Doing my welds finally!

[KILLA]

After trying to contact the only welder i know in Colorado, i have had no luck and cant stand to wait any more. I wish that going out of state was an option but i just dont have the means. So im going to let a freinds stepdad, who has done ALOT of welding, do them for me. He said we could both do it together, no charge, and he'd teach me a thing or two . I figure this is a golden opportunity to get it done. I beleive he has a TIG welder so it should be a good weld.
I just need to make sure i have everything i need. Lets see, upper and lower intake gaskets, and well.. what else? Should i change the valve cover gaskets? REALLY want to do this right.

I have read everything i can find on the weld procedure.

 

[nik97]

All your'e gaskets should be reusable if not damaged. I'm assuming your'e talking about welding your'e cams.

BTW, where in Colo are you from? I'm from Boulder/Estes Park.

 

[KILLA]

All your'e gaskets should be reusable if not damaged. I'm assuming your'e talking about welding your'e cams.

BTW, where in Colo are you from? I'm from Boulder/Estes Park.

Yeah im welding the cams. I had the front valve cover off before so ive already reused it once. it looked good.

I live in the springs, born and raised. Ive been to Boulder a couple times, but it been awhile.

 

[cjaldrich]

We really need to get someone in CO to offer this service for us! Although Grand Island, NE isn't too far of a drive. From Greeley I think it's about four hours. Still need to get mine welded, if only for the peace of mind.

 

[blutornado]

do they have someway of puttin an id on the ones that have been welded ? like a sticker or something ? i bought a 96 that was said to be welded but he said he didnt have the receipt ? seems like if i was a guy who did that sort of thing i would want to mark it somehow

 

[KILLA]

We really need to get someone in CO to offer this service for us! Although Grand Island, NE isn't too far of a drive. From Greeley I think it's about four hours. Still need to get mine welded, if only for the peace of mind.

I couldnt agree more. But its not going to happen in time for us, unless a welder in CO on this forum happens to read this. Either way we could both do them at the same time and possibly get a discount. Ill keep bugging this guy i know, but i really dont think hes up to it. Let me know what you find!

 

[rickshaw]

Am I the only guy who was not welded my cams?

I tach my car to 6K daily and have 142K miles on it.

Just my too cents.

rickshaw

 

[hoboprodigy-]

You must also be the only guy who would rather pay $<insert astronomical figure here> for a new engine, than $<insert much more reasonable figure here> for preventative maintenance.

 

[rickshaw]

hobo, you took the bait! I would agree with you if the car was newer, with lower miles and worth a larger amount of money.

It can't hurt to invest the $500 or so to weld the cams, but you have to admit that if it hasn't failed by 142K miles there is a good chance they won't.

So I'll keep driving it until I hit 200K or it fails!

Best of luck to you!

rickshaw

 

[KILLA]

Update:
I have located a welder who is more than willing to do this job for me. I did alot of calling around and was reffered to this guy Less Wagner, apperantly one of the best welders in the CO. Im going to prep the car for the welds this weekend, tow it in on a bed, and let them dig right in there. His rate is $65/hr, so it should be fairly cheap since im doing most of the labor myself.
After hes done, if the weld quality is good, ill ask if he might want to offer this service to others.

 

[stephen newberg]

It can't hurt to invest the $500 or so to weld the cams, but you have to admit that if it hasn't failed by 142K miles there is a good chance they won't.

So I'll keep driving it until I hit 200K or it fails!
rickshaw

Well, from what data on this exists, you are probably on the far end of the curve already. I have only heard of one other Gen III that made it to that sort of distance without welding/pinning and survived, and it was at ~160K last time I heard. But the most common failure numbers seem to center around the 90k-110k range, with the failure distance curve on the other side as low down as in the 40Ks.

Since repairing the vehicle after a cam failure is lacking in cost effectiveness, as you sort of pointed out, I would think that investing the $500 to save the $4000+ value of the vehicle might be sensible, but obviously it depends on your fiscal situation, among other factors.

pax, smn

 

[SNOOT]

hobo, you took the bait! I would agree with you if the car was newer, with lower miles and worth a larger amount of money.

It can't hurt to invest the $500 or so to weld the cams, but you have to admit that if it hasn't failed by 142K miles there is a good chance they won't.

