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

Update: So last week I was getting the car ready for Cruisin the Coast. I hadn't adjusted the rear suspension back to where it needed to be since I put the solid motor mounts on. I just had to put the lower control arms bck to stock length and set my pinion angle. All of that stuff was all out of wach from having to extend it out just to be able to get the d/s in and out. I figured since the motor mounts have the engine sitting where its supposed to that I wouldn't have the fitment issues with the d/s anymore.....WRONG!!!

The Saturday before I started the adjustments and discovered that one of the lca bolts was bent. And it refused to go back in. So I ordered some from UPR. They arrived Wednesday evening...just in time for me to finish putting everything back together so the car would be ready for CTC. So Thursday afternoon after I reinstalled the LCAs it was time to set the pinion angle. I got the pinion angle and it was time to get the d/s angle to see how much I had to adjust the UCAs to get the desired -4° of pinion angle. I tried to install the d/s but it said :nono:. I was like WTF?!?!?! By this time it was after 10:00. So I was back to square #1 with d/s fitment. So the bad motor mounts wasn't the cause of the fitment issues....it was most of the cause of the vibration issues I was getting tho. The rest of the vibration issue ws due to the pinion angle being waaaay off.

Well I was completely deflated, unmotivated and highly p!ssed. I was already on a short fuse due to the other extreme stress I've been under lately so this just put me over the edge and I had thrown in the towel. I called 2 of my buddies and my dad(I was gonna use his trailer) and told them the car won't be going to CTC because I was back to square #1 with the d/s fitment. They both said WTF. Well one of those buddies still had my stock d/s. Actually he hd mine and another one. He said he'd measure them and told me to measure the custom one I have.

Sidenote: The custom d/s was part of the transmission conversion kit I purchased from American Powertrain when I bought my TKO600. It included their signature crossmember, tranny mount, d/s, and speedo cable with appropriate gear for the rear gear in the rearend.

Well when I was building the car the crossmember didn't fit. I went back and forth with them about that...they never took responsibility for it aven tho they said they hd a bad batch some months before but they claimed they retrieved them all. The tranny mount was wrong...well maybe not wrong but it was eant to fit on their crossmember. So I used my stock crossmember. I just grinded off the spot welds so I could adjust it rearward to fit the TKO600. Now a couple years later I discover the d/s is too long. So basically nothing in the conversion kit that I paid a few hundred dollars for fit except the speedo cable and gear.

So my buddy measured the 2 stock d/s's. Measuring from end to end of the d/s not including the yokes on each end, they measured 46 3/4". The custom d/s measured 47 3/16". That was more than enough difference in length that I needed to get the rear yoke past the pinion and nut to get it in. So my buddy asked if I was coming to get it. I said yeah I'll just need to switch slip yoke from the custom d/s to the stock one when I get there. That took almost 2 hrs to do....that's whole other story that I don't even typing.

So Friday after running a few errands I got to work installing the d/s and setting the pinion angle. Test drove the car. It drive better than it ever had because I had NO MORE vibration at any speed. During the test drive I got it over 120mph with no vibration. I was beyond happy at that point. Actually if my dad hadn't already brought me his trailer I would have told him nevermind I'll drive the car to CTC. I originally didn't want to drive it there because of the slight vibration due to the pinion ngle being way off AND I don't have a/c. But I could have survived the no a/c part. The MS gulf coast is only an hour or less away from me.

The weekend was great AND as many of you know I was able to meet @CarMichael Angelo and The Monster and we almost went to jail together!:eek::rlaugh:

Next on the agenda....change valve springs, change pushrods, rebuild rearend with new 3.55 gear and install my Stinger PiMP and harness....and start tuning.
 
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Hey guys! Remember me?! I've been gone for few years. A lot has happened...divorce, moving back with my mom and stepdad, COVID, getting back on my feet, bought a house, etc....and the car has been down for most of that time. Lifter failure was the culprit. Luckily it was audible when it happened and that made me stop driving the car until I figured out what the issue was. The sound it made was odd and I couldn't really put my finger on what it was. a buddy of mine listened to it and took an educated guess that it sounded like a bad lifter. At the time I was living back at mom's house but my dad let me keep the car in his extra garage at his house in the next town. Needless to say, it was difficult finding time to get to my dad's house to work on the car. I had finally found some time to work on it right when COVID hit. I started to take things apart but didn't get far. Then I was overloaded with working both jobs throughout the pandemic so I, once again, couldn't find time to get back to my dad's house to finish taking things apart just to diagnose the problem.

Fast forward about 2 years. I got back on my feet post-divorce and bought a house with a 2-car garage AND room in the yard to put a shop. Trailered the car to my house house and put it in the garage where I told myself, "Since the car is right here at home I'll be able to work on it whenever I want..." Yeah right!!! There's not enough hours in a day :nonono:. It was a few months after moving in before I had a chance to do anything to the car. Finally took the heads off to get to the lifters.

