New motor is running!

[Vince]

I fired up the new motor on Saturday...surprisingly it fired up almost instantly. I would've posted this earlier but there were a few bugs that I wanted to work out first. It turns out these were fairly minor things like timing, idle adjustment, and re-jetting the carb. Now I'm pretty happy with the way it's running. I definitely feel more power in the mid to upper range, but since the engine is still quite new I don't want to rev it too high yet. Here's what I have now:

-302 bored .030 over
-Keith Black hypereutectic flat-tops (should give about 9.3:1 comp ratio)
-Comp Cams XE262H
-E7TE heads, home ported, milled .020, with 1.94/1.60 valves
-Ford Racing 1.6 roller rockers
-Edelbrock RPM Airgap intake
-Carter 600 carb
-topped with a Ford Racing air cleaner that barely fits under the hood

I'm still running the RAD4 but I have a T5 waiting to go in. I also have a set of headers waiting to get installed. I'm sure the stock manifolds are choking the motor.

I'll be going to the Mustangs NW Roundup show on Sunday, so I'll post pics of it then...along with all the other cars.

 

[Eos]

Congrats!

 

[Dano78]

Right on You'll have to get up a couple of mp3 vids to share with us.

 

[Vince]

Alright, I'm back from the Roundup show & no problems with the car. I still need to experiment with the timing but the engine ran real good today (nearly 300 mile round trip). It got kinda hot after idling at the border crossing for over 30 minutes, but it was a hot day and I'd been running it on the freeway for a couple hours. Gotta question though...is it normal for the engine to shake at idle? I think this is just the nature of that camshaft (218/224 dur @ .050) During the buildup I checked and shimmed each rocker arm for proper lifter preload, and the valve train is quiet, so I don't think there's any problem with the valves. I'm just not used to the shaking I guess.

I calculated my fuel economy on the trip. Looks like I got nearly 20 mpg. That's all freeway, but this is without overdrive which will change soon when I get the T5 put in. Here's a picture of the engine taken today. I will post the rest of the Roundup pictures in their own thread.

 

[dmoody]

20 mpg is terrific for the RAD4. I'm no expert on the ins and outs of a well balanced motor... however I kind of like a car that shakes at idle. It just beckons me to step on the gas and take off. Nice job and beautiful car Vince.... I can't believe you haven't put the T5 in? You made those awesome mounts that we all used.

d

 

[IIxs]

Vince your engine combo is almost identical to my latest with the only exception being mine has forged pistons and the standard Performer intake (not RPM) with an Autolite 4100. My engine idles pretty smooth and it's in front of an automatic. Since you've milled the heads check to make sure the valves are seating, since you've effectively made the pushrods longer. I don't believe your rockers are adjustable, so you may have to get shorter pushrods to correct this, if this is indeed the trouble. Also check for vacuum leaks, mine holds a steady 14" at idle. Hope this helps. BTW very nice car, well done.

Duhhhh...I just reread your post and see that you've shimmed your rockers.

 

[Vince]

Yeah, I've got pedestal style roller rockers and I checked each one individually and shimmed them to get approx 1/2 turn lifter preload (around .040 I think). I get 14" steady vacuum at idle too, so that's good to know. I was thinking vacuum leak too...could be, I will poke around some more.

 

[Vince]

20 mpg is terrific for the RAD4. I'm no expert on the ins and outs of a well balanced motor... however I kind of like a car that shakes at idle. It just beckons me to step on the gas and take off. Nice job and beautiful car Vince.... I can't believe you haven't put the T5 in? You made those awesome mounts that we all used.

d

I know...it's a little ironic that I still haven't used my T5 crossmember yet. The T5 was supposed to go in a long time ago but plans changed. Since the RAD4 wasn't dead yet I decided to focus on the motor first.

 

[Dano78]

It's hard to determine one person's level of shake to another's. That particular cam is pretty large in comparison to tha stock cam but still pretty mellow in comparison to others that could be had. If it's got a 112 C/L it should be pretty smooth.... but my definition of smooth could be a bit rough to you. Your 14" of vacuum is great! That's why i love that cam and use it in all my daily driver stuff. My bro's maverick has that same cam profile and the car runs out awsome. You could have a few adjustments to do yet. With the motor being fresh, that could contribute to alot aswell. Once it loosens up a bit and you're allowed to lean it out more, it may run a little smoother.

 

[77sleeper]

vince, my motor jiggles around at idle with a 204/214 and a 110 lca

make a vid, I will tell you if it is similar

 

[Vince]

That's a good idea. I'll take a video and see what you guys think. LSA for the cam is 110 degrees.

 

[Vince]

Here are a couple of videos. The shaking looks like lean misfiring to me but richening the idle mixture doesn't seem to help. I checked the spark plugs and they all look good. Gap is set to .050 (valve cover decal called for .048-.052), idle is around 800 rpm, and I've tried various ignition timings from 6 to 16 degrees initial.

engine01.avi
engine02.avi

 

[77sleeper]

idle is kinda high it sounds, but that is about what mine does, how old are your mounts?

 

[Vince]

Idle sounds high in the video but it's around 800-850. Maybe it is a little high. The driver's side engine mount is about 2 years old with probably 1000 miles on it. Passenger side is older but not split. The tranny mount is a different story though. It's definitely split..I haven't fixed it because it will be replaced in a few weeks with the T5 upgrade. Could be the problem?

 

[Dano78]

Tranny mount.... not likely. You'll notice that one going down the highway showing up as a vibration, if it does at all. Most do, but some dont.

Oh! it's a 110... I was thinking it was 112. Well, that could be a big contributor. However, from watching the video, it is very possible that it could be a small miss. No vacuum leaks? Vacuum connected to correct spots and good connections? ( I ask this because more times that not I find that the vacuum advance is hooked up backwards and in in full advance while idling and that can easily cause a miss similiar to what could be yours) Hard to say without fiddling with it and seeing how it reacts.

Comp Cams Xtreme Energy cams are pretty healthy cams and that quite possibly just may be the way it is.
I'll tell you this... she ain't shakin nowhere near as much as my 289 does... But alot of that is the freakin tunnel ram....

 

[itsaMustangtoo]

My cobra clone has a Lunati 284/488 cam in it. Does not shake at idle and really does not have a lope to it. Check the cam card @ .050 dur. This will tell you if it's gonna lope or not,forget the advertised dur.

 

[Addicted_2_II]

I know this is an old thread but I have the Competition Cam (FS XE268H-10) "Extreme Energy" and mine engine shakes looks almost identical to yours! But I do notice that I have more valve train noise than you do!

In fact we have nearly identical setups!

 

[Vince]

Yeah, it seems the idle is normal for that camshaft. There's a guy on another website I posted this on who also has an XE262H camshaft, and his motor has the exact same idle roughness.

For the valvetrain, I'm using Ford Racing 1.6 pedestal roller rockers. Since that video was taken I switched to taller (and slightly wider) valve covers. One of the rockers on each head was tapping against the valve cover.

 

[Addicted_2_II]

I think my valve train noise may be coming from having pushrods that are slightly too short... But to be honest I am just guessing at this point! I even have the noise when I pull off the valve covers and it gets worse as the engine warms up. Kind of sounds like the noise solid lifters would make.

I don't know, when I break it open in a few days maybe I will find out more!

Chad

 

[Blue Thunder]

My camshaft is 250i/260e dur @.050", and the car shakes so bad that everything in the rear view mirror is blurred at idle, and if I set a soda can on the dashboard, it'll knock it over.