Possible cam problem!

[97SHOgt]

Well I’ll give you the rundown and I’ll start with a little history of the car. I have owned this car for three years with only minor issues and regular maintenance. The previous owner said he stopped driving the car because he heard a knocking sound so he took it to the shop and they supposedly pinned the cams. This was at about 84,000 miles. The car now has about 143,000 miles on it. I have not noticed any odd noises coming from the engine. Anyways…

It all started when I sourced an oil leak to the rear valve cover. Well today I finally had a chance to start tearing into it and I figured the intake needs a good cleaning too since I’d never done it. So that was the plan. I had no problem getting everything off meaning the surge tank and all. This was because whoever supposedly pinned the cams left out the bolts they obviously could not get back on. Well once I got the valve covers off I thought something seemed strange. I knew the cams weren’t welded, but the previous owner said he had them pinned, and I’m not sure what that is supposed to look like but I noticed nothing done to them that I could tell. However I did noticed marks near the sprocket which you can see in the pictures. Now I’m not sure if this was from when the previous owner had it or not but it has me worried. Here are the pics.

Intake side front bank.




Exhaust side front bank.



Intake side rear bank.



Exhaust side rear bank.



Another rear bank shot.



The three without the bolt object on them had the grooves in them. I’m assuming this is bad. So looking at this I’m assuming I need to get this thing welded so I need to find a place close to Ohio to get them welded.

Also I need…

-Valve cover Gaskets and Plug Well Seals (Where can I get these?)
-Plugs (Oil in one plug well)
-Coils (I’m assuming I might as well just get four coils for the back just in case)
-Clean intake, seemed like a lot of carbon buildup.

Luckily I just picked up something else for the winter and I was planning on driving it until at least March or longer if necessary, and parked the SHO, so I do have time on my hands. This is my first time digging into the engine of the car. Never had a reason too before. I would appreciate any input or advice though. Thanks in advance. I just don’t want to risk losing another Gen III to cam failure.

 

[ruWelded]

Pinned Cams

I can't tell from your pictures if yours are pinned. But here is a link to some pinned cams.

http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/images/camsprocket/V8cam1.jpg

Engine parts are getting harder to find, you might try Fast Parts Network or PartsVoice.com

 

[97SHOgt]

Thats kind of what I thought it should look like and I'm pretty sure none of them looked like that unless all four of them were turned down towards the block which I highly doubt they are. I'm off to look again.


EDIT:

I just went out to check and they are absolutely not pinned. I guess the guy I bought it off of got screwed and in turn I was screwed as well. So basically the past three years I've been driving this unwelded car all over the place. I guess I've been pretty lucky. So I guess I might as well start asking. Anybody know a place in Ohio or Southern Michigan where I can get cams welded?

 

[ruWelded]

Bright Side

Look at it from the bright side, if they have not slipped yet, you still can get them welded.

www.v8sho.com has a list of people that will do cam welds.

Good Luck!!

 

[wymjym]

one thing that I don't remember seeing on my cams was the etching from someone...seems like your cams were marked for some reason.
at any rate, if they weren't pinned it is now time to handle that potential landmine.
good luck and happy holidays
wj

 

[97SHOgt]

Look at it from the bright side, if they have not slipped yet, you still can get them welded.

www.v8sho.com has a list of people that will do cam welds.

Good Luck!!

I'm on my way to check it out. Hopefully it's somewhat current.

one thing that I don't remember seeing on my cams was the etching from someone...seems like your cams were marked for some reason.
at any rate, if they weren't pinned it is now time to handle that potential landmine.
good luck and happy holidays
wj

I thought that was strange too. At least I wasn't planning on driving it for the next few months anyways. And at least they didn't fail.

 

[NebraskaSHO]

Wow Shawn... well at least you were able to discover this before one let go.

 

[97SHOgt]

I know it. I parked it for the winter, finally decide to fix that valve cover leak and find out the cams need welded. I wish I could get it out to Kirk at NESHO. I would really like to give this car the best. I just don't have the means to tow this thing 700 miles. Not to mention I have to go back to Cincinnati in two weeks for school and the car is stored in Sycamore, OH which is three hours north on Cincinnati. What to do, what to do...

