COMET CENTRAL

ants875 wrote:Did Ford use the plastic timing gears on those 6s? I know they were popular for awhile and that could be where it came from.

Ant

FORGOT about that,your 100% CORRECT,OL POP IS SLIPPIN my age is catching up with me,,when you get away from something long enuff your recollection suffers pop

cypher wrote:So I took the valve cover off today and ,S**T, there were shards of plastic the size of a finger nails all by the springs. Don't know where they came from. I hope I got all of them out. Can a bad PCV valve be causing part of the problem?

My guess is someone broke the end of an old brittle plastic funnel off while adding oil.

was it near the oil cap?

cypher wrote:So I took the valve cover off today and ,S**T, there were shards of plastic the size of a finger nails all by the springs. Don't know where they came from. I hope I got all of them out. Can a bad PCV valve be causing part of the problem?

Valve stem seals. They get brittle over time and break. A bad pcv can cause problems.

Lou

When you checked the timing was the mark steady at idle? Or jumpy? Timing chain my be developing some play? At idle play may be moving from side to side and when you rev it, it would all move to one side.

One way to check play in chain is to pull all plugs, pull valve cover, bring timing mark up to top dead center. Put a ratchet/socket on front crank bolt and move crank back-forth till you see valve train move. Move it one way(clockwise or counter clockwise) till valve train moves. Make note of where timing Mark is(degree Mark) then move it the opposite way until valve train moves again and make note of the timing Mark. This will tell you roughly how many degrees of slack is in your chain.

Also is there any play in your distributor shaft?

Also while you have valve cover off check rocker movement. Spin the engine and measure how much each rocker is moving. Compare the intakes to other intakes and exhaust to exhaust. I use a small ruler. If any rockers are not opening the whole way a cam lobe may be going. If you have a cam lobe going you would still have good compression.

Just a couple things I would check.

Lou

I didn't think about valve stem seals that has to be the plastic, the timing gear would not end up in the head. For a faster way to check the timing chain just pull the dist cap and put the timing mark of the crank on top dead center (0) and the slowly turn the crank counter clock wise while you watch the rotor as soon as the rotor moves look at where the timing mark is and you will know how many degrees of slop you have in the chain.

Ant

ants875 wrote:....... For a faster way to check the timing chain just pull the dist cap and put the timing mark of the crank on top dead center (0) and the slowly turn the crank counter clock wise while you watch the rotor as soon as the rotor moves look at where the timing mark is and you will know how many degrees of slop you have in the chain.

Ant

Faster and better A lot easier to see the rotor move than watching rockers!

Lou

I have never seen a plastic timing gear on any small six I have taken apart, all of them were steel. I agree about the valve seals, you can change them out without pulling the head, I have done that a couple of times, just make sure that the cylinder you are working on has the piston at the top.

See Ya,
Mike

My buddy told me the plastic came from (I think) stock umbrella stem seals

Damn I got happy too quick. Shakes are back

cypher wrote:Damn I got happy too quick. Shakes are back

Hook up the OBD II to it!

On a serious note, I may have missed it, but are there any audible noises during the shaking? Check the fuel filter/pump? If it's dying while coming to a stop and at idle, that might be something I'd suspect after having the carb rebuilt and still having the issue.

Lol

I wish I could hook it up. It would be much easier to figure it out

If you need to change valve stem seals you need a length of rope. Do the 'rope trick' by stuffing into the cylinder to hold the valves closed while removing the retainers and springs. Works like a champ.
Ron