freshly rebuild engine- not running so good.....HELP please!

[haydn_gnarlerboy]

why we rebuild it: pic of the bottom end bearings:





it's using petrol like it's going out of fashion, the exhaust manifold is leaking I think judging by the fluttering sound I get when acellerating and the oil pressure is lower than before the rebuild! about half when idling from cold, same when driving, and when hot it's about half or just under and it's 1 bar abovethe red line when idling....not good..



it's not overheating though which makes a change.

plugs were looking very black so I messed about with the mixture and now they seem okay but the cam timing is well out I think as we didnt mark the removal position of it.

we also had the timing out 180 degrees so just swapped plug leads on the dizzy cap, is that okay?

tacho goes up fine to 3500rpm then drops to 0 after that, any ideas?

ANyways it turns out my pistons are bigger so my actualy CC is 2036 not 1993 apparantly...


but look what they did to lighten em!


hacked the bloody bottoms off for some reason...


cylinder head all cleaned up:


I was worried about these valves though, are they fooked?



here's a pic of the bottom of th4e block:


and here's the 'lightened and balanced rod bottom':


took us from 11am till about 7 so not bad including getting it fitted too.

Any help would be appreciated guys it needs it's mot but it's not gonna pass till I get it tuned, which can't be done for another 140 miles or so....catch 22...




Steal not my pictures else thou shalt incur my displeasure.....Haydn Barker

[Supercharged Nat]

see the burton catalogue or possibly online for timing the cam. plug leads being swapped should work but youl have to figure it out next time you take them off again!

fueling- best done with a gas analyser mate, for spot on accuracy. deffo no air leaks or the like due to the rebuild?

oil pressure?- are you using the same grade/type of oil than before the rebuild? sometimes cleaning up the internals of a motor can give lower oil pressure because of there being less restriction in the system- oil spray bar etc.

ref your valves, they look ok, could do with a clean, looks like cylinder 1&2 are buring a bit of oil though- hence the wet oily look of the chambers.

a good general tune up mate and she should be ok

"Understeer" is when you hit the fence with the front of the car.
"Oversteer" is when you hit the fence with the rear of the car.
"Horsepower" is how fast you hit the fence.
"Torque" is how far you take the fence with you.

[computershack]

The oil pressure is low because you didn't mike up the bearing journals to see if the crank needed a regrind or use a plastiguage to check the clearance the new bearings had on a dry build.

The camshaft timing is the cause of the crap running. If you can't afford/be arsed to take it for a rolling road session to get it set up properly or are running it in, fit a standard cam pulley until it can go to a rolling road.

The valves need cleaning with a wire brush bit and regrinding. Also you need to investigate the oil burning in those two cylinders.

In short, looking at that motor, it's a horrendous bag of ****e that someone has destroyed trying to DIY tune it. I don't think I'd be happy revving it too much with those pistons and "balance" job.

[Major_Tom]

...I shouldn't worry about it too much Hayd, mine's not much over that to be fair. So long as it doesn't enter the red eh? Rev counter business sounds bizarre though. Doesn't make much sense to me.

That's a bitch though mate, sorry to hear it's not as good as you'd hoped... I hate that.

[haydn_gnarlerboy]

I don't know it's just not happy really...
As for computershack- you'd think I'd be put out at those comments but I totally agree I had no idea what a botch job had been done to it.........I have however ragged it senseless for 80k miles with no major problems. The oil burning in 1 and 4 I mistook for it running rich- this being due to that carb choke being tuned a lot richer than the other one to account for a leaking inlet manifold (the manifold for that choke supplies cylinders 1 and 4) but after I fixed it it ended up running far too rich.
BUt with new piston rings I figure it'll be okay now?

I will get it tuned up once it's run in.
good idea with the standard cam pulley though I have one somewhere I think.

So I havent had the valves reground which is probably a bad idea but too late now...Steal not my pictures else thou shalt incur my displeasure.....Haydn Barker

[haydn_gnarlerboy]

as far as I know....Steal not my pictures else thou shalt incur my displeasure.....Haydn Barker

[InvalidBoy]

bollocks to it. It's a pinto!

Ten a penny, cast in pig iron and as complicated as Forrest Gump! Waste money getting a pinto on the rollers???? LOL!!!

I'd only spend coin on that if it were fully blueprinted and bored out and with a wacky cam and with throttle bodies and with distributorless ignition. Otherwise, get it close as you can. Even a rolling road tune up will only be a compromise...

Carbs are a compromise, distributors are a compromise, but most of all 1980's Ford build tolerances are a HUGE compromise!

Haydn, rant the cock off it until it goes bang. At least you'll get to write another good post on it!!!

Those shortened pistons look as if they may start to rock. Just keep checking the cylinder compression.

Timing in the cam shaft vernier sprocket need not be so tough. Fit it all up close, with the belt on. Leave the sprocket locators slack. Ensure the number one piston is right slap bang in the middle of tdc. Dont trust the Ford markings!!! Rotate the camshaft (but not the sprocket) until the front two lobes (inlet and exhaust on no1 cylinder) are equal heights. You can measure with straight edged steel rulers. Remember, you only have to get it close enough!!!

Or,
with the head off wind the crank until the no1 piston is slappy bangy middle of tdc travel. Then using a tippex pen, carefully mark up the crank pulley with the pointer.

Stand the head on it's back end. Turn the camshaft until you can see the no1 cylinder valves fully and totally closed and in the middle of being shut. Carefully mark up the neck of the camshaft, using a tippex pen and align this with the bearing housing right at the front of the head.

Fit the head. Fit the belt. Ensure the bottom end marks are lined up. rotate the cam if need be until the top end marks are bang on. Tighten the vernier bolts.

You'll get close enough mate!!!

[Matty28i]

Ok from my engine building days from years back.

Crank shaft and block were sent off to be Align Bored, chemically cleaned etc. Bearings sourced to suit the crank regrind. As had been said the tollerances need to be checked or low oil pressure may result due to wear and tear.

Block honed and piston rings replaced matched for the bores or pistons and barrles sourced. I ran Vdubs for 15 years.

Cylinder head would be a full refurb valves reground and any other work.

As for your distributer problem. It takes a bit of patience to fit correctly, yes it will work but it's not ideal.

Oil pump changed and for a pinto i'd change the spray bar.

That's my very rough explanation of what I used to do. I know Stock built the head up years ago but the bottom end does'nt look to good in my eyes.

Just run it till it blows up and build another. If it's survived 80k it'll do a few more.

Like you say the bottom end ballencing / pistons is a bit suspect.

The dizzy is an easy fix when you have time.

Matty28i