Sigh... It's starting.

[brownsvo]

Radiator sprung a leak, Clutch cable holding on by 2 strands.. Crisis diverted and parts in stock locally.

My Coolant temp sensor in the lower intake was broken so i replace it with a new one and while I'm there tighten the valve cover gaskets... Big mistake.. I lose oil all over the place and it pools in the lower intake and on my garage floor. Sigh.. get a new fel pro rubber gasket and add a quart of motorcraft oil (wt. eludes me) and go on my way. After this i notice my oil pressure drops at an idle to about L, keep in mind it did this before the oil leak, replaced the sender and it went from Low normal to Mid to high normal. Anyways i figure what the hell, its just an idiot light as long as it doesn't sit on L too long idling i should be fine. HA! until today...
Driving home i keep the rpms high enough to keep the pressure up, get home and i notice my engine is tapping...grrreeeat.

At this point I keep telling myself i need to change the oil/filter w/5qts and eliminate the over/under oiled concern i might have.. Ive checked the dipstick cold/hot and its always in the "OK" section as in below the top most Mark and not in Add.

the other idea i have is its coincidence and my engine is about to take a big crap on me. Before i deployed i had fun with what every turbo ford owner enjoys, Aux/distributor gear failure x2.. I replaced the Oil pump with the stock melling and all was good.. i drove the thing 350miles and back without a problem.

[Ford Builder]

That's great news now you have to get to work on rest of your to do list.

[brownsvo]

i need another vehicle before i can start tearing into this one, and hopefully its on my time and not when it decides it wants to take a break.

[brownsvo]

yup..its definatly knocking and tapping.

I want to retrace my steps and ensure nothing i did with the oil pump replacement caused anything so the plan is to lower the oil pan/replace the gasket and check the oil pump and make sure nothing backed out or fell off. (i was sleep deprived)

i have no idea what else to look for without completly taking out the engine and taking it apart.

[brownsvo]

and its definatly knocking. And the race is on to get the Xr4ti block in my junkyard, rebuild it, and replace it before my current engine esplodes.

[dagenham]

Is it just a lifter tap or is it coming from the bottom end??
If it is coming from the top end it may just be a cam follower or a collapsed lifter.

[MikeFleming]

Did you replace the pickup tube when replacing the oil pump? Did you check the pickup screen bottom-to-pan- clearance?

[brownsvo]

I replaced both tube and pump with the stock melling 86e if I remember. I didn't check anything because it was one of those get it done before Monday kind of things. I did change the oil, 4 qts came out, so I figure at one point 1-2qts dripped/leaked out during my valve cover gasket failure.

Its coming from the bottem end and increases with rpms/not noticeable during decreasing rpms.

[brownsvo]

haha and if the knocking wasnt enough
my starter relay decides to take a dump on me, but atleast im at work already.

[brownsvo]

yup shes locked up, thanks for playing the svo game.

[MikeFleming]

OUCH!

Check to se if the distributor drive hex shaft is properly engaged to the oil pump.

[Chalky]

Be careful, last time I had a week like your I ended it by t-boning a Toyota Camry!!! That was an expensive week!!!

[brownsvo]

im going to get a friend to tow it to my house and park it.. sometime ill go and pull the motor and find out whats going on.. in the mean time im going to buy another car and hopefully get it this weekend.

I replaced the starter relay thinking thats what was causing the no start condition, but after trying to push start it the engine is locked up..too bad it couldnt of broken at my house and atleast it didnt break in traffic.

[Desert Patina]

im going to get a friend to tow it to my house and park it.. sometime ill go and pull the motor and find out whats going on.. in the mean time im going to buy another car and hopefully get it this weekend.

I replaced the starter relay thinking thats what was causing the no start condition, but after trying to push start it the engine is locked up..too bad it couldnt of broken at my house and atleast it didnt break in traffic.

No, that would be my week.

[brownsvo]

when doing yalls engine rebuild, what resource did you use? i plan on taking this engine out and doing as much work as i can myself, but i was worried there wasnt enough 2.3 specific material out there.

[in2fords]

I just pulled the motor apart, measured everything and once it checked Out i simply ordered a rering kit from flat Lander in stock size. I deglazed the cylinders and simply slapped it together like any other motor, I didn't even have any thing machined.
For the specific measurements I would look up every part separately on the internet. There seems to be so many different sizes listed on every site or book so if I got several sources on the same size I used it.