So I'll keep driving it until I hit 200K or it fails!

Best of luck to you!

rickshaw

LOL That sure will make for a nice paper weight or a good e-bay buy when it happens..

 

[Ian Macoomb]

but you have to admit that if it hasn't failed by 142K miles there is a good chance they won't.

You've just been lucky. It's a design flaw. It's not just cams that were built on a Friday afternoon. All will be effected eventually.

Eventually you'll find out that you're going to spend more in gaskets and bolts than it would cost to have the cams welded. And it won't be long before those gaskets are obsolete.

 

[rickshaw]

OK, I've gotta fess up here!

I've been riding on borrowed time and realize how lucky that she's stayed together. Although, you guys have to admit there are many gen III's that have not grenaded like the one's I see in and around in my area driven by older folks.

My plans are to fix the IMRC, change my struts, and weld er' up!

Just gotta find someone in Jax FL to do the work.

Thanks to all for your posts!

rickshaw

 

[stephen newberg]

Although, you guys have to admit there are many gen III's that have not grenaded like the one's I see in and around in my area driven by older folks.

Actually, I know of two that did go owned by well older couples from new, neither ever run hard. The timing of failure on the cam sprockets, from what I have read, does not seem as related to type of use as I would have expected it to be.

Congrats on deciding to get it done, though. I think you have made a wise move.

pax, smn

 

[hoboprodigy-]

As much as I'd like to say there's some correlation between mileage and failure rates.. (I think the average is said to be something like 90k?) When you see cars that have 200K+ without welds you really have to throw any statistical information out the window.

Then again when you see a motor with 40k explode it really makes you worry..

 

[dosmoney]

mine has 140xxx no welds, runs good

 

[stephen newberg]

From the numbers at V8SHO.com, I do not think there being outlying occasional values means you throw out any statistics, but rather it means there are outlyers. This is statistically normal in most distributions. IIRC, the numbers taken on distance at failure, produce a pretty standard bell curve. So, yes, you might be fine at 140K, or even 200K, or you could fly apart at 40K. But a great portion of the failures will instead occur between these numbers.

As the owner, you can ignore this all, or you can decide to take a chance and wait, or you can fix the design flaw as soon as you can. It is a personal decision.

pax, smn

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Unfortunately, when dealing with cam failure probability with a V8 SHO, there are no meaningful statistics.

The question isn't if a cam will fail, but when. Since we've seen failures with as few a 9 and 31 miles, or as many as 202K and 209K, the question one needs to ask is if the investment in welding the cams (and the other maintenance that comes along with that service in many cases) outweighs the value of keeping the car. IOW, if you have a car with 180K miles that's unwelded that you could maybe sell for $1800 or so, and the car is just a beater that you wouldn't shed a tear over if the motor or tranny blew up, then yeah welding the cams probably isn't worth it. But, if you like the car, rely on it for transportation, and want to keep it running as long as possible, then welding the cams is a no-brainer.

I get a great laugh any time we talk to someone with one of these cars about the cam problem and they say one of the following:

"That doesn't effect my year"
"That only happens when people skip oil changes"
"Ford took care of that for me"
"I made it past 70K miles, so I'm safe now"
"If it happens, it will be covered under my extended warranty"

For a small number of owners, not having the cams welded can make sense, but for the rest it's a pay now/pay later proposition. Make whatever decision is best for you and your circumstances, just make an informed decision not one based on faulty logic and imaginary statistics.

 

[cjaldrich]

Update:
I have located a welder who is more than willing to do this job for me. I did alot of calling around and was reffered to this guy Less Wagner, apperantly one of the best welders in the CO. Im going to prep the car for the welds this weekend, tow it in on a bed, and let them dig right in there. His rate is $65/hr, so it should be fairly cheap since im doing most of the labor myself.
After hes done, if the weld quality is good, ill ask if he might want to offer this service to others.

Delayed response: Cograts on finding a welder in CO. Let me know how it goes. I would prefer to go with someone who has done them in the past. I realize that everyone starts out somewhere, but I'm going to get mine up to Grand Island and have it done. I also need new plugs and I have a miss that I think could be a coil pack or two.