[SeanD]

Two months ago the Cougar's oil pressure bounces a little, had my mechanic friend play with it while he was at my shop. He retarded the timing because there was also some ticking and mild firing miss, and he wanted to keep it easy getting home. He said that there may be a spring that may be broken in the oil pump; relatively easy fix.

Driving it home, I felt it backfiring and missing. I took off the rocker cover to find a broken roller about to come out of the #3 exhaust valve rocker.

I checked to make sure the pushrod was straight, replaced the roller rocker, drove it, and still had the same backfire and miss under various rpms.

I messed with the timing and replaced the spark plugs and wires, which made no difference. Thought to may have a burnt valve from the broken rocker episode, so ran half a can of seafoam through it. It seemed to help a little bit. During all this, there has been a light tap down in the motor only over 2000 rpm or so. For some reason I feel like it has always been there, like it was an exhaust leak or something, which there certainly are.

Yesterday my Dad was over and were were poking around the motor, and he noticed while it was idling that the #2 intake valve rocker wasn't moving as much as the others. Today I pulled the intake and things to find this:

And yes, the cam lobe looks and feels like a marble.

This happened about 2 years ago also. I had to replace the cam with another Comp cam. What is making this motor eat cams? I was using synthetic at the time, but since then have only used that VR1 high-zinc stuff.

I'm so frustrated with this car. The facts that I have 2 non-running vehicles in the garage taking both spaces (also an '80 Chevy C-10 slow-moving project; no motor or trans.), and that I now have to spend the resources to replace yet another cam really, really make me angry. Since I've been pleasantly content driving the 86 Silverado as a DD for the last few months, I'm feeling like I may just replace the cam and put the Cougar up on Craigslist. I may miss it, I may not. I guess we all feel like this at some point in time...

 

[RUNnWYLD]

Dont do it! YOU WILL MISS IT!! Just take a break from the car for a while, collect your wits and get back at 'er. Its just a cam man! lol

 

[1970fastcat]

Ready for me to just build a new engine yet? Makes a roller cam look much more appealing now doesnt it?

 

[droptopcat70]

Sean,
ever thought bout swapping brands? After the 2nd time i say time to choose a different company.BTW i see you on the truck forums and nice to see you there as well as i go on there as well cause of my 80 c10 as well.

thanks
pat

 

[Cougrrcj]

I agree with the roller cam swap - either a retro-fit reduced base circle cam that uses stock 5.0 roller lifters or a 'regular' roller with aftermarket (and more expen$ive) roller lifters. It was this cam uncertainty that made me do the switch on my 393W (although the cam wasn't even bad yet)... For my application I'm using the COmp Cams XR276RF-HR .513/.513" lift (.545/.545" lift with my 1.7 rockers), 276/282adv dur (224/230 @ .050). I'm real happy with it.

$250 for the cam, $45 for the spider/dogbones, and $110 for the Ford oem lifters.

Peace of mind = Priceless.

 

[SeanD]

Ready for me to just build a new engine yet? Makes a roller cam look much more appealing now doesnt it?

Um, yes? I'm thinking about it. I was told to check out Summit's roller setups. I don't know... Money is tight and there is a big difference between roller and non. From what I've heard, though, it's worth it.

Pat, I didn't know you were on the truck forums. I know you've mentioned your truck here, but I've not noticed you over there. There do seem to be a thousand guys on it, though. This '80 will most likely get sold before I even get a motor or interior in it. It a little sickening, but the honestly of a slow work load at the shop.

It just really stresses me out having to work around two un-moveable nice paint jobs in the garage. It makes things really tight when you want to, say, cut wood or weld something.

 

[droptopcat70]

Sean.
Yeah im on there as well i go by 80stepsideguy.Your 80 it a SWB stepside/fleetside?

thanks
pat

 

[Cougar_is_Grr8]

I could always sell you my 383 mated to a turbo 350 with a Boss Hog converter

 

[Smith Brother]

Call Comp Cams. I know you know this, but they would be in a position to answer your questions. Normally this goes to the lube put on when you installed the cam, and the break-in period, again I'm sure you know all this, but if it were ME, I would call them. IMO. I don't know how long ago you installed this cam either.

I wish you well. I run a roller cam and never have I had an issue. I'm over 600 lift, and very heavy spring pressure coupled to true 14-1 compression. SBC, shifts at 8500 on Cam II 11.02 122 MPH on street tires, independent rear suspension.

Dale in Indy

 

[Cougrrcj]

$450 for a retrofit roller with cam, lifters, pushrods and conversion kit. You'll spend at least half that on a regular flat tappet cam/lifters that may or may not survive break-in. One wiped cam/lifters (and bearings, oil pump, gaskets) and you're well over the cost of going roller in the first place.

I don't know about you but I hate having to re-do something that was already done once! I'll NEVER use another flat tappet cam!

Not to mention that you'll get a big performance boost due to better roller cam profiles!!! I gained over 80hp (25% more power) by going from a X4262H flat tappet to the XR276RF-HR with the same lift!

