Poor Quality Replacement Parts

TinCup

TinCup

Well-known member
I have been battling a problem with my car for years related to valve timing. Well we got together last weekend and got the motor pulled for a new clutch and to inspect the rods and mains. Well it didn't take long to see why I could never keep the valve clearances right.

http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/album.php?albumid=280&pictureid=4109

I remember seeing an image on the Ford Garage site about bad parts and he has a lifter image with the exact problem.

Good news is that with all new lifters she will be good to go.
 
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Amazing you ran it that long before investigating. Didn't you notice the adjuster was coming out awfully far? What does the cam look like?
 
Yes it was the tell that clued me in that something was up. It stuck up out of the boss significantly higher than the others. I suspected that it was the lifter not the cam after I saw the picture on Vince's site. Yes the cam is in bad shape and I am replacing it. 4 of the 8 were in horrible shape and the others looked fine. Leads me to believe that it's just junk parts.

The other surprise was that out of the 6 pressure plate fingers only 3 were adjusted correctly.
 

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TinCup said:
The other surprise was that out of the 6 pressure plate fingers only 3 were adjusted correctly.
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Noob question. How do you adjust the fingers and how do you know what to adjust them to? I have my engine and trans out and I would like to check this if this is something I can do.
 
It is important to use assembly lube on cams and lifters. I wonder if any was used when the engine was assembled?
 
Hello TinCup,

Was the cam an original (unreground) A cam?

Or was it an original (unreground) B cam (if it was an original B cam it would have been setup with 20 to 22 thousands exhaust valve tappet clearances)?

Or was it a reground one?

How many miles did it take to wear the lifters/cam?

I am not trying to blame anyone here. I would like to know the history of the problem.

Thanks



TinCup said:
Yes it was the tell that clued me in that something was up. It stuck up out of the boss significantly higher than the others. I suspected that it was the lifter not the cam after I saw the picture on Vince's site. Yes the cam is in bad shape and I am replacing it. 4 of the 8 were in horrible shape and the others looked fine. Leads me to believe that it's just junk parts.

The other surprise was that out of the 6 pressure plate fingers only 3 were adjusted correctly.
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I have owned the car for 5 years and have put less than 800 miles on it in that time. The cam is an original A cam.
 
I was harping on these awhile back with afew issues. The part # they are sold under from some vendors carries the B prefix, but are not the B size. I was hoping to use them with my B cam, but can not due to the size problem. It is gauranteed problems. Now I am looking for one good used B lifter to make some that are adjustable for that cam. I am going to have to cut them down abit and tap the valve end, but should work. Rod
 
Back to the middle picture in post #5 above..........see what happens when you remove ZDDP from the oil!:(

When I worked at the Chevy dealership we always put in a can of GM Cam Lube with any cam/lifter replacement to help with breakin.
 
I am wondering if you have any dippers on your connecting rod, or if they are on backwards, or if you have holes in the troughs of your oil pan tray....or no oil pan tray.
 
Yes I have the dippers on the rods and they are set to the right direction. I had to replace the oil pan tray 5 years ago because they had punched holes in them. This has been a topic around the local club that has many scratching their heads. If you go to Vince Falters web site and look at this hall of shame page on bad parts you will see the same issue. Because 4 were good and 4 were bad our assumption is bad parts.
 
This is definitely not a ZDDP problem! They burned up from running out of lash. Adjustable lifters that have no lock other than friction will unscrew and tighten to zero lash if the cam grind is tapered in a direction to make them rotate anti-clockwise on lift. If the cam grind taper goes the other way, the lifters tend to screw in, increasing lash. The inability of some of those single lock model A lifters to hold a setting is a known problem.
 
MikeK said:
This is definitely not a ZDDP problem!
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I agree with you 1000% I've driven my car thousands of miles with the cheapest oil I can find. No problems, no noise, runs as good as ever!!!

MikeK said:
The inability of some of those single lock model A lifters to hold a setting is a known problem.
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I must be one of the lucky ones and I've had no problems nor do I remember reading about any here or elsewhere.
 
MikeK said:
This is definitely not a ZDDP problem! They burned up from running out of lash. Adjustable lifters that have no lock other than friction will unscrew and tighten to zero lash if the cam grind is tapered in a direction to make them rotate anti-clockwise on lift. If the cam grind taper goes the other way, the lifters tend to screw in, increasing lash. The inability of some of those single lock model A lifters to hold a setting is a known problem.
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So the motor is out of the car and now is the time to make an adjustment. Our local club guys all recommended the single locks over the multi's for ease of use. No one had ever seen this before. I spoke to Mike at Mike's affordable and his rebuild shop uses both styles. He says he has never had a complaint with the single locks.

What are the preferred lifters?
 

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