Build Thread My First Notch Build Thread - Remember me?!

Anybody ever heard of Murphy's Law? Well, it's been kicking my a ss for the last week or so. The issue with the crank/no start was, indeed, the coil. The brand new MSD coil. I haven't even driven the car yet and it took a crap already. The other night when that happened I clocked the distributor trying to figure out why the car wouldn't start. So I borrowed a buddy of mine's older MSD coil(he didn't have a stock one) and the car fired right up. Well today I started it up so I could set the timing again and decided to call BHJ Dynamics(brand of the balancer) to find out from them what the timing marks are since the numbers are not on the balancer. Oh what a mistake that was!!! The "tech guy" said that the first line was TDC and it increases by 2* after that. So I proceeded to set the timing to what HE SAID is supposed to be 10*....the engine stalls. So I go to start it back up(it did not like that) and all of a sudden I have a mist of fuel spraying from the back of the engine. I thought it was the fuel fitting on the back of the right fuel rail. So I go to the nearest high performance shop and buy another -8 90* PTFE fitting(it's not black but fck it) and the -6 to -8 double male fitting that screws into the back of the rail(just in case that was the culprit). $33.xx and 2 hours later I got back home to change the fittings and reattach everything only to have the same mist of fuel when the system primes. After closer inspection I realized that it was coming from the rail where the #4 injector is. So at this point I'm thinking it somehow blew out the o-ring. Luckily but most inconveniently I was able to get to it without removing the upper intake and that's when I realized the bolts that hold the fuel rail in place had loosened and allowed the rail to lift under pressure and a hiccup of a very retarded timing of the engine. Fixed that, and King Kong tighten the bolts that hold the rail on and tightened up the other side to the best of my big-a ss hands' ability. I primed the system and checked for leaks...still had a small drip from the fitting I changed. I tighten it some more....no more drip. Reinstall everything and start the car and set the timing. So I feel the fitting while the car is running and what do you know.....my finger is wet!! SONOFABTCH!!!!!

Needless to say, I'm pretty fcking aggravated right now. I keep having these little set-backs that keep me from getting this damn car on the ground and moving under it's own power before next week when we go to TX2K17. My buddy and I have setup an appointment with a tuner in Houston just in case we don't complete our car in time to have our tuners tune them before we leave. Why does this kind of thing always happen when you're so close to you deadline? Oh yeah.........Murphy's Law!!!

Well I was able to get the brakes working properly Tuesday. My buddy that works at Goodyear put it on their bleeding machine and that did the trick. I was able to replace my P/S pump and install my nice shiny overflow bottle. I ran out of time to drive it around that night because we had to get on the road at 3am the next morning. We ended up having to pull my buddy's transmission, clutch, and flywheel down on his at the last minute because he realized that he hadn't reinstalled a spacer that goes between the crank and flywheel(Terminator swapped 93 notch). We didn't finish until after midnight. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep before getting on the road. We had a dyno appointment for 10am in Houston(5+ hr ride).

We arrived at the shop at 10:00 on the dot. My buddy made good power with his car(650rwhp). Me, on the other hand, not so much. The dyno exposed everything wrong or not all the way right on my car. I went in with an exhaust leak that the muffler shop couldn't get out because out of the box one of the ball flanges had a nice dent in them and he wasn't able to seal it all the way. I was wondering why the car would idle fine as long as you don't move but as soon as you move it would die when coming to a stop then it would search for idle when you start it back up. Well that turned out to be a massive vacuum leak. I didn't retorque the lower intake bolts after several heat cycles. Another thing that the dyno exposed was leaking valve cover gaskets. And something I found out after all of this disappointment and embarrassment was that all the intake rocker studs need thread sealer or it will suck oil pass the threads and into the intake ports. This cause a fair amount of smoke out of the tail pipes after several pills on the dyno. It had me uneasy because I thought I might have been running too rich all those times I let it run at home getting heat cycles in it. All I could think about was Scott's brand new motor that he washed the cylinders down running too rich. Then I was thinking, "were those idle heat cycles enough for the rings to seal?" I was as nervous as a hooker in church. Did I mention this was my first time having any of my cars dyno'd?

