North American Turbocoupe Organization



Progress! And more bad news.
Ryan H Offline
Posting Freak
#1
Well I got my head apart, took the seals and such out that are being replace with the FelPro parts. Took the head, intakes, valve cover, and alternator bracket to the car wash. Put in a dollar and blasted everything in sight with the "engine cleaner" setting until my time ran out. Stuff started looking real shiny [Image: smile.gif] I let it all sit for a few minutes while I got my towels and such ready, then put about $3 in and blasted everything clean with water. I couldn't get the stupid oil gallery plugs out of the head and almost stripped one, so I had to leave them alone.

After everything was clean and I wasted the rest of my time pressure washing the outsides to look pretty in my bay, I blasted the head from the cam tower and down with carb cleaner. Used about 2 cans, got every hole I could find and blasted it every way I could, the object was to replace all of the water on/in the head with carb cleaner lol

Got that done, then blasted it with WD-40 in the same manner. Wrapped it up in a towel and set it in the car. Repeated the process for the intakes and valve cover and alternator bracket. I put a nice coating of transmisson fluid (all I had) on the bearing surfaces before I drove off, also.

Took everything home and stuck the head under my heat lamp. It sat for about an hour, was hot to the touch. I unplugged the lamp and hit the head with the carb cleaner one more time, and let it dry again just to be sure the water was gone.

Re-assembled the head [Image: smile.gif] Got the lower intake and alternator bracket installed, and I set up the TPS on my throttle body and hooked it up to the car to set the voltage. I kinda forgot about the open fuel line [Image: biggrin.gif] but no harm done except for my pride, 'cause its the second time that's happened LOL

Bad news. The cam bearings are wiped on the top of the journals. The cam is toast anyhow (few lobes are messed up), so looks like this head has to come off sometime within the next couple hundred miles [Image: frown.gif] I went back together because my 30 days to get the car registered runs out on the 13th, so I gotta have it smogged and tagged by tomorrow, else I get to tow the car to the emissions place and back home to get my tag [Image: frown.gif]

What causes the bearings to get wiped like this on a head with 88K miles? Crappy oil? I did notice there is a Fram on the motor [Image: frown.gif]

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Ryan Harris

88 TC, 5 speed, B&M Ripper Shifter, Walbro 190 LPH, K&N, 3.73's, 88K miles

Awaiting install: Walbro 255 HP, Aeromotive Adj. FPR, new IHI, SPEC Stage III, K&N cold air
'88 TC Smile Walbro 255HP, Stinger FMIC, PIT BOV, Pro 5.0, Kirban, RR cam, FRPP strut tower brace, T3
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longbedGTs Offline
Senior Member
#2
I think it would be either excessive heat buildup, plugged/partially plugged oil gallies, low oil pressure, dirty oil. Time to swap in a Ranger roller eh? [Image: smile.gif]

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87 Ranger 2.3T 5spd
(2) 88 Ranger GT 2.9 5spd
86 Daytona Turbo Z 2.2T auto trans
88 TC 5spd~money pit
88 TC 5spd~78K miles
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Ryan H Offline
Posting Freak
#3
Heat may be the trouble. She heats up pretty bad around town before the fans kick on. Could it maybe be the heat cycling from doing that?
'88 TC Smile Walbro 255HP, Stinger FMIC, PIT BOV, Pro 5.0, Kirban, RR cam, FRPP strut tower brace, T3
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Pete D Offline
Administrator
#4
How bad are they wiped. The action of the valve train components tend to force the cam up. are they actually wiped or just showing normal wear patterns? Got pics?

