I feel like an idiot

5.0Torx

Active Member
Dec 30, 2007
252
3
29
*sigh*

Well, i have officially gotten in a little over my head. I feel ashamed to even post this to other mustang people but I need to get it out there!

CLIFFNOTES: I dont know how to build engines, messed mine up about as much as you can without causing real damage to it, and am currently driving my brothers 97 lincoln Mk VIII and missing the hell out of my good ol FIVE OH!

Ive spent the past 8 days, about 10 hours a day working on my car. The plan was spend 2-3 days getting my GT40Ps and exploder intake along with some other goodies on it. This is my spring break, and i am a 21 year old college student. The plan was also to drive my damn car back to school tonight.

What got me was messing with the cam timing. I got a trick Flow timing chain and tried retarding the cam. I also got cobra 1.7 RRs. I made the big mistake of having my helpers put the screws through the pedestal mount before handing them to me. I got a pair that were upside down and, when i put torque on them, crushed the pedestals with the flat side of the pedestal mount. To those who dont know, when this happens, the rocker arm digs into the base plate and will not allow the engine to rotate. I, in my naivety, perceived this as bad PTV clearance, and went to put the cam timing back to OEM. I couldnt think of anything else to do other than put the stock 1.6s back on, which i didnt want to do. This must have been where i messed up. Now, when piston 1 is at TDC, the exhaust valve is about halfway open lol. Because of this, when i tried to fire the engine, everything exploded in the exhaust. I went nuts rechecking all my work over and over until i figured out my cam timing is off. After 90+ man hours i had to slap the hood back on it, roll it out with helpers pushing, and leave it.

My brother was gracious enough to lend me his 97 lincoln Mk VIII for the week. Driving this car back to school was interesting. My drive to school takes me about an hour and twenty minutes at 70-80 mph. To those who havent expereienced a Mk VIII, imagine a 96-98 cobra with really comfy seats, four times the sound deadening, and cushy air ride suspension, and a stupid AODE. It has the cobra engine with teksid block, save the cast 6 bolt crank. Good hardware. And this thing cruises at 80 quieter than my fox at 30. It is easily twice the daily driver my fox is.

But i passed a red fox body on the way and really missed mine. It is alot of work but im pretty sure i can fix it. Im going back next weekend to do the 2 day hail mary on it and hopefully get the damn thing running right.
 
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Im really sorry to hear that, but from the sounds of it you will get yourself underway. I know its the thing you dont want to hear, but some things can only be learned by experience. Sounds as though you will have the experiences to help both yourself and others in the future. Keep up the good 'tude!
 
thanks. its funny, after pulling a 13.5 hour day on it thursday night, i was so whiped out that i wired up the dizzy backwards (going clockwise, not CCW), and it almost started! it sounded soooo close.

Oh well. Yes, learnin the hard way is the best way to learn. Not the most fun though!
 
Sometimes things go wrong not because of not knowing better.
It could be because you were tired. Sometimes you need to know when to stop working and double check everything after a rest.
 
You said the exhaust valve was open when the piston was at TDC? You were on the wrong stroke. Thats the evacuation cycle. You want the cycle right before that called the compression cycle. Thats when the valves are closed.
Thats whay it almost fired when you spun the distributer. :shrug:
 
Dont worry and dont be embarassed! You didnt break anything and your now on track to gettin it right from the sounds of it. Take the week to plan your attack and your time will be better spent!!! Good luck and let us know how it comes out
Matt
 
dont feel to bad, when i dropped my dizzzy back in i had the timming so ****ed up it would only run in the no HO firing order lmao. and then... ran out of gas in it and was like wtf wont it start. timming is spot on. firing order is correct. when my gas gauge says a 1/8 it means EEEEEE. i felt like a dildo :nonono: