PI Intake/Cam install problem

[Dusstbuster]

89 in-lb? its supposed to be 17-22 ft-lbs. 89in-lbs is only ~7.4ft-lbs, thats not enough pull to keep that manifold flush with the heads.

....dirka????

maybe that has something to do with it!
now that i look closer, i'm retarded...think that could have something to do with it???wow i was so used to flipping between my screens for the valve cover/spark plugs/etc that the number just blew right by me. Think it's too late to torque it down tighter now or is it possible that the extra 10ft/lbs might help if we did that tomorrow??

I find it funny that I came in to check this right before going to bed after spending the last 20 minutes tearing it apart again. I also find it funny that 1 week ago I wouldn't have known where to start when it came to tearing apart the manifold and now I can get it almost all off in about 30 minutes. Stang you just made my week if tightening it down is all that we need to do.

 

[stangGT97]

Well, 10 ft-lbs is pretty significant. I hope this turns out to be the source of your problem so you can finally get your car going again. I know what you're saying though, looking at numbers all day long, esp. after working for a long time, you definitely start to get delirious and things run together. Good luck man, let me know what happens

 

[Dusstbuster]

Last question really until we once again redo it...you don't think a little coolant sitting in the cylinder is going to hurt anything. I mean, the cylinder isn't flooded by any means, there just looked like a tiny little collection of it on the piston in the cylinder closest to the thermostat housing.

 

[stangGT97]

Last question really until we once again redo it...you don't think a little coolant sitting in the cylinder is going to hurt anything. I mean, the cylinder isn't flooded by any means, there just looked like a tiny little collection of it on the piston in the cylinder closest to the thermostat housing.

well, not sure about that. Is there any way you could get it out of there with an air wand or a wet/dry vac? I'm not sure the effect it would have on the ring sealing, if it washed the oil off or not... a little bit should just burn off but I would try to blow it out if possible.

 

[Dusstbuster]

alright sounds good, ill just use some small hose to fit through the plug hole and shop vac it out

 

[stangGT97]

Ok, keep us posted on how things turn out..

 

[stangGT97]

bump, whats the deal? Did you fix the problem?

 

[Dusstbuster]

I bought new gaskets yesterday after school, we RTV'd it up, torqued it down to 18ft/lbs this time, and now it's been sitting. We'll finish reassembling it today around 530 when I get out of class/off work and see if it runs then!

 

[stangGT97]

I did 22 ft-lbs all around... may want to give it a bit more than 18

 

[Dusstbuster]

I did 22 ft-lbs all around... may want to give it a bit more than 18

Alright, i'll probably torque it down another 4 or so when I get home.

 

[stangGT97]

Alright, i'll probably torque it down another 4 or so when I get home.

did you follow the correct tightening sequence? side to side, working your way out

 

[Dusstbuster]

did you follow the correct tightening sequence? side to side, working your way out

Yup! The only one that kinda was a problem was the bolt on the rear drivers side cylinder bank, underneath some electrical plugin. We still went in order but that one wasn't torqued with a torque wrench, more of a "goodntight" philosophy on that one. The rest all got torqued in sequence at 13 then 18 ft lbs.

 

[stangGT97]

Thats the DPFE sensor blocking your way. I left all that crap off until I had the manifold torqued. You really need to use a torque wrench on all the bolts to insure even pull. Also, when I tightened mine, I went through the sequence and did all the bolts to like 10 ft-lbs, back through to like 14-15, back through to 19ish, then finally to 22. Yes it takes a while but it also is a fool proof way to get the manifold to sit 100% flush

 

[Dusstbuster]

Thats the DPFE sensor blocking your way. I left all that crap off until I had the manifold torqued. You really need to use a torque wrench on all the bolts to insure even pull. Also, when I tightened mine, I went through the sequence and did all the bolts to like 10 ft-lbs, back through to like 14-15, back through to 19ish, then finally to 22. Yes it takes a while but it also is a fool proof way to get the manifold to sit 100% flush

Yeah true. We never even toop the DPFE off... I can say this time though that you can tell it's a better/tighter seal than before based off the squeezing of the RTV and the lack of gap between manifold/gasket/head this time. When I get home i'll retorque in sequence up to 22ft/lbs and then reassemble it and start her up.

 

[hotmustang331]

We never use a torque wrench, unless its for building the bottom end of a motor. And iv never had any problems, I get them "hand" tight. I have that feeling as to when its tight enough.So, I think you will be fine with that last bolt.

 

[Dusstbuster]

Same frickin problem. Misfires, P0300. Timing is correct according to the timing light, and yes I know the light is useless for ADJUSTING the time, but it still tells me what the actual timing is. The only thing we can think of now is possibly bad wires/plugs? A couple plugs/wires were giving weird light pulses when we connected the timing light to them, they wern't consistent strobes, more like random flashes, and 1 wasn't even flashing for a little bit...I'm not going to go waste another $40 on plugs and who knows how much on wires though if thats not it.

 

[Dusstbuster]

Just re-started it up and it smelled sorta weird, then steaming/smoking out of the engine. Shut it off because of the smell and you could hear sizzling. Drivers side header/cat. was getting dripped on and sizzling like no other, but when we looked at it with a flashlight from dif. angles we couldn't figure out where it was dripping from...other than the obvious fact that its on the drivers side. Believe me, the manifold is down to 20lbs minimum on each bolt and EVERY passage, be it water or air or poop or anything, was sealed up tight.

 

[TGJ]

Replace your plugs, wires and check your Driver side Valve Cover for an oil leak.

Describe the smell, anti-freeze or oil.

When I did the PI cams, I didn't get the gasket in perfect on my passenger side head and valve cover. Took a few days to find that it was leaking oil.

 

[stangGT97]

Stock wires are about $50 for the set, at least thats what I paid. Plugs aren't that much, esp. the ones in there were fouled out from coolant. TGJ brings up a good point, I've seen valve cover gaskets get a little big folded over when installed or they might come out of their slot on the cover, then they leak. The guy who did my clutch was replacing a valve cover gasket for a Jag because whoever put it on initially did one of those two things (can't remember which)

 

[Dusstbuster]

Well..........i'm not a fan of this swap at the moment. We tested the wires resistance with my dads meter and they all responded so it's not the wires. I had to go to a review session but he stayed and checked things out and found the following: Sludgish type crap in the cylinders, almost all the plugs on the drivers side are black. Coolant is in the oil, and the manifold itself has crap in it.

Back to square one, we're ready to remove the manifold again..4th ****** time. I don't have anything that I can get down the plug wells to clean the cylinders out so i'm going to be spraying them down with fogging oil to prevent corrosion. I'll be buying cheap crap oil being as the car will be going into storage in a month....yay for wasting money on fully synthetic that was used for 1 whoping week and 1 hour max.

I need the following info....how hard is it to remove the frickin EGR pile of metal that sits over the block. That's the issue i'm thinking, it sits there and forces you to angle the manifold in and rub the RTV everywhere before its even in place. If I could get the frickin EGR off during the install it'd go so much better... Any other thoughts/reccomendations?? I'm so sick of this swap right now. Once again, something that's supposed to be overall fairly simple goes TOTALLY wrong when we do it. The hardest part, the cams, was the easiest and most pain free part of this whole install. And no it's not oil leaking...pressure was fine and we could see well enough to tell it's not a valve cover gasket. Ill post more coherent sentences and information when im done shooting everything and everyone in sight.

The smell isn't something you can name. The reason for that was it was probably a mixture of gas/oil/coolant all in one. It didn't distinctly smell like one single thing though.