these Morel's can be a little noisy and setting the lash a little tight helps.

Hoytster · Sep 20, 2021

Sent my blower into Vortech for the Si upgrade. Of course they called and recommended a minor rebuild, so I just tacked that on while they have it. I plan on running this blower pretty hard and seeing what I can get out of it before upgrading.

Also got my intake back the machinist. I had him square and surface both the upper and lower intake mating surfaces, as well as machine my crank spacer down and surface my throttle plate. It def needed done as there was a good hump in both the lower and upper, but I feel I got butt raped to the tune of $700 for this...... It's done, but I think this is the last time I go to this guy. The last couple times his price has just been ridiculous.

Been ordering various bolts and fastener's I need to get the intake bolted on. I want ARP SS hardware on my intake but couldn't find a 6 1/2" 5/16-18 stud in ARP SS for the middle bolt. Ordered a section of 5/16" SS rod and made my own.

Hoytster · Sep 20, 2021

I ordered a set of these extra thick intake gaskets in .200 material from Flowtech since I need to lift my lower intake up to get the ports to match with all the port work and machining.

Ordered these back on the 11th and they got shipped on the 13th from RI. Mind you, I'm in PA. This is where they are now. WTF.

Progress Thread Darn Stock Block Problems - Getting the Engine Together

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

SendMeUrDataLog

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

Wasn't a pretty sight...and I've got big hands

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

Wasn't a pretty sight...and I've got big hands

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

I don't dare do that to my Knob

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