 

[SHOZ123]

Those scrape marks are from when the sprocket was installed and no problem. The scribe marks are the factory serial numbers for the cams if you are talking about a number scratched into them.

 

[97SHOgt]

Those scrape marks are from when the sprocket was installed and no problem. The scribe marks are the factory serial numbers for the cams if you are talking about a number scratched into them.

Well that is good to hear. Knock on wood at least I should be able to drive to get them welded. Now I'm probably screwed!

Does anybody know where I can get valve cover gaskets? Do I have to get them from Ford?

 

[SHOZ123]

You can reuse the original gaskets. Just don't goop them all up with silicone. Only need the silicone where the front timing cover and the head meet. And a bit at the water pump cam drive ****.

The valve cover bolts are meant to just bottom out. Do not over tighten. You should also put a bit of silicone grease on the rubber cone shaped grommet on them so they will not bind and tear when it is next taken apart.

 

[97SHOgt]

You can reuse the original gaskets. Just don't goop them all up with silicone. Only need the silicone where the front timing cover and the head meet. And a bit at the water pump cam drive ****.

The valve cover bolts are meant to just bottom out. Do not over tighten. You should also put a bit of silicone grease on the rubber cone shaped grommet on them so they will not bind and tear when it is next taken apart.

What about where the gasket was leaking in the first place? The reason I tore this thing apart in the first place was due to the leaking gasket. It's leaking right above the rear manifold. Should I just put a bead of RTV on the bottom side? Do you think that wil stop the leak? Your opinion means a lot to me Paul so basically whatever you say to do I'll do. Thanks for the input so far.

 

[SHOZ123]

Was the gasket distorted? If it is hard you can soften them up. I will soak them in lacquer thinner until they are soft and clean. Then soak them in Rislone for a day to keep them that way.

How do the bolts look?

 

[97SHOgt]

The gaskets seemed pretty soft I guess. I guess I could just replace the rear valve cover gasket and leave the front. I may also just go ahead an replace the plug well seals too because one was leaking oil. The gasket from Ford, the only place I found it was $38.75. I'll take another look at them and see if from your description I should do what you said or replace them. I know somebody else dug this deep into this car because the plug well seal that was leaking had RTV around it which obviously didn't help because it was full of oil. Whoever worked on this car before me really half-assed everything.

One more thing. Does anybody know what the plastic "T" piece is I have circled in this picture? I managed to break this. Now I need to find another one.

 

[SHOZ123]

That tee is for the PCV fresh air makeup. Any 3/8" plastic tee will work.

 

[Funmart6]

Glad I am not the only one, I broke my "T" fitting a few months ago, went to AutoZone and got one that I thought would work, ended up being smaller diameter so I have electrical tape holding it all together until I can find one that fits.

 

[SHOZ123]

Around me the local farmer/hardware stores have these in the ag sprayer areas.

 

[pascofan92]

Ok, the T fitting can be found anywhere at any plumbing/auto parts store. It looks like your cams are or have walked and a weld is necessary. Be aware that the weld may solve "a" problem but others may be coming around the bend. I do not know of anyone in SLOW-HIO that welds cams. However, for the love of Christ and all that is well in the world: PLEASE CHECK FOR CORROSION ON YOUR FRONT, LEFT SIDE LATERAL, and REAR CROSSING BRAKE LINES!!!!!! My V8 is from Ganton, OH and being the Florida boy I am, I never needed to consider 100% brake failure due to corroded lines. Ford was ******** to not reinforce the entire length of the original lines with plastic/vinyl. Check em out! Im gonna post a follow up on my recent debacle and replacementof these lines on the "Emergency issues" original post I created.
---Alaric

 

[SHOZ123]

After looking at the full GEN 3 steel brake line set (Thanks Dan) it would be quite a premium on shipping. You would need ~ a 4'x7'x6" flat package.

I'm thinking about a bender, SS tubing, double flare and the OEM end hardware?

 

[Silvapain]

My concern is that SS requires a double flare as opposed to the single flare of mild steel lines. The OE compression fitting hardware will only accept a single flare.