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Engine reassembly question "1,4T"

PRIMEWORKS

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So I'm currently in the process of putting my engine back together after completely resealing it and I've hit a wall. I'm just about ready to put my cams back in but while reading the manual I cam across it telling me this 54.PNG. What exactly is the "1,4T" mark/position? Does this mean that cylinders 1 and 4 are at top dead center? or does it mean something else? Any help would be really appreciated !
 
You got it. 'T' is top dead center.

Ok thats what i thought. Now here is the 2nd issue. The manual says to have cylinders 2 and 3 at tdc to reinstall the cylinder head (1st one to fit rings in cylinders). The engine was already in that position which was great. But my 2nd problem is now the engine doesn't appear to rotate completely. What i mean by the is I can move the crank a little bit and the pistions move easily but only for a small amount of rotation then it stops and i can spin it the other way but the same thing happens where it will rotate a little then stop completely. I thought i might be in gear but I put the gear leaver on put it into what i thought was neutral (the leaver would click when i moved it either up or down even though i didnt use the clutch) and the same thing happened.. Any thoughts?
 
next problem. In an attempt to install the exhaust cam, the manual says to take off the exhaust camshaft sprocket and place the sprocket under the exhaust chain and feed the camshaft through but I can't seem to feed the exhaust cam through because there doesn't seem to be enough slack in the chain. I've got the tensioner up in attempt to give myself more slack but even then the exhaust cam doesnt seem to want to wiggle through.
 
Hello there. I am somewhere at the same point as you. If I understand the process correctly, the first thing you want to do is make sure your exhaust cam chain has maximum slack. Loosen the lower and upper tensioner lock nuts. The lower may be all that is needed. Then pull up on the long exhaust cam chain. You should see the inner slide of the tensioner slide upward. This is the beginning of slack... Next find a pair of vice grips that fit perfectly inside the inner slide of the two piece tensioner and outfit the jaws with duct tape or gorilla glue tape(I love that stuff). You'll need to grab that inner slide piece and Heman that MF all the way up!! Lock the lower tensioner lock nut. Now you should have maximum slack.

Loosely install the exhaust sprocket onto the cam (no bolts). Then pass the cam and sprocket (lose) through the exhaust chain (maximum slack). Position the lobes correctly, position the dot indicators on the exhaust sprocket with the head. Install the exhaust sprocket in it's final assembly position on the cam with the bolt holes aligned.

**Verify 1.4T, sprocket dots and cam lobes are all PERFECT POSITION or you will be off a tooth and have to remove the cam chain and repeat installation all over again...

Begin installing the cam chain IN THAT EXACT ALIGNED LOCATION. DONT LET ANYTHING MOVE.

The chain should only install about 1/3 to 1/2

**While keeping the chain meshed with the sprocket where you just double checked all the alignment marks, slide the sprocket and chain off the cam boss where it is installed. Don't let the chain slip off from the sprocket!

**Take a moment to look at the groove that they cut into the cam boss...looks as if it was designed that way on purpose.

With the sprocket slightly lower, fully install the cam chain (some prying, stretching and pushing of the chain needed, but the chain, at maximum slack and not installed on the cam should install onto the sprocket.
 
after I slide the exhaust sprocket off the cam boss with the partially installed exhaust chain, I install the bearing caps to lower the camshaft. This is the next step in the manual.

after starting a thread on this website and talking with amc (the greatest help) he told me that he uses a custom procedure to do all his work and the manuals are not intended to be step by step 100% accurate.
 
Actually they ARE accurate, to prevent bending valves and needed, it's just they cannot go into detail of how there still are 50 ways to fudge up the job. It just leads to more confusion if they try. They expect a certain amount of mechanical expertise present that sometimes is not there. I start by using that procedure but I drift away from it all the time and the same with every other twin cam timing procedure like in car manuals, it comes when you realize how close you are to bending valves and I like to stay miles away from that.

I tend to move crank to TDC ONLY after preplacing the cams in approximate locations close to the install point but away from any bending. Then TDC crank and then I sneak the cams up close from the one direction each can move (it's opposite on each and toward increased overlap on each) without hitting. That means throwing away the manual and being dead on with your thinking.

If that's confusing it ain't spit, try it on like twin cams with variable cam timing on both, a f-cking nightmare. The Ford procedure for it results in so many mistakes they cannot even tell you where you went wrong, all they can say is that 'you didn't do it right'. A lotta freakin' help that is after you've bent valves a couple of times or you keep popping error codes. I figured out way back in the early '90s that to do those you not only have TDC and cams in correct places but you also had to have timing marks for the variable cylinders to be dead on as well, of course the service manual had not one word about that at all. Later Ford had so much in-house trouble fixing them they pulled their heads out and began marking the timing cylinders with marks as well and about damn time. I always wondered how many engines they tore up before doing that.

You gotta wonder what the engineers are thinking sometimes. We used to have a lot of those guys come in when Pop started the high-perf garage after getting laid off at LTV, and some of them were NOT hitting on all 8 cylinders at all. Some were utterly brilliant and a great pleasure talking to them but some were just plain goofy and did not fit in the real world at all.
 
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