Rant 1 - Dec 13, 2016

With that I pulled the rocker cover off and just bumped the hot engine to start it and at 600-700 RPM it's gushing out the roller tips. And I do mean gushing ridiculously. Made a bit of a mess too, but I digress. It's safe to say I found at least one problem that is affecting oil pressure.

Here's the components installed:

• Crane hydraulic roller camshaft
• Competition Cams hydraulic roller lifters
• Crane hollow pushrods (oil through)
• Edelbrock aluminum heads with oil restrictions installed.
• Precision Oil Pumps complete rocker assembly - shafts, adjustable roller rockers, stands and spacers.
• Standard TRW oil pump

Competition Cams told me when I bought the lifters they would oil through the pushrods, ok so to be safe than sorry because I had a hard time finding out what exactly to do with this combo in terms of oiling control, I just put in the restrictions in the head and let the top end oil from the oil feed gallery to the rocker shafts and also through the pushrods.

This is clearly way to much oil to the top end. I'm thinking about just plugging off the oil feed from the head and let it oil from the pushrods and was wondering what others think?

Rant 2

This engine is an FE where the only parts that I used from the cars original engine are the block, crank and front dress, everything else is aftermarket. And mixed aftermarket to boot. I think that's where the problem lies. When I was researching one company couldn't possibly give advice on oiling with parts from another company and rightfully so. I dare say there probably aren't too many example of this Frankensteinish FE out there that I put together.

When I did the initial oiling check the oil was cold and it looked acceptable.

However when it's hot, it gushes out the roller tips at idle. Since the original FE does not oil through the push rods, this top end is getting oil from the head and the pushrods and it's obviously waaaaaaaaay too much. I thought about experimenting with plugging the head feed and just letting the push rods feed up oil.

I really do not want to put a HV oil pump because of the distributor gear needed for the steel cam says not to as it will wear out the gear on the distributor much quicker.

A long time ago in a galaxy far away when I was learning about engines I was playing around with my big block Chevrolet in my Caprice Classic and I had the rocker off when it was running at idle and it would trickle oil down the rockers onto the springs for cooling and lube. If I compare this FE to that, it's the equivalent of white water rampage pouring off those rocker tips.

I'm just wondering if I should buy solid pushrods or cap off the oil port in the head to limit the flow of oil.

Rant 3

The problem isn't so much oil filling the rocker covers as the Edelbrock heads have really good drains. The problem is soooooo much oil is flowing out it can't build what I would deem normal oil pressure.

I threw together an 352, with all used parts except a high volume oil pump and hot at idle it had 40+ psi, anything over idle and it just went to 65-70 psi ( I imagine it hit the pressure limit).

Those were all used parts, especially the rockers, these are all new parts with a machined block and turned crank and granted it's a standard oil pump, but I should be able to get over 40 psi revved hot and it just wont.

Rant 4

Well the factory FE rocker oil trays will not fit the aftermarket head or rocker stands. Not even close. There's no restriction in the hole where the oil feeds through anyhow on the tray. If anything that bolt is just turned down in the middle so oil can flow around it easier to the rocker shaft on the OE FE.

Me thinks the less expensive route to try first is just capping off the oil feed in the head, which in this case entails removing the 12-24 set screw with a hole drilled through it and replacing it with a solid 12-24 set screw and putting the rocker assembly back on.

Rant 5

Tonight I was studying the rockers in much greater detail now that I have one rocker assembly back off to access the head restriction set screw. It's funny the Precision Oil Pumps roller rockers have a good size hole drilled looking into roller tip end, I'd guesstimate 1/8" maybe a tad less. Now the hole on the inside is really hard to see, but it looks much smaller. It's really hard to see with the bushings on either side. But if there's that much area opening no wonder why it just gushes out. Water fall gushes out at slow hot idle.

In looking at the rocker shafts, I bought the POP (Precision Oil Pumps) getting lazy typing that out every time hardened shafts and even with the hardened shaft portion aside, there's not much space for a threaded insert to act as a restriction on small a small radius shaft. It's a good idea, but not quite sure how the execution would turn out.

As you probably guessed if I blocked off the oil feed in the head to the rocker shafts, the oil, which is hopefully metered from the hydraulic roller lifters would be pumped up the pushrods enter in the pushrod end flow into the concentric ring (formed from two bushings coming close to together from either side but not touching in the middle) and then split into flowing into the rocker shaft (to the other 7 rockers) and onto the roller tip dumping onto the valve spring.

The worst case would be when the rocker shaft is empty, it would probably fill the shaft first then start dumping onto the valves. I can't see that really causing too much a fuss.

Of course the set screws in the head are 12-24 thread and no one locally has them, so I ordered a pack of 25, just have to wait for them to come. I'm kind of thinking with the large opening in the roller tip, using the metered oil from the pushrods might be the best route, well in theory anyway. It's aftermarket stuff and usually is full of surprises.

At the very least, I had a chance to check out other items on the car during this short run time. I was worried about the exhaust in that I wanted it quiet but not be hindered by too much restriction. It's quiet, pretty darn quiet. The engine, sans no air filter on carb (induction noise), and fan is quiet. I'm tickled pink on that. It's funny I used the same mufflers on my 454 on my Caprice Classic and aside from the 2.5 tail pipes the rest of the dual exhaust is factory and no headers or crossover and that exhaust raps like glass packs when you rev it. It's loud. This exhaust with headers, cross over, 2.5 inch all the way throughout is quiet. I did use resonators but I can't imagine those are really absorbing the noise. Either way I'm happy.