After we left the dyno I never took the car off the trailer the whole time we were at TX2K17. The next day I pulled the valve covers and upper and lower intake thinking my pushrods may have been too long. After talking to Jim at FordStrokers.com he assured me my pushrods were not too long, if anything they might be a little short. Mine are 6.400" and he said setups like mine are normally around 6.500". Thats when he told me about putting thread sealer on the intake rocker studs. He also told me to relash all the valves and I should be ok.

Now I know you're wondering how much power did it make. It made a measly 365rwhp. The power was falling off like a cliff after 6k rpms which had me kinda stumped because the cam was ground to make power to 7k. But I quickly figure I needed better valve springs. I thought I asked the guy at Cam Motion if the cam came with a set of springs or was their springs they recommended. I could have sworn he said no. Anyway, I emailed Ed Curtis at FTI and asked him what valve springs he recommends for my cam. He just got back to me today with the set he recommends. So I'll be getting those in the next month or so.

Here are some pics and videos. I am not very proud but it is what it is. At least it didn't grenade on the dyno.





View: https://youtu.be/84aYyYHDlsQ


View: https://youtu.be/nd7Vd3gr0BI

Davedacarpainter said:

It sounds good Craig!

Is that puff of smoke from the oil slipping by? Along with the puff from under the car?

You're almost there Craig, just some details left. Finish strong buddy.

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The puff of smoke was from the rocker stud issue and the smoke from under the car was from oil leaking onto the headers from the valve covers.

madmike1157 said:

A push rod that is too short by .100" should show that on the valve tip. Have you completely removed a rocker arm, and looked at the contact patch on the valve tip to see where the rocker arm is pressing on it?

All you have are bugs,..easily swatted. A vacuum leak, an exhaust leak, a reinstallation of 16 rocker studs, and a couple of measly oil leaks are all that stands in the way of a running car?

You got no worries.

And short of having to go back through your thread and look, how big is your engine anyway? If this thing is a N/A 306-331, 365 WHP isn't measly. It's all about Torque in a street car anyway,...what did yours make?

The problem is you went to the dyno w/ a terminator. You cannot hope to take that engines thunder until you step the block up, and put some sort of wheezer on yours.

I'll bet your ass was draggin on the way home though...

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The contact patch on the valve was a little wide but it was in the middle. My ci. is 363, Dart Sportsman block. As for torque, it wouldn't register because the tuner said that the MSD box was throwing the dyno off with the multi-sparks that it couldn't even give an accurate rpm reading therefore unable to give torque numbers. I didn't question it because I didn't know any better.

Davedacarpainter said:

That pretty new engine of yours ought to make a good more than that though, right?

I know you said you thought your cr was 9.0-1 though.

Still, dart 363 with afr 205's and all the rest of those pretty parts. Ought to be close to 450-500 rwhp maybe?

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With compression between 9:1 and 9.8:1 I was hoping for around 425ish. The discrepancy with the compression is the engine builder said the pistons are in the hole .020" but what I measured was less than that. So with my calculations from my measurements I got like 9.8:1.

Thanks for all the compliments and reassurance guys. I appreciate it.

A5literMan said:

I think a vacuum leak and potential valve spring issue could be costing you a considerable amount. What are you tuning the motor with(ecu wise)? Stock electronics may not net you the most power also.

Getting the motor to go cleanly above 6500rpm...hard to do if the springs are weak,systemax intake(n/a they peter out around 62-6500),the ecu,msd ignition,and a few mechanical questions. Just my thoughts.

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Yeah, I definitely plan on getting MSPNP. The tuner said that would help also. I knew the Systemax intake wouldn't make power all the way to 7k I just figured it would give me a good 6500. Yes the vacuum leak and springs left some power on the table. I just felt pretty broken after that experience. I thought I had it all together but the dyno and the drag strip will let you know what's not together I guess.