Swapped to Muscle - 75 Duster Daily build
Today I played the engine shuffle. I took 360 off of the cherry picker, took the Hemi off of the engine stand, then put the Hemi "temporarily" into my 78 Dodge truck to free up the engine stand.
Got the 360 on the engine stand and tore into it. I was initially going to just take off the valve covers and intake... then I was like while I am here, lets take off the heads and rockers.. To my surprise, the cylinders are still have visible crosshatching on all of the cylinders. Well got that done and then thought that while I am at it, ill take out the lifters... Well to my surprise, half of the lifters have been replaced. This piqued my curiosity. Rotated the crank a few times to check out the cam.... it was BAD.. I am guessing that is the "tick" that the previous owner stated that he heard. It was really scored and pitted bad.
Then I decided to take off the harmonic balancer and timing cover to get the cam out. The timing chain is in really good shape. Almost no slack in the chain. Not something that I would suspect on a 194k mile engine. Got that done and took the cam out... checked over the cam some more... like half of the lobes are toasted... Checked the cam bearings and they are really rough. I really doubt that they are supposed to be that rough. Checked the cam side and they dont seem to be that bad.
I then rotated the crank a few times without the cam, feeling for an roughness or signs that a bearing is bad. Didnt seem like it was.
Overall, either it was really well taking care of or somewhere along the line, the engine was rebuilt or replaced with a new(er) one. At this point, its just down to a shortblock and not sure if I want to tear into any more but feel that I should to check the rod and main bearings. I am kinda half tempted to just replace the cam and timing chain and throw it all back together. Though, with how bad (at least from my perspective) the cam bearings are, I dont think it would be that wise to do so.
Another thing that I did yesterday was check my local JY and see what they had for Ford 8.8's out of 96-01 Explorers. They have like 10 and 9 that are fully together. They also have a ton of Rangers, mustangs, and crown vics/Grand Marquis(?). After looking at some of the crown vics, I noticed that they have vented brakes whereas the Explorers have the solid rotors. I was curious on if the backing plates are compatible with each other as I would prefer to have the vented rear brakes. Turns out, if my research is correct, that the crown vic brakes will NOT work on Explorer rears due to having the larger "Torino" style bearing. BUT they might fit onto the rears of the rangers as they have the smaller bearings like the crown vics. This piqued my interest as I wonder if I would be able to get the 11.7" rear vented brakes and throw them onto the ranger rear. While I understand that they are a "weaker" axle as they are 28 spline vs that of the 31 spline explorer, I think that it may be livable for the time being. It is a daily after all. More research must be done.........
To be continued.... :D
Today I played the engine shuffle. I took 360 off of the cherry picker, took the Hemi off of the engine stand, then put the Hemi "temporarily" into my 78 Dodge truck to free up the engine stand.
Got the 360 on the engine stand and tore into it. I was initially going to just take off the valve covers and intake... then I was like while I am here, lets take off the heads and rockers.. To my surprise, the cylinders are still have visible crosshatching on all of the cylinders. Well got that done and then thought that while I am at it, ill take out the lifters... Well to my surprise, half of the lifters have been replaced. This piqued my curiosity. Rotated the crank a few times to check out the cam.... it was BAD.. I am guessing that is the "tick" that the previous owner stated that he heard. It was really scored and pitted bad.
Then I decided to take off the harmonic balancer and timing cover to get the cam out. The timing chain is in really good shape. Almost no slack in the chain. Not something that I would suspect on a 194k mile engine. Got that done and took the cam out... checked over the cam some more... like half of the lobes are toasted... Checked the cam bearings and they are really rough. I really doubt that they are supposed to be that rough. Checked the cam side and they dont seem to be that bad.
I then rotated the crank a few times without the cam, feeling for an roughness or signs that a bearing is bad. Didnt seem like it was.
Overall, either it was really well taking care of or somewhere along the line, the engine was rebuilt or replaced with a new(er) one. At this point, its just down to a shortblock and not sure if I want to tear into any more but feel that I should to check the rod and main bearings. I am kinda half tempted to just replace the cam and timing chain and throw it all back together. Though, with how bad (at least from my perspective) the cam bearings are, I dont think it would be that wise to do so.
Another thing that I did yesterday was check my local JY and see what they had for Ford 8.8's out of 96-01 Explorers. They have like 10 and 9 that are fully together. They also have a ton of Rangers, mustangs, and crown vics/Grand Marquis(?). After looking at some of the crown vics, I noticed that they have vented brakes whereas the Explorers have the solid rotors. I was curious on if the backing plates are compatible with each other as I would prefer to have the vented rear brakes. Turns out, if my research is correct, that the crown vic brakes will NOT work on Explorer rears due to having the larger "Torino" style bearing. BUT they might fit onto the rears of the rangers as they have the smaller bearings like the crown vics. This piqued my interest as I wonder if I would be able to get the 11.7" rear vented brakes and throw them onto the ranger rear. While I understand that they are a "weaker" axle as they are 28 spline vs that of the 31 spline explorer, I think that it may be livable for the time being. It is a daily after all. More research must be done.........
To be continued.... :D