The transmission goes firmly into gear, so far so good. The brakes hold the rear wheels (on lift) brake pedal feels really good. Power steering works a treat. No leaks and assist feels the same in either direction. There just was a great deal of things to check all in one instance. I did have a couple of coolant leaks, but those are fixed, I think...

So if this oiling issue is the worst of it, I'll consider myself lucky considering all the systems I had my grubby protrudences in

Rant 6 - Feb 16, 2017

Just a quick note, it's back together. Valves do not leak after a valve job and some TLC, and even though there was a slight difference in push rod length with the Morel lifters versus the Comp Cams (~0.048") the through hole oiling push rods would still work so I decided to leave it push rod oiling and see if the Morels would meter better. If not I could always order solid ones and use pressurized head oil.

Long boring trivial story short, seems to work just fine. Hot oil pressure in idle is around 30-35 and wheels off the ground in third gear doing 50 MPH indicated about 50-55 psi hot oil pressure.

The vacuum is stable now, but it's a bit big of a cam for a ~395 CID and the 390's vacuum is only 11" at idle. I'll need an electric vacuum pump for the power brakes and HVAC system as there is little to no assist on the brakes and the heater control valve isn't opening all the way for max heat.

But otherwise it was just a faulty set of new heads and needing a different set of roller lifters. Oh and the leaky core plug was fixed too by having the core plug hole bored one size larger to clean up the pitted iron.

I should take a video of this, but today I had this half finished '66 LTD outside parked and idling next to our derelict '68 LTD with its Z code 390 idling. The '66 LTD with the quietest mufflers I could find that flowed reasonably along with resonators just drowns out the '68 Z code and that derelict has glass packs on it.

The cam in the '66 LTD's 390 is a bit too big, but for now I'll leave it alone and finish up the car and enjoy it, then decide what to do with it.

Me happy now

Rant 7

Although I fear I was so focused on meeting my 500 horsepower goal I neglected vacuum necessary for the power brakes and the HVAC system. I decided to research another cam then change it and abandon the 500 horse goal in order to have a smooth running engine with enough vacuum to run the accessories properly without a vac pump.

Such is life. (sigh)

Rant 8 - Feb 20, 2017

It turns out there is a twist to this engine build once more. Thanks to someone who noted there was something fishy with the engine behavior for that setup. In looking back through notes he basically caught what I should have caught all that time ago, Diamond Racing made the pistons incorrectly. Instead of being 10.5:1, it's just over 9:1. That explains the low vacuum, but the cam may still be too big, even with the correct compression ratio.

I also learned Fel-Pro is incorrect on their 8554pt head gasket data for volume.

So now the engine is back in limbo once again till we see what Diamond Racing might say about the matter. That's first. However in the interim, I'm going ahead and finish the build. I'll just have to remove the engine one more time to sort this mess out.

(worlds biggest sigh)

Rant 9

Things have been especially hectic here lately. Just running into seemingly constant quality problems with these aftermarket suppliers and these are no chump players. I'm beginning to think the new nick name for this '66 LTD should be Murphy's Law.

Here's a list so far:

• Brand new Edelbrock heads - needed additional valve job to stop valves leaking. $220 for valve job + another round of gaskets
• Comp Cams lifters - can't regulate oil flow to the head and flooded heads (low oil pressure) $550 wasted
• Ford - plunged too deep some lifter bores Comp Cam lifters bleeding off oil from coming out of bore (low oil pressure)
• Fel Pro - Can't even spec their head gasket correctly (higher volume than claimed)
• Diamond Racing - Entered wrong data and incorrectly made pistons $1600 wasted
• Brand new Holley 750 and the accelerator pump is so stiff on a fast snap the coupling spring compresses and doesn't get the fuel shot and stumbles.

I've already had to pull the engine out once and redo and now it looks like I'll be doing it again.

Then my daily driver is showing its age and being from Wisconsin the winters have thus left its mark. Mainly tired of struggling with every fastener on the underside. Already replaced every single fuel and brake line (and there are many brake lines with traction control). This is my '93 Grand Marquis LS. I had plans to upgrade it further with the optional Lincoln digital dash, auto climate control and other goodies.

But then the wife found a nicer Southern '94 (92-94 Marquis's look identical) Grand Marquis LS with just about every option you could order one in sans leather interior. Aside from the digital dash, climate control, it also has air suspension, premium sound system and other minor creature features. However it's still a 23 year old car and has a bunch of little things wrong with it the previous owner has not kept up with, so I'm sorting all that out. Since my old '93 and this '94 have the same interior, even the same colour we've been swapping out the parts that look the best into the '94 (basically making it as nice as we can out of two cars), then I'll sell off my '93, if I get 700 for it I'll be happy, as everything on it works sans the trip odometer.

The engine on my '93 was also getting tired, the best I could do mileage wise on the highway was 27 MPG. The '94 clears 30 MPG on the highway. Which really is pretty darn good for a full size body on frame V8 rear wheel drive car. It's basically a refined galaxie (same construction, just smaller displacement v8). Which is probably why I love those cars so much too.

But as you know it's all time intensive.

Happy George Washingtons B-Day!

Rant 9 - Mar 3, 2017

The car projects never seem to stop. I've been pulled away from the galaxies and my Caprice Classic with my daily driver replacement (Grand Marquis). It's a '94, but has a loads of little stuff wrong with it. Been working on that every day so I can sell off my '93 and come to rely on the '94 when I need it. The wife and I have been going through the two cars to pick the best interior parts and making the best looking '94. Both my '93 and '94 have the same exact interior, including colour.

Cheers.