Cantedvalve

@barnett468 So I am curious what you mean by "Ford crossflow." I have a universal Northern radiator that is a crossflow. Crossflow to me means that the radiator flows horizontally. Is a "Ford crossflow" something different, or am I reading into it too much?

Cleveland timing covers are stamped sheet metal. I think mine was leaking from between the seal and the cover... but its impossible to tell now. I cant imaging an oil pan gasket puking that much oil onto the damper. I know it was on the damper because it was slung everywhere. It wasn't a valve cover because it didn't get on the headers and smoke. I suppose it COULD be the timing cover gasket, but like I said, it was a lot and it got onto the balancer. Only thing that really makes sense is the seal. Sealant is for the seal to cover area. That doesn't turn (if it does, you have bigger issues). The seal came out of a Felpro kit. I didn't order one for use with a sleeve. I got one from Oreilly's this time - National brand. It gripped the balancer hub better than the previous one. I am hopeful. Here is a picture of a crud covered 351C timing cover. it's as flat as it looks, with only a couple stamped thread bosses and the flanges for the crank seal and oil pan seal.

Okay. It’s the front crank seal leaking. A lot. And the damper is slinging it. I did not (have never) use sealant on the seal. I will do that this time. When I test fit the seal to the damper, there is no gap, but it’s not exactly snug. I’ve never paid too much attention to it, so I don’t know how it should fit. The damper is not worn in any way. think I’m good to go here?

@1969_Mach1 I did prime the system... all over the garage floor. Yup, I left out a galley plug behind the fuel pump. Lost a quart of oil that way. Added another back in. I do have a mechanical gauge, and I plan to hook it up tomorrow. I have no idea if the top end is getting oil... that would require me to take the valve covers off. I guess I can add that to the list. I did use assembly lobe on both ends of the rocker arm. I am running a Motorcraft sending unit. I'll check out Standard brand. The thing that is bothering me the most at the moment is the stinking oil leak. I have no idea what is going on there. I do have another seal though.

Well, I fixed it... I don't know how or what, but I fixed it. I reassembled everything, did the plug wires last. Fired right up, and it was dead on 0 TDC. Advanced it 10 BTDC, and drove it. I still don't know what I had wrong, but its right now. Still have a healthy list of crap to do: Carburetor needs help badly. Not sure what is wrong with it, but given it was built for a blow through application, I might just replace it. Doesn't have a choke on it, which I need if I am going to drive this in colder weather (would have helped today too). It's hesitating on throttle in, and stalling after hard acceleration. Valvetrain (I think) is noisy. I went with hydraulic roller rockers. Lots of clackity clackity. I took the time to check preload for the first time in my life. I even got shims and shimmed a few of the rockers because it looked like I had too much preload. I am leaking oil really really badly from (i think) the front crank seal. I JUST replaced it today. It was being slung on the inner fenders, so its something that is rotating. Stock gauge said low oil pressure. New standard volume pump. Not sure why it would have low oil pressure out of the box. I have the old pump (high volume). I could try that... not sure it will help. If it is low, it would explain the valvetrain noise. So I have that stuff to deal with... but not today... I'm pooped.

Okay, taking a break for a few minutes. I went ahead and replaced the new timing chain that I put in 0 miles ago with a new timing chain. Went in without a fuss. What was fussing with me was getting the front oil pan seal back in with the timing cover. I eventually dropped the pan down and took out the front crank seal to give myself enough room. It’s all in now. Bolts are torqued, pan is back up (didn’t tear the gasket, so I should be fine). Got the front crank seal in. Next is the damper then the rest of it. I’m gonna pull the distributor, pretend like I know nothing of what I am doing, and follow written instructions. Hopefully it is my familiarity with this engine that made me miss/skip something stupid and cause this headache.

I think you are on it. I’m gonna pull the wires off completely and start over. And to answer the question, the timing pointer is on 0 TDC with the timing marks on the gears lined up. Everything looks right.

Okay. I quit i have the front of the engine off. The timing marks on the gears line up perfectly. I am not off a tooth. I am also not inept at assembly. At least I have that going for me. At top dead center. Rotor points at #3 wire. That means the base timing on the ignition is approximately 45* advanced. I am tempted to try degreeing this thing again. I installed it straight up. argh! What else should I be looking for?

