Solved One problem, but new BIG PROBLEM!!

red94fiveo

New Member
Apr 12, 2003
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Wichita, KS
I readjusted my rockers today and I think most of them were too tight when I first put them on. After this the car fired up and sounded a lot smoother. I took it for a spin and it drives smoother and sounds better, but still the same problem that it just won't accelerate.

EDIT: another thing that happened is that now the throttle cable has a little slack in it and the gas pedal feels very spongy and light.

However, here are my new problems. After I let the car warm up for about 3-4 minutes I drove it about 5 miles to a friends house. After I got there I shut it off and fired it back up in about a minute, when I did this I hear a new sound, I now have a rocker hitting the VC's. I can feel it when I put my hand on the VC when the car is running. So I decided it I would baby the car home and then tackle this new problem (buy some fox body VC's) About 1/4 mile from home I get a new louder niose that is terrible sounding and sounds like metal hitting metal, but its louder and not as frequent and the rocker hitting, it seems to happen in no set pattern (not like engine RPM with the rocker). After i hear this noise a couple times and am pulling into my alley the car dies and I have tp push it the last 100 yards home. I started up the car again in the garage for about 1/2 second and this horrible metal on metal niose happens again. What could this be, I'm really worried and frustrated. Thanks for all the help, as usual.
 
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check your timing. i know you most likely checked it a hundred times already.
maybe a snaped push rod?

and BTW i've been following your other thread about the install. and i have a set of AFR and a crane cam not FTI. not in yet but any way. maybe its time to take the heads and the cam out. and take it to a shop to put together from start? not trying to put you or your install down. but maybe it would save you the frustration and your motor from damage.
good luck

hope you get everything worked out
 
donkey_punch said:
check your timing. i know you most likely checked it a hundred times already.
maybe a snaped push rod?

and BTW i've been following your other thread about the install. and i have a set of AFR and a crane cam not FTI. not in yet but any way. maybe its time to take the heads and the cam out. and take it to a shop to put together from start? not trying to put you or your install down. but maybe it would save you the frustration and your motor from damage.
good luck

hope you get everything worked out

Yanking the motor out and having a shop assemble it is my last resort, although one that I may be getting closer to. I'm gonna get a set of Fox Body VC's and go from there.
 
i'm not saying yanking the motor. just taking off what you installed. then tow the car to the shop with parts and have them install. maybe better then saying, this is what i installed, and this is the problem. i need it fixed. some places won't even touch it. so with what you nned off, will save you in labor. they just have to put the stuff on. just i suggestion. good luck again
 
Didn't you mention that you had real close PV clearance, like .080/.100...right at the minimum requirements??

Edit....re-reading your post it sounds like your adjustments today got way loose as you drove it...you never had those noises prior to this last adjustment from the sounds of it....Have you set the TPS from your other post?? You went dot to dot or tweaked it some??? if i remember?? rechecked TDC and the timings correct, wires in correct order???
 
Hey red,
I'm a total newbie, but just checking, when I took my throttle body and upper intake off, I forgot to put the tension spring back on the throttle body when I re assembled it, gave me similar feel to what you are describing, just wanted to make sure you put spring back on.
smoke
 
smokediver27 said:
Hey red,
I'm a total newbie, but just checking, when I took my throttle body and upper intake off, I forgot to put the tension spring back on the throttle body when I re assembled it, gave me similar feel to what you are describing, just wanted to make sure you put spring back on.
smoke

Holy 'Kiss Me''Kiss Me''Kiss Me''Kiss Me' I'm a f***ing moron, thats exactly what I forgot to do. Thanks so much. Sometimes I question whether I should be doing this with as absent minded as I am.

Rio- PTV was like .105" on both intake and exhaust, I checked the wired were all correct, the distributor is set right, and the wires are all OK. What do you mean by got way loose? The second niose I heard is what scares the s*** out of me. My dad was standing outside in front of the car and he said it sounded like a backfire, from inside the car (top down) it sounded distinctly metal to metal to me.

Grady - The really bad noise sounds like its coming from the drivers side of the engine towards the back.
 
I had the rear rocker on the drivers side come loose on me twice following my h/c/i install. Both times I removed the intake and vc's then removed and readjusted all rockers. I finally put some locktite on the bolts. All has been well since.

BTW, I also forgot the throttle spring once too.
 
Rio- PTV was like .105" on both intake and exhaust, I checked the wired were all correct, the distributor is set right, and the wires are all OK. What do you mean by got way loose? The second niose I heard is what scares the s*** out of me. My dad was standing outside in front of the car and he said it sounded like a backfire, from inside the car (top down) it sounded distinctly metal to metal to me.

What i was saying is, you didnt get the noise your talking about til you re-adj them today??? then the noise starts....if its backfiring, could be in your last round of adjusting?? time to rip the VCs for sure...somethings gotta be floating around, hence the metal to metal sound???
How did you do up the valves today??
 
Rio - Both the noises were only after I adjusted the rockers today. The first one (rocker hitting VC) started after about 5 minutes, and the really bad one (don't know) started about 5 minutes later when I was almost home. I set up the rockers after talking to ED C today and following the directions on the tech section of the flowtech website to the T.

Also, I am going to need some fox body VC's or if I retighten the rockers will my stocker still work?
 
Mark

Sounds like you need to check the valve train again with a more detailed look on the drivers side.

If the noise is vt related it is most likely something like a loose stud or a poly lock came loose on the drivers side.

I would not start the motor again until you find the prob.

After the prob is found I would adjust all valves again exactly as Ed specified.

Later
Grady
 
make sure the valves are adjust correctly. had a friend of mine had a loose stud in his head. the stud backed out and made the car run has if it had a burnt valve and made a terrible metal grinding noise because it was hitting the valve cover. if it wasnt making that noise til you adjusted the valves i would pull the covers off and check them again
 
dirtyo2000 said:
make sure the valves are adjust correctly. had a friend of mine had a loose stud in his head. the stud backed out and made the car run has if it had a burnt valve and made a terrible metal grinding noise because it was hitting the valve cover. if it wasnt making that noise til you adjusted the valves i would pull the covers off and check them again

I tourqued all the studs down to 60ft-lbs when I got the heads so I wouldn't think they would come loose, but then again I'm not sure.

I don't think the baffle is an issue. the only rocker that I can hear hitting appears to be on #3.
 
Sometimes my tensioner rattles and the metal hits against the alternator bracket...this causes a loud metallic banging sound. This can happen especially if you just recently changed belt sizes. I doubt that's it, but worth taking a look at.

I have no idea why your car won't rev like it should. Your roller rocker noise sounds like one got loose on you, are you sure you didn't forget to tighten down one of the poly locks???
 
I am almost sure I tightened down all the pol lock, but I could have forgotten one. When I am tightening them down how tight should the polylock be?

Dream - Its not that the car wont rev, it will go up to the redline, it just won't accelerate. All the way down on the throttle produces the same amount of acceleration as 1/16 down on the throttle.
 
red94fiveo said:
I am almost sure I tightened down all the pol lock, but I could have forgotten one. When I am tightening them down how tight should the polylock be?

Mark

The stud mounts with poly locks can come loose but I have used the following method for years and have not had one back off yet. First make sure the poly lock will not touch the stud when you are making your adjustment. Tighten the nut to where you want it minus 1/8 of a turn. Hold the nut steady with your wrench so it will not turn and run down the lock all the way. Snug the lock down a bit more but not really tight all the time not allowing the lock to turn by holding the wrench steady. Tighten the nut & lock together the remaining 1/8 of a turn for your final adjustment.

Later
Grady