 

[cougarshaman]

Yeah, we've all been there with old stuff, Sean.

One thing is for sure: If you sell that car with a crapped out engine, people will only want to steal it from you regardless of how awesome that paint looks.
Might as well fix it.

 

[Cedar Rapids Ia]

I agree with Andy, fix it. How many times have we all looked back into our past and said..."I wish I would have kept that old car, just think of what it would be worth today"

 

[Bad69cat]

Dimes to donuts the synthetic is what killed it Sean....gotta be religious about zinc (or additives) on flat tappets or you won't get 20k miles out of it (no synthetics). I agree though, once you swapped the cam out again you done bought the retrofit. Shoulda, coulda, woulda...I know. But nows the time if ya gotta go rooting around in there anyway.

 

[SeanD]

Discovering today that there is a Mustangs Unlimited show this Sunday, I just went ahead and ordered a hydraulic flat tappet cam from Summit so that it would get here tomorrow. The plan is to get it all shined up and pretty for the show, then put the dreaded orange sign in the windshield. I still have to jigsaw out the door panels and just paint them black or something for the time being. I've really been a horrible cougar owner as of late...
I went back and forth and back and forth on the roller setup, but the cheaper ($470) cam and lifter retrofit kits are the kind that need the additional spider plate and the drill/tap in the valley. That is just too much work while the motor is in the car and (otherwise) intact. The next step up is the $700 linked lifter and cam kits, and I just can't swing that cost right now. If the car just doesn't sell, and I find myself with an extra $5k in my pocket someday, I'll get a stroker crate short block and go from there.

Here's the cam I ordered:http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-35-246-3/

I really wanted to switch brands, but there wasn't anyone else selling cams that were effective below 2500rpm. I also got some thicker intake gaskets, because I think part of my why-is-this-car-slow problem was a vacuum leak around the intake due to a poor fit with the Chinese aluminum heads.

 

[1970fastcat]

Just make sure you do another good thorough cleaning. May even want to pull the distributor, drain the oil, dump a gallon of mineral spirits in and prime the engine for a couple of minutes with that to flush the crap out good. Just make sure you reprime with oil before restart if you do this.

 

[SeanD]

will do! I'm going to have an old mechanic friend helping me with the install as well. Those painters... not too good with the motor things.

 

[cougarshaman]

Find yourself a junkyard 5 or 5.8 liter roller engine and do a big ole swap. At this point, they're pretty cheap and you get the roller cam with it. The 5 liter H.O. engine has a magnificent cam that you won't have to swap, unless you just wanna.
You can probably put the word out and come up with a trade deal (bodywork:engine) or cheap running engine. Ultimately, more efficient than another band aid fix.

Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

 

[wonderwrench]

Sorry to hear about your cams problems. Reading this thread I find it funny that ford guys would run cams that use profiles designed for a Chevy motor. Most cam manufactures only develop cam profiles using common engines aka Chevrolet. Ford engines need a different profiles because the head flow characteristics are completely different than Chevy engines. The only companies I know of that design cams correctly for Fords are Cam Research and Lunati. Cam Research being the first choice because they only make cams for Fords. Lunati does not specialize in fords but does develop profiles exclusively for Ford engines. This has nothing to do with your cam problems but why not get the power you are paying for.

Cam Research http://www.camresearchcorp.com/index.php
Lunati http://www.lunatipower.com/

Bill

 

[cougar2]

Sean, sorry to hear about the cam, but this really is just a small thing that has happened. You may change your mind when you get it back up and running again. When you first start the engine, Get the extra zinc additive and lighter springs to start off if possible, This will help the break in.
By the way, What truck forum are you on. I have a never used, air cleaner/breather that has never been used for a 1977 Ford pickup with a 460, if my info is correct. I would like to see if there is any one on there who may have a need of it.
Thanks,
Dennis

 

[Cougrrcj]

5.8L roller cam motors are kinda hard to come by since they were only used in trucks/vans from 94-97. That's around 15 years old already. If you see any in junkyards you had better snap them up! I'm sitting on a couple of them in the corner of my garage (it helps to have a friendly junkyard across the street ) for future hydraulic roller cam 351W-based stroker 'street car' projects. I have my other 'regular' 351W blocks for running mechanical rollers.

I didn't have any problem with the drilling/tapping of the spider hold down studs. It would have been easier with the motor out of the car (and before cam bearings went into the block - the stud/bolts are right over the cam bearings, so you don't want to drill too far! Since the studs only hold by a couple of threads, I augmented it with some JB Weld as a 'lock-tite' on the threads, then slopped some more of the goop on the lifter valley floor, ran a 'stop nut' down to the block surface and encased that with even more JB Weld. The studs or bolts that hold the spider aren't really structural - just two 1/4-20s that just hold the spider in place so the legs hold the dogbones down. I used a Nyloc nut on each stud to hold the spider down. I just took my old Summit 'Stage 2' (Performer RPM clone) intake manifold off to swap it out for a Torker II, and that JB Weld hasn't degraded at all in a years worth of daily driving and 6000rpm dragstrip blasts on the weekends.