I discovered which one was making the noise. This one had the lock or retainer sitting right beside the lifter in the valley. :eek: THAT could have been catastrophic!!
bad lifter1.jpg

Then as I start to remove the other lifters I run across one that felt like it had a flat spot on it....it DID!!
bad lifter2.jpg

So of course I looked in the lifter bore to see if it damaged the cam. Here's what I saw. :eek::doh:
lifter bore.jpg

After this discovery I called CamMotion to find out if they could check it to see how bad the damage is and if it could be polished out. They said bring it in they'd be happy to check it and if it could be polished out it would only cost $25.

Fast forward 6 months....yesterday I finally got a chance to pull the cam out. The scarring doesn't SEEM too bad but I don't really know for sure. :shrug:
Scarred lobe1.jpg Scarred lobe2.jpg Scarred lobe3.jpg Scarred lobe4.jpg
Now it may be a week or 2 before I have time to take the ride to Baton Rouge to drop it off at CamMotion but I'm making progress. :D:confused:
 
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This is why I'd don't use royal purple. Had almost the same thing happen to one of my cars. The lifters weren't linked so it rode the camshaft sideways. The machine shop I dealt with said it was somehow related to the royal purple. I know plenty of people that run it without issues. I won't put it in anything again.
 
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This is why I'd don't use royal purple. Had almost the same thing happen to one of my cars. The lifters weren't linked so it rode the camshaft sideways. The machine shop I dealt with said it was somehow related to the royal purple. I know plenty of people that run it without issues. I won't put it in anything again.
I don't use Royal Purple. I have no idea why the oil looks that color. I wasn't even using synthetic oil. I was using regular Valvoline 10W-40. I figured I was good because I changed the oil so often. I changed it maybe every 1000 miles or after about 4 or 5 fun nights with my buddies running our cars pretty hard.
 
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Wow, just finished reading the entire 20 pages.
Nice work - you are determined i must say.
Hopefully I get to start my Progress Thread mid to late next year.
 
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**Update**
So last week I brought the cam to CamMotion. They said that the scarring was a little too deep to just polish it out but they said it could be regrinded to give all the lobes a fresh flat surface. They assured me that the specs won't change at all. So I let them do that. While I was there I wanted to buy a set of Morel 5323 lifters but they didn't have any in stock and they didn't have an ETA of when they'd have any in stock because they had put an order in with Morel months ago and they don't know when it will come in. So when I got back home I searched the interwebs to see if anybody had them in stock....first search: Fordstrokers: In-Stock...:banana: I took that with a grain of salt so I called to confirm that they actually had them in stock. The lady said yes they would be drop-shipped from Morel immediately....:O_o::chin**...but CamMotion said...*. "Great!!! Place the order!!" They arrived Tuesday AND CamMotion called and said my cam was ready that same day!! :banana: Now I just have to find time to drive back to Baton Rouge to go pick it up. I'll also be working on changing my valve springs in my spare time at home. I've been having the new valve springs since a couple months after the car was initially dyno'd. When I put everything back together I'll have new lifters, new valve springs(so power doesn't fall off at 6k rpms), and my Stinger PiMPxs installed. :D:cool::burnout:
 
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**Update**
So last week I brought the cam to CamMotion. They said that the scarring was a little too deep to just polish it out but they said it could be regrinded to give all the lobes a fresh flat surface. They assured me that the specs won't change at all. So I let them do that. While I was there I wanted to buy a set of Morel 5323 lifters but they didn't have any in stock and they didn't have an ETA of when they'd have any in stock because they had put an order in with Morel months ago and they don't know when it will come in. So when I got back home I searched the interwebs to see if anybody had them in stock....first search: Fordstrokers: In-Stock...:banana: I took that with a grain of salt so I called to confirm that they actually had them in stock. The lady said yes they would be drop-shipped from Morel immediately....:O_o::chin**...but CamMotion said...*. "Great!!! Place the order!!" They arrived Tuesday AND CamMotion called and said my cam was ready that same day!! :banana: Now I just have to find time to drive back to Baton Rouge to go pick it up. I'll also be working on changing my valve springs in my spare time at home. I've been having the new valve springs since a couple months after the car was initially dyno'd. When I put everything back together I'll have new lifters, new valve springs(so power doesn't fall off at 6k rpms), and my Stinger PiMPxs installed. :D:cool::burnout:
So then,………Wehave a rematch somewhere next October?
 
If they re-ground the cam, then the base circle was also re-ground. This means that there is a high probability that longer pushrods will be needed. Maybe by only .005-.010 thousandths, but if you want to keep the rocker arm geometry correct, it would not hurt to thoroughly investigate that.
 
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