FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => FE Technical Forum => Topic started by: 1973MoneypitFE on November 21, 2018, 09:36:05 AM
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So I bought a 73 F100 that has been sitting for years, but has a 360 that was rebuilt not long before the owner passed away. I was told that it had always " not ran quite right" after the build and the previous owner was working through that. The last thing being changing the distributor setup from points to electronic. So, I removed the valve covers and found problems at the #2 cylinder. The pushrod on the intake side is bent and the pushrod on the exhaust side sits about an inch away from the rocker arm. After pulling intake I found the lifter for #2 exhaust was broken into several pieces. All of this is bad, but I also found that the cam can be be moved towards the back of the engine about 3/4 in. That seems like too much movement. Any thoughts on what I need to look for to be causing this?
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Sounds like the cam thrust plate was not installed ...
Ricky.
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yes thrustplate or loose cambolt or the builder have used a spacer
on a camgear with built in spacer
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yes thrustplate or loose cambolt or the builder have used a spacer
on a camgear with built in spacer
If the cam is moving around, I bet this is correct.
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... builder... used a spacer
on a camgear with built in spacer
This is it. Cam slides back & lets lifters hit the adjoining lobe.
Breaks the lifter and tangles up the pushrods.
Might be a pretty easy fix...ya feeling lucky?
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n/m
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Well I was feeling lucky, until I found this.. broken cam plate
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Well I was feeling lucky, until I found this.. broken cam plate
Was there a "spacer" or washer between the cam gear and the cam? That cam has a built-in spacer.
edit; D'oh... I see that is the spacer!
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Well I was feeling lucky, until I found this.. broken cam plate
Was there a "spacer" or washer between the cam gear and the cam? That cam has a built-in spacer.
I think what you are seeing there IS the spacer, still hanging on the cam, which with a modern timing set would allow the cam to bang around and break the plate when it bound up.
Cams don't get the integral spacer on an FE, the timing sets do, at least now it looks like a logical reason why it ate itself
See if that little washer comes off the end, that's be the smoking gun, then pull the cam, it's likely junk, and then see if you can get a good look at the cam bearings. If the cam bearings and block around them didn;t get beat, slap it together with a fresh cam (and plate!) and go.
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OK so that is a spacer on the cam. It looks like a flat washer that has a section cut out to allow the pin from the cam gear to pass through to the cam. The cam gear does appear to have a spacer built onto it. So is the flat spacer not needed?
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Here is a pic if the back of the cam gear...
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Correct. That cam sprocket already has the spacer protrusion built in. The separate added spacer gave your cam about a quarter inch of end play, which let it hammer back-and-forth in the tunnel. This broke some lifters and chipped the cam lobes for sure.
Unfortunately there are chunks of hardened cam lobe and lifter bits scattered in the engine now. You'll need to drop the pan and check everything out very carefully...
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Also check so the camplug is not knocked out
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That's not even a factory spacer, someone made that out of an old washer! So they really went above and beyond to do it wrong. As everyone has said ditch the spacer, new/not broken thrust plate, cam and lifters.
Pulled a 360 down awhile back and found this exact scenario. I thought it was weird it had a brand new timing chain, oil pan and pump. lol