[Desert Patina]

On the off chance, does your distributor have the flat-top rotor? Did perchance the spacer give out? I only ask because the spacer in mine did, and I can see where it would cause interference.

[brownsvo]

i dont know about the distributor. Man im starting to put together a list of things i need and this is adding up pretty quick. i was getting ready to order a rering kit from Northernauto but they want 22$ to ship.. psssh..
Im debating on whether i should just dump the 450$ for new rods, or order just the 1-4 reconditioned rod i need for 100$, OR put all my hopes on the xr4ti block thats in the junkyard and start with that.

so far i have:

35$ Fel-Pro QKS2312 engine gasket set, everything from Oil-pan to Valve stems
68$ Fel-Pro ES72137 Head bolt kit - Recommended i replace things like head-bolts as they are one time use?
37$ ARP 151-6002 connecting rod bolt kit- get it, or skip it?

[MikeFleming]

If you do install the rod bolts, you will need to re-size the rod big ends. So keep that cost in mind also.

[brownsvo]

Ok wasnt sure if the bolts are reuseable. I rebuilt my shopping list on autozone and can get it way better than summit prices. now im out to find rings.


Fel pro Head bolts
Fel Pro Head gasket set
Main bearing set
Rod bearing set
Timing belt

a re-ring kit is 160 and has the same stuff, but off brand.. i think im doing pretty good for having felpro gaskets/head bolts included.

[MikeFleming]

All bolts are reusable. These engines do not use any 'single use' or TTY fasteners. However the factory ignition switch does use single-use shear head bolts.

I was specifically referring to the requirement to resize the rod big ends if replacing the bolts. The bolts are the alignment/placement method for the cap so if the bolts are changed, the rod must be sized for it to work correctly.

Does you engine have the 12-point head bolts? Those can be reused indefinitely as long as they're not stretched from over-tightening.

[brownsvo]

i haven't taken her apart yet..still sourcing an engine hoist. i guess im planning for the worse or over complicating things as the engine is locked up i assume something is bent.

[MikeFleming]

Yeah. Take it apart, clean and measure. THEN build a parts list.

Otherwise it's a two-step process: "Remove Engine; Replace Engine".

[brownsvo]

i ordered the minimum so far, gasket set, head gasket, head bolts, and bearings. Ill wait to see the damage before sourcing rods.

[svopony]

Just my 2 cents but when I took my engine block to the machine shop for work they ordered everything I needed to put the engine back together gaskets oil pump and all.

just saying if you are going to get machine work done....

Bar

[brownsvo]

"hey brown, the head is heavy as crap, you will probably hurt yourself lifting it out by yourself" said nobody here lol... But seriously.. Im taking the minimalist approach and just removing what i need. left the upper/lower intake on the head and removed the exhaust and turbo.. holy crap i thought i had hung up on something because that thing is HEAVY!

nothing out of the ordinary so far.. still trying to source an engine jack so i can pull the block out now.

[svopony]

is there a rental place near you? hardware store, ABC rental, maybe even a machine shop, or your local mechanic, or even an auto parts store(Napa, Bumper to Bumper, auto zone, O'rileys

Bar

[brownsvo]

my coworker is coming back from deployment, he will be here by the end of the week and has one i can borrow for free, ok well maybe a couple beers.

[Desert Patina]

Hey, it took just two of us to get the head off. Me and an ex-professional body builder.

But then the head didn't have (and I didn't have on me) the bracket loops for any hoist either.

[brownsvo]

the two rod bearings where almost stacked on top of each other.. Here is the damage.. it doesnt feel gouged, but smooth.
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff259/Brown7_8805/20130307_173435_zpscd48e14f.jpg

[MikeFleming]

It ran out of oil.

[Raven855]

Definitely ran out of oil. The number 1 rod is farthest away from the oil pump and usually the first to run out of oil. When this engine runs out of oil the number 1 cylinder can suffer cracks in the liner. I would have it checked for cracks before you invest any money in it. Has this engine been rebuilt before?

[brownsvo]

not sure..i would guess no since the quality of the gaskets suck...

I bought another car to get over my loss and to slowly build it up the svo's engine in my garage..I hope this new car will be enough for me to forget about the svo's death for a little bit.


http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff259/Brown7_8805/20130309_123652_zpsfe9adf95.jpg

[MikeFleming]

Kinda like a Rebound Relationship but with cars??

[brownsvo]

i like to think im coping from my divorce with the mystic cobra.. :) to each his own