I’ll know tonight

What could it be? I cant think of anything except a) timing chain off, or b) camshaft ground wrong. I degreed the camshaft enough to verify TDC and ICL. Both were spot on. I have a new timing set in there, but I will be replacing it just to be sure.

Personally, I went with Pertronix for the coil and distributor. So far its been great. Pertronix does have its own line of performance parts. Are you working on a 351C?

@1969_Mach1 I don’t know how I did it, but you are right... Cranking had an odd cadence to it. Regular, and then it would skip, then regular, then it would skip. Repeat ad nauseam. I checked TDC roughly by pulling #1 plug (which I proceeded to not reinstall), removing the cap, and having my wife crank it over with my finger over the plug hole. Compression was around where the rotor pointed to #1 (marked it on the dizzie body), and I then checked the timing marks. I had previously checked it with the heads off to verify they were right, then I marked both the inner hub and outer ring in one spot so I could see if/when it slipped, and it hasn’t slipped. I will have parts tomorrow. I am pumping out the coolant tonight. Should be able to remedy this idiocy over the weekend. @69ShelbyGT350H It definitely ran. Didn’t sound right, so I didn’t drive it. But it ran.

Well, all this week I have been buttoning up my engine reinstall. I got everything completed Tuesday night and went to start the engine... nothing but backfires. I played with the distributor and tried again... nothing but backfires. It was late, so I went to bed. Wednesday evening I went at it again. I checked that TDC on crank matched TDC on the piston (finger over the hole trick), so at least the distributor timing was matching the crank. I then started moving the distributor around until I found a spot where the car would start and run. Then I found I forgot to put the spark plug back in. So then I did THAT... and I got it to run again. Ran different than it did, but its a slightly different cam. Went to time the engine... cant see the timing marks, Took the timing light under the car and found that the timing marks (TDC at least) are about 60-70 degrees advanced. Tried to retard the ignition to take it out, and the car died.... F***. So the conclusion I have come to is that, somehow, I installed the timing set incorrectly. If anyone else has any ideas what else it could be, please let me know. I ordered a new timing set and gasket kit to be here tomorrow.

@barnett468 yes, I did @Ridge Runner it is a roller, and the slinger clears the front seal.

I spun the crank without the pistons. Spun nice. I remember because I showed my son. I didn’t turn the engine over after I installed the timing set until I went to do rockers. By that time it was all buttoned up.

@barnett468 I did

I glued the exhaust gasket/adapters in place to make engine installation easier. These are for the Sanderson headers. Necessary because the headers are for 4V. So the adapter allows the 2V to seal up. Done it before, and it works.

Yep

Some F****** A******* put the G** D*** crank sprocket in F****** backwards! What a complete A** HAT!

Survey says... misaligned timing gears. I pulled the pan (for the 3rd time) and could see the timing chain pop back into place with the noise, plus the crank sprocket is clearly not back all the way.

Today we put the heads on the engine. Then I proceeded to put the lifters in, and started setting the rockers up. I went to turn the engine over to TDC on #1, and it really didn’t want to move... so much it started to rotate the engine on the stand. I put the pin into the engine stand to prevent rotation, and tried again. It finally came free, but with a sickening SNAP. No idea really what it was. I did see what looked like a puff of smoke (it wasnt) come out the distributor hole. Almost as if something stuck had been knocked free. I can’t imagine what it is. Also, when I would turn the engine, I got this odd noise heard here: It kinda sounds like a spring being wound tight. anybody have any thoughts?

Well, last evening I put on the water pump and oil pan. This evening I will be taking the oil pan back off. I forgot to remove the windage tray studs. I had previously installed a windage tray that did... nothing. I am guessing nothing at least. So I was going to put the original main bolts back in and sell the windage tray. Oops. I suppose I could leave them in, but I also left the nuts on them. Not particularly tight. I am sure that they would fall off at my earliest inconvenience. So yeah... doing the oil pan again tonight.

Spent the afternoon and evening installing the timing cover, and drilling out the broken motor mount bolt. Ended up having to Heli-coil that hole. Couldn’t get the ez-out to turn the bolt. I think that thing is mis-named.

Heads are assembled complete. I had 2 valve seats that didn’t pass blue check. I lapped those two in (was very minor) and all is right. Springs went on easy. Jim is happy.