Author Topic: 1964 Thunderbird 390FE - Overhaul thoughts and considerations  (Read 3421 times)

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TinkerDrawer

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Re: 1964 Thunderbird 390FE - Overhaul thoughts and considerations
« Reply #15 on: October 19, 2019, 10:52:15 PM »
"The old girl runs pretty good, but does have some blue smoke when I get on it and so on."

I'd....

-do a hot compression test first. 
-then if funky, try a leakdown test even if you pay someone to do it.
-if o.k., merely pull the rocker shafts, pop the springs and check if the OEM rubber (and they were mainly rubber back then) valve seals are intact (likely not) or are in pieces (if so, they are in the oil pan).
-check that the valve guides are tight and o.k. Careful not to let the valve slip down (2 ways to do so).
-if the seals were shot, that is the likely source of your blue smoke issue.

It's amazing how just a few hours and a few $ can make it all right, given as you said the engine is still peppy.

One other thing.

The timing chain is likely loose and if the engine has the OEM Ford silent nylon cam gear, you do want to tear off the front dress and replace the 2 gears and chain. Likewise, a wasted cam gear will drop nylon into the pan so....pulling it, checking the oil pump screen and maybe even swapping in a new pump and pickup is a good idea.

Point of all this is: you may not need any short block work at all.

Btw, Do not mention Jasper and any engine short block in the same sentence! Stay away from those folks.

I will run some tests on it. Right now I have it up doing front and rear suspension. I hope to be done with that soon and start looking at this VERY hard. I had the front dif go out in my expedition, bought a reman unit from Jasper as a junkyard unit was hard to come by and shipping was out of this world. I am hoping that it lasts - fingers crossed. I will stay away from them here on out for sure.

WOW - that timing chain thing really spooks me, that is good to know!


frnkeore

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Re: 1964 Thunderbird 390FE - Overhaul thoughts and considerations
« Reply #17 on: October 20, 2019, 01:46:35 PM »
No one has mentioned this but, the real key, as to whether you can overhaul your engine, is how much taper it has at the top of the ring travel and before you can decide on that, you'll have to measure the cylinders at that point.

For me, .005, is to much. Your ring gap opens about .015 for .005 taper. I wouldn't want more than .030 gap, on a overhaul.
Frank

TinkerDrawer

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Re: 1964 Thunderbird 390FE - Overhaul thoughts and considerations
« Reply #18 on: October 20, 2019, 09:11:19 PM »
No one has mentioned this but, the real key, as to whether you can overhaul your engine, is how much taper it has at the top of the ring travel and before you can decide on that, you'll have to measure the cylinders at that point.

For me, .005, is to much. Your ring gap opens about .015 for .005 taper. I wouldn't want more than .030 gap, on a overhaul.

I guess I am going to have to tear into this beauty and see what I can see, I really appreciate all the advice so far! I am going to have plenty of questions upcoming as well as I get into this. I am hoping that I can do an overhaul, just to get a feel for everything. I am willing of course to have it machined - oversizing the bores, cleaning up the block. I mean, I am pretty sure it is going to need a valve job - still have to look and see how bad it is.  If I do this as a overbore and a bunch of new parts it will change things, I will need to wait quite sometime before I do that - that is going to take some dollars. I need to learn more about how engines work as well - how the springs work with the cam and how displacement is changed - so on. My understanding is if you bore it over you change the displacement - been reading the forumla's online and trying to figure it all out. I know its not rocket scienc.e, but it is a complex thing - at least for me.  :o :D