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Engine has to come out.

Yeah that was a real kick in the nuts man, and honestly I wouldn't have thought the dog bones would have created problems. Sounds like you are in good hands at Bullet Racing. I've heard some good stuff about them, hopefully they come through. Whats a few more dyno hours of tuning at this point??? LOL
 
I went with an Ed Curtis (FTI) cam for my N/A 306 build. It was a hydraulic roller, it took awhile to get it ground, but I believe Comp was short on cores at the time.

Either way, once it finally got the motor going I couldn't of been happier. Ed was a pleasure to work with.
 
I mailed my old cam off today to Kirk at Bullet cams. He thinks we may be able to regrind it. If I can use it that will save me about $300 bucks. Well worth the shipping on my old cam. I went to look at the carnage of my engine today. It appears that my lifters may have been the cause not the dog bone. When the engine guy attemped to pull the lifters out of the bores 5 of them would not come up. He had to pull the cam and then drop the lifters down. When they came out he noticed the pins that hold the roller in place was working their way out on those 5. It was bad enough that the pins stuck out past the lifter inhibiting it from being removed. So much for quality Comp Cams lifters. The crappy thing is they only carry a warranty of 1 year. I purchased my 18 months ago. :censored
 
I'd still be getting on the phone to Comp Cams and letting them know what happened. I'd be giving them an earfull, as that sort of thing should not happen in that short amount of time
 
I had some Comp Cam Lifters and Cam Shaft fail as well, although mine were Hydraulic Flat Tappet. I had to clean out three of my bores and make sure that the oil ports were not clogged from the failed lifters.
 
I just got off the phone with Comp Cams and they want me to mail the lifters to them for inspection. If they were infact the cause of the problem then it looks like they will help me out. I am keeping my fingers crossed on that one. Since the pins seem to be coming out of multipe lifters they fear it may be a indication of a larger problem with many more lifters. They also wanted to see the cam but it is already on its way to Bullet.
 
well on the bright side, it's not like you are missing a bunch of great cruising weather.

When is summer going to start here..
 
Just a thought...

As I recall, Jay liked to use a lot of lift and relatively short duration in many of his grinds... By chance did you check to see if the lifters were hitting/lifting your dog bones? I'd hate to see you go through this again...To check with hydraulics you must "convert" the lifter to a solid by stacking it with washers or inverting the plunger to simulate a fully pumped up lifter. Don't forget to check both intake and exhaust lobes.

Good luck,
-Rory
 
After the destruction I did look at the lift of the cam and if it would allow the lifter to go below the dog bone and it did not. It was very close to flush with the top of the dog bone but not below.

I am feeling that this problem was likely caused by the pin on the lifter that secures the roller came out. The engine ran crappy for a short period of time before it made the noise. I think that is the time where the roller came loos but was wedged in the lifter. Eventually it came loose and then started to grind and turn the lifter sideways causing the dog bone to break. This is pure speculation on my part at this time but with 5 other lifters about to loose their pins it carry's more weight in my mind at this time.

I'll give comp cams another day or so to investigate the problem before calling them. On Wednesday Bullet Cams should get the camshaft I mailed last week. I am keeping my fingers crossed they can regrind it. The would save me over $250.
 
I think you misunderstand... I am curious if your lifters went too high, not too low. Hopefully this was a roller pin issue, but what I was concerned with was if your dog bones were staying flush with the block, or if at maximum lift the lifters were hitting the bottom of the dog bones.

Good luck and post the final outcome!

-Rory
 
Sorry, I did misunderstand. I check that with Com Cams when i was on the phone. My cam had .569/.561 lift and according to the Comp Cams guy the lifters can take over .600 lift.
 
I spoke with Comp Cams on Friday and they told me that it was a dog bone failure not a lifter failure. Not sure I really agree with the decision but they are going to give me credit for 1/2 the cost of the lifters I can use some other time. I would use it now but I already have new lifters. I also got good news from the cam grinder. They will be able to regrind my cam which will save me about $300.

I hope to get the cam late this week and get the car running shortly after that. Come to think of it I will have to go on a vacation, wire my low voltage for the new house and other crap before I can get to the Mustang. Life is too damn busy.
 
Well I finally got the engine back in the car. I had a difficult time starting her at first because I had it 180* off on the distributor. Once I corrected that she started right up. I timed her and let her get up to about 150 degrees before turning the car off. She ran smooth and well. No oil leaks or water leaks so I partially drained the radiator of the water and added almost a gallon of antifreeze.

My next step was to take her out for a spin and make sure there wasn't any problems before I put the hood back on. When I wen't out to go for a drive she was difficult to start and then died. 20 minutes earlier she purred like a kitten. WTF. Now the car won't start. I think I am back to my original problem. Ran well then won't start for any apparent reason.

I am disgusted right now. Almost $2000 to repair the failed lifter damage, a summer without driving the car and then back to square one.
 
I have check those items except compression check. I went back out a few minutes ago and the car started right up. Drove it to get some gas and it started up again there. I am really confused now. I hope the problem just goes away (wishful thinking) and I can drive it a little more before summer is gone and the rains come back to the Pacific NW.

On a side note our 2001 Lexus IS300 started to make noise on the top of the engine on saturday morning. It will go to the shop tomorrow. I am not looking forward to that bill. We have owned the car since new and it has about 106,000 miles on it. Never a problem except to replace a battery. I can't be too upset about that I guess. Still better than a car payment.

I will go down to pick up a rental car this evening to get me buy for the next few days. I originally thought my Mustang would be up and running so I would drive it. Now that I am not sure if it will be dependable I am scared to drive it anywhere I could be stranded.
 
Sorry to hear you are having such rotten luck with the car.

I'm no mechanic, and don't feel qualified to give such advice over the internet, but I'd like to ask a few questions. Maybe the answers would be helpful to someone with more experience...

"68EFIvert" said:
I timed her and let her get up to about 150 degrees before turning the car off. She ran smooth and well.
Click to expand...

What did you end up setting your initial timing to?

"68EFIvert" said:
My next step was to take her out for a spin and make sure there wasn't any problems before I put the hood back on. When I wen't out to go for a drive she was difficult to start and then died.
Click to expand...

How long was it between the time you shut the car off & attempting to re-start?

If you allow the car to cool off completely, will it then start?
[edit: I see that it did from your last post]
 
I set the timint to 10*, basically the same spot the tuner used. The car sat for about 7-10 minutes at the gas station before I started it again. the first time it sat for about 20 minutes. I went out and started it 2 more times since the trip to the gas station and it starts just fine. Well almost fine.

I installed a small high torque started and cheated on the wiring. I installed the battery cable from the S terminal like my old starter to the solonoid on the starter and a small jumper from the other post on the solonoid to the same terminal the starter cable goes to. the starter works fine but stays engaged for about 1/2 second after the engine starts up. I will have to rewire that to the suggested wiring diagram from the starter company.
 
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