Are they all wiped about equally? The front one should tend to wear in the direction the cam belt pulls it, the rear one in the opposite spot
Pete Dunham


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Ryan H Offline
Posting Freak
#5
I don't have pics but they clearly need to be replaced, I can catch a finger nail in some of the groves on the #2 tower. The #3 tower is getting there. #1 and #4 seem worn but not as bad.. My neighbor's new dog ate his digi camera so I can't get any pics [Image: frown.gif]


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Ryan Harris

88 TC, 5 speed, B&M Ripper Shifter, Walbro 190 LPH, K&N, 3.73's, 88K miles

Awaiting install: Walbro 255 HP, Aeromotive Adj. FPR, new IHI, SPEC Stage III, K&N cold air
'88 TC Smile Walbro 255HP, Stinger FMIC, PIT BOV, Pro 5.0, Kirban, RR cam, FRPP strut tower brace, T3
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martin0660 Offline
Posting Freak
#6
Quote:Originally posted by Ryan H:
What causes the bearings to get wiped like this on a head with 88K miles?

As Pete Said, the force of the valvetrain is upward on these bearings. That tends to wear the top side only.

There is a long term solution for this in the groove back bearing. These are designed to move more oil to the top of the bearing. These will require machine work to be installed.

IMO, Once these start to wear, our engines loose oil pressure through these gaps. When I installed my new head with new bearings, my gauge went from about 1/2 hot to 3/4 hot at all times, for whatever its worth on a stock gauge.

If you have the Ford valve cover gasket, you will need to modify the nipple that fits into the #1 cam bearing as there will not be a retaining screw in there, and it wont sit right.

Bob Myers
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Pete D Offline
Administrator
#7
Hey Bob, I've heard of the grooved cam bearings. Who makes them and what machine work is involved.

Ryan, I don't know what shops in you local charge. but I been using on that gets me a set of non-grooved bearings for around $12-13/set and another $25 for the install. Those prices are about a year old.

[This message has been edited by Pete D (edited 08-12-2005).]
Pete Dunham


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martin0660 Offline
Posting Freak
#8
Quote:Originally posted by Pete D:
Hey Bob, I've heard of the grooved cam bearings. Who makes them and what machine work is involved.

These bearings are available from several sources, but I've always just had them supplied and done through the machine shop. "Grooved back bearings" as well as "oil control bearings" are names I've heard to describe them. I had mine done with my big valve head, so it was part of the deal.

I had these part numbers filed away for some time. I have not PERSONALLY VERIFIED these as correct, but I trust the source.

Federal Mogul
Stock cam bearing set 1443 M
Grooved back cam bearings 1842 M

The stock cam bearing oils from the bottom of the head (6 o'clock). The groove back bearings create an oil journal in the bearing that carries the oil from the 6 o'clock position around the back side of the bearing toward the top of the bearing.

Ford drilled from the top of the cam tower, and then down through the bottom of cam tower to get to the oil gallery. With the grooved back bearings, the top of the cam tower needs to be drilled, tapped, and plugged to keep the oil in the newly created oil jounal, or else it would do a nice job of oiling the inside of the VC but not much else [Image: wink.gif] I do not know the specific sizes needed for this since I had mine done by a shop, although they are pretty small.

I think they added $20 to the cost of the head work, but that was 2-3 years ago.

This is also why you need to modify the little nipple on the Ford Ranger VC gasket, as there is now a plug in that hole that wont let the gasket sit flat on the top of the #1 tower.

[This message has been edited by martin0660 (edited 08-12-2005).]
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Ryan H Offline
Posting Freak
#9
This is good to know, thank you for the input [Image: smile.gif] I will have to get this done when I get my spare head.

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Ryan Harris

88 TC, 5 speed, B&M Ripper Shifter, Walbro 190 LPH, K&N, 3.73's, 88K miles

Awaiting install: Walbro 255 HP, Aeromotive Adj. FPR, new IHI, SPEC Stage III, K&N cold air
'88 TC Smile Walbro 255HP, Stinger FMIC, PIT BOV, Pro 5.0, Kirban, RR cam, FRPP strut tower brace, T3
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Pete D Offline
Administrator
#10
Thanks Bob.
Pete Dunham


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