Lugging at speed/No power at WOT

[ratdude747]

Use a file and clean them up a bit? Make sure it is a "safe" file, meaning that it is smooth on the side hitting the head.

Close enough? Plan will be to shorten them with a tubing cutter. At $0.99 a pop I'm willing to try.

[Gary Lewis]

Close enough? Plan will be to shorten them with a tubing cutter. At $0.99 a pop I'm willing to try.

If they are the right diameter and not too long they'll work fine. BUT, make sure you don't have them too long as that will hold the head off the block.

[ratdude747]

If they are the right diameter and not too long they'll work fine. BUT, make sure you don't have them too long as that will hold the head off the block.

Which is why I'll shorten them.

[ratdude747]

Which is why I'll shorten them.

Too small. No dice.

Ended up filing the messed up one, and it hammered right in (messed up side down). Whew.

Got the valves put back in the head (with new silicone umbrella seals). Also cleaned some more fasteners I totally forgot needed cleaning... and repainted my valve cover. Will be doing some detail painting... once it's complete, I'll shoot and post pics.

[Gary Lewis]

Too small. No dice.

Ended up filing the messed up one, and it hammered right in (messed up side down). Whew.

Got the valves put back in the head (with new silicone umbrella seals). Also cleaned some more fasteners I totally forgot needed cleaning... and repainted my valve cover. Will be doing some detail painting... once it's complete, I'll shoot and post pics.

Bad side down will work fine. Good plan.

I'll bet you can find plenty of small things to do while waiting on the bearings.

[ratdude747]

Bad side down will work fine. Good plan.

I'll bet you can find plenty of small things to do while waiting on the bearings.

Yes I did... along with some other small things I didn't post about (or at least post pictures of):

First, there's been a long-existing issue with the heater supply nipple (which is not a part I can buy a replacement for it seems); mine was rusted with a couple of holes (covered by the hose, but still not great). Several months ago I tried to fix it by flame soldering, but I couldn't get the solder to wet (flux burnt before the steel would wet). I tried again, and it was another failure, but learning a lesson from the carb heat tubes, I tried my big 100W soldering iron (made for stained glass work?), which made short work of such (no burnt flux issues).

Before:

After (solder bead filed down):

Dunno if it will hold... If I could get a replacement, I'd just replace it and be done. But the only nipples I've found are directly pressed into the "leaded gas" version of the T-stat housing... mine threads into the T-stat housing (pipe thread) with a pipe-threaded inlet for the ECU's temp sensor. In hindsight, I probably could/can make a replacement out of some pipe fittings and a brass nipple... but for the sake of not being a hilljack I'd rather not (not that's I'm not above using pipe fittings on engines)

---

Valve work (and questions):

New valve seals installed:

Since I have a 1984 Head (and the manual on the site is for the newly revised 1985 head), I have a couple of questions:

• Since I have have shouldered rocker studs with one nut per stud, there is no lash adjustment, correct? Just torque the nuts to spec?

• The manual mentioned installing the closed side of the spring towards the head... but both the intake and exhaust springs were as far as I could tell symmetrical (not "beehive" springs or the like). Was such another 1985 head design change, or did I miss something that I need to re-check my heads for?

Have more pics (of various part painting results), but having lost image issues, so I'll post that as a reply to this.

[ratdude747]

Yes I did... along with some other small things I didn't post about (or at least post pictures of):

First, there's been a long-existing issue with the heater supply nipple (which is not a part I can buy a replacement for it seems); mine was rusted with a couple of holes (covered by the hose, but still not great). Several months ago I tried to fix it by flame soldering, but I couldn't get the solder to wet (flux burnt before the steel would wet). I tried again, and it was another failure, but learning a lesson from the carb heat tubes, I tried my big 100W soldering iron (made for stained glass work?), which made short work of such (no burnt flux issues).

Before:

After (solder bead filed down):

Dunno if it will hold... If I could get a replacement, I'd just replace it and be done. But the only nipples I've found are directly pressed into the "leaded gas" version of the T-stat housing... mine threads into the T-stat housing (pipe thread) with a pipe-threaded inlet for the ECU's temp sensor. In hindsight, I probably could/can make a replacement out of some pipe fittings and a brass nipple... but for the sake of not being a hilljack I'd rather not (not that's I'm not above using pipe fittings on engines)

---

Valve work (and questions):

New valve seals installed:

Since I have a 1984 Head (and the manual on the site is for the newly revised 1985 head), I have a couple of questions:

• Since I have have shouldered rocker studs with one nut per stud, there is no lash adjustment, correct? Just torque the nuts to spec?

• The manual mentioned installing the closed side of the spring towards the head... but both the intake and exhaust springs were as far as I could tell symmetrical (not "beehive" springs or the like). Was such another 1985 head design change, or did I miss something that I need to re-check my heads for?

Have more pics (of various part painting results), but having lost image issues, so I'll post that as a reply to this.

Painting.

My first step a couple weeks ago was to paint the tins... which was off to an OK start until the birds decided to give me some white accents on the lifter cover:

(they also nailed my hand later that day... what did I do??? )

Luckily the paint had already cured, so I was able to wash it off. The oil pan has been painted the same color.

There were some painting defects with the valve cover, which was made worse by a badly failed attempt at accent painting with a paint marker:

Due to such, I repainted it yesterday, and painted the accents with a brush to a better (but still lackluster) result:

What it will look like on the head:

As for the block and heads, more prep was obviously needed (masking), so here's my solution I used:

Painted up:

Today I decided to paint the cast lettering/symbols on the block like an old piece of machinery, because I had the white paint out and thought it might look cool:

(yes that's an incomplete casting number with no decade. Moldmaker's goof?)

