Engine Part II

As a refresher I received the engine back the first time from the machinist and it had rust really bad in one cylinder of which it needed to be sleeved. I had asked for the cooling jackets to be cleaned as well and they were unsatisfactory as there was still loose chunks inside the core plug holes (I could wipe my finger inside and pull out a bit on my finger). I had also stated on the work order I wanted all the oil gallery welch plugs removed and drilled and threaded for screw in plugs.

Originally I had brought him Clevite cam bearings of which the first time I picked it up they were installed. However because he had to dip the block again he punched out my bearings and then provided some Durabond bearings. That didn't bode well with me.

So the second time I went down to pick it up he said he needs to fit the camshaft to the bearings. Now he had to sleeve the rusty cylinder as something was sprayed on this engine to cause severe rust on that cylinder after it was all machined. That irritated me.

Whilst he is hacking away at these Durabond bearings trying to get the cam in I stuck my finger in the core plug hole and still pluked out flakes of rust. Then I noticed the front oil gallery hole where the distributor lies isn't tapped. He says he never does those on FE's. I'm just rolling my eyes at this point because on the previous two FE's he did for me he did do that one.

There are shavings all over the engine insides now because the cam will not fit. He's going to town on those cam bearings with a bearing file and removing big scary chunks of bearing. I'm just cringing. Then he starts talking to his fellow machinist compatriot about how much trouble they are having with Durabond bearings and how nicely the Clevites worked that I brought him initially. So my internal monologue is going a mile a minute and saying then why are you using them?????

At that point I had resigned myself to calling this a wash and just wanted my engine block back and I'll sort out the rest, even though I already paid for these services. I couldn't take it anymore.

This is the engine from the second time around from the machine shop with its sleeve.

That is one hacked up Durabond bearing and the came still will not fit.

Now he did do a good job on the sleeving at least from what I can see.

You can barely tell the sleeve line.

I realize it's only surface rust on the inside but this isn't what I would call professional work.

There's still rust flakes inside the cooling jackets. I can't have this floating the around the cooling system mostly because of the HVAC system.

For those not familiar with 1965-1968 factory air con systems, there is no mechanical blend door to modulate heat. This system uses modulated vacuum at the coolant valve to carefully meter coolant through the heater core. Any junk in the system can cause the valve to stick open and leave the heat on or even jamb the valve closed causing no heat.

Or even worse partially or fully plug the heater core and look where it is located. Who wants to remove a bumper, the bonnet and the outer front wing to change that. I think I speak for everyone when I say, no one does.

I ended up having to buy a cam bearing tool. I really didn't want to, but these Durabond cam bearings need to come out.

Glad I did because look at the rust inside the oil gallery. This is just unacceptable.

The machinist told me I'd never get the engine as clean as I wanted it.

What could I say to that..... other than..... Challenge Accepted!

Took me a day of acid spraying and wire brushing with all different kinds of brass wire brushes. The junk I removed from the cooling jackets was still pretty impressive.

It was loads of work, but I feel it was worth it.

I drilled and tapped that last oil gallery, that was a pain as I had to get creative with a standard 1/4 NPT tap as they are short.

Oil passages are cleaned too.

Yet another round of Clevite cam bearings.

I fully admit I was nervous as I had never done this before and from what I've read it was stated it's easy to destroy a cam bearing putting them in. Well all that apprehension I had was unnecessary because if you exercise common sense they go in just fine. On the FE the outside dimension is different on every bearing so make sure you install them in the right order. I started from the back and worked my way forward.

Now on the 4 rear ones on this block it didn't matter where the oil hole was placed because of the circular oil groove in all four bearing housings in the block. One FE book said the back bearing needed to be keyed, but I didn't find that to be the case here. Perhaps older blocks? Just dunno.

Since it didn't matter where the oil hole went for my OCD sake I referenced my bare '68 390 block and Ford installed the rear 4 cam bearings with the oil hole at 3 O'Clock. Well so did I.

Now the front one does need to be clocked like so otherwise you'll starve the either lower distributor guide in the block or the front cam bearing altogether.

Easy Peasy.

I lubed the cam and it fit in, although it was a bit tight, but it did go in relatively easy, unlike the Durabonds that the cam wouldn't make it in half way. I'll need to surface the high spots on the cam bearings.

continued in next post.