Look good? I wasn't feeling the stock gray on the tins, and I originally was going for red, but that would look too much like a ch*vy... not that I have a beef with such (my parents have driven them for decades with decent luck), but it wouldn't be right.

[Gary Lewis]

Painting.

My first step a couple weeks ago was to paint the tins... which was off to an OK start until the birds decided to give me some white accents on the lifter cover:

(they also nailed my hand later that day... what did I do??? )

Luckily the paint had already cured, so I was able to wash it off. The oil pan has been painted the same color.

There were some painting defects with the valve cover, which was made worse by a badly failed attempt at accent painting with a paint marker:

Due to such, I repainted it yesterday, and painted the accents with a brush to a better (but still lackluster) result:

What it will look like on the head:

As for the block and heads, more prep was obviously needed (masking), so here's my solution I used:

Painted up:

Today I decided to paint the cast lettering/symbols on the block like an old piece of machinery, because I had the white paint out and thought it might look cool:

(yes that's an incomplete casting number with no decade. Moldmaker's goof?)

Look good? I wasn't feeling the stock gray on the tins, and I originally was going for red, but that would look too much like a ch*vy... not that I have a beef with such (my parents have driven them for decades with decent luck), but it wouldn't be right.

I don't know the answer to the question about valve springs, but if they are symmetrical then it doesn't matter.

Are you saying that the earlier manual might be different? Do you need it on the site? I have an '81 FSM and could put that section on.

As for the painting, I'm not sure about the casting marks. But I'm a bit worried about the FORD emblem on the valve cover. I'm afraid it will look sloppy.

In his Salvaging Rosewood tutorial (Documentation/Interior/Salvaging Rosewood) Jonathan explains what he used to paint the silver bead on the bezels. Perhaps that would work on your valve cover?

[ratdude747]

I don't know the answer to the question about valve springs, but if they are symmetrical then it doesn't matter.

Are you saying that the earlier manual might be different? Do you need it on the site? I have an '81 FSM and could put that section on.

As for the painting, I'm not sure about the casting marks. But I'm a bit worried about the FORD emblem on the valve cover. I'm afraid it will look sloppy.

In his Salvaging Rosewood tutorial (Documentation/Interior/Salvaging Rosewood) Jonathan explains what he used to paint the silver bead on the bezels. Perhaps that would work on your valve cover?

From what I read, the 300 has had three different rocker setups. The original was studs with no shoulder (and had adjustable valve lash), which at some point became the shouldered studs like I have (and haven't found a definitive answer on). For the 1985 model year, they went to pedestals and bolts, which is what the '85 FSM describes.

Having the 81 version would be helpful here... I've read some places saying that you just torque the nuts, and some saying that the nuts are supposed to be locknuts and that the lash is adjusted that way. It seems like the former is the case (since hydraulic lifters are supposed to take the adjustment out anyway?)... but "seems" is a dangerous word.

---

The issue with the valve cover is that it's a shallow stamping. Raised letters in castings and molded plastic paint a lot better due to the sharp edges, such as when I red lettered the intake on my '95 ranger:

The gradual sweeping sides of the stamped logo are harder to follow are require calligraphy to match... which my paint and brush were not allowing (too thick?)... not was the paint marker before (too thin, turned out blotchy). The only other way I could try is some sort of rubber stamp transfer; sanding the paint revealed the logo well, so maybe a surface-to-surface process would work better?

It's purely for fun at this point... It's not really a show truck (not without a crapload of interior and body work at least); I just wanted to see what I could and couldn't get away with. Was hoping it would turn out like the ranger... and with some more detail corrections, maybe it could. The ranger's intake took two or three touchups and recoats to get it to work; but that was with a red paint marker on black ABS plastic; a different situation indeed.

[Gary Lewis]

From what I read, the 300 has had three different rocker setups. The original was studs with no shoulder (and had adjustable valve lash), which at some point became the shouldered studs like I have (and haven't found a definitive answer on). For the 1985 model year, they went to pedestals and bolts, which is what the '85 FSM describes.

Having the 81 version would be helpful here... I've read some places saying that you just torque the nuts, and some saying that the nuts are supposed to be locknuts and that the lash is adjusted that way. It seems like the former is the case (since hydraulic lifters are supposed to take the adjustment out anyway?)... but "seems" is a dangerous word.

---

The issue with the valve cover is that it's a shallow stamping. Raised letters in castings and molded plastic paint a lot better due to the sharp edges, such as when I red lettered the intake on my '95 ranger:

The gradual sweeping sides of the stamped logo are harder to follow are require calligraphy to match... which my paint and brush were not allowing (too thick?)... not was the paint marker before (too thin, turned out blotchy). The only other way I could try is some sort of rubber stamp transfer; sanding the paint revealed the logo well, so maybe a surface-to-surface process would work better?

It's purely for fun at this point... It's not really a show truck (not without a crapload of interior and body work at least); I just wanted to see what I could and couldn't get away with. Was hoping it would turn out like the ranger... and with some more detail corrections, maybe it could. The ranger's intake took two or three touchups and recoats to get it to work; but that was with a red paint marker on black ABS plastic; a different situation indeed.

Let me see what I can do on the '81 FSM. We are headed out on a grocery run tomorrow and I hope to get Angelo's throttle pedal shipped as well, so I'm not sure what I'll get done in the shop. But, I'll see what I can do.

But what you described makes sense about the lifters. Lets see if we can get a definitive answer.

On the valve cover, I think the rubber stamp idea is probably your best bet then. But I've not done it, so please show us how you do it.