ALERT! 514 owners, heads up!!

[Back in Black]

Richmond overdrive 6 speed !
Top speed with my 3.00 rear should be over 200 MPH, in theory

[Michael C Henry]

The first FEs were solid lifters.Shell lifters at that.They lasted almost for ever .A roller cam and lifters seem to be a high maintence item.I've had this car for three years.It has a Crower solid cam and shell lifters.I put 1300 miles on it with out a hint of a cam problem. I removed the intake manifold for some machining.I put everything back and all adjustments were right except for #7 intake valve.Ive been chasing the adjustments ( always tightening)I\in a 20 miles or less.All push rods are still straight.I don't see any meal in the oil puddels in the head.Whars next?

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Michael;
I think you have a lifter wearing out, if you don't check the cam face of it soon it could wipe out the cam lobe.The other possibility is a worn/bent rocker arm.
Good Luck,
Perry.

[CCX33911]

I do not believe that the solid roller cam requires adjustment more often to take up the wear in the rollers themselves. I believe the solid roller wear issue is because the solid lifter takes a good bit more impact loads because of the lash. A h-roller lifter would have a smother force curve. I suspect that the lmpact loads are a strong function of lash, and if the lash gets a few thousandths over (do to valve tip or cam wear) it will severely effect longevity of the solid rollers.

I do know that most cam manufacturers do not recommend a solid roller for the street, and they say that they do not last as long. If this were not the case why would the cam manufacturers keep promoting the "myth". They could just sell more soild roller cams, etc.

[gsharapa]

Don't jump off the ledge just yet!

I have a 514 with the new Eagle rods and the only problem Ford had with these engines was the rods, when they first cam out. Yes a solid roller cam will need to have it's valves adjusted more often, but like many have said, that's what you get with the performance and rpm a solid roller gives you. I know the company that builds these for Ford (AER Manufacturing) and they set the valves around .018 cold and then check them after the motor warms up. I could not consisently get them all set at .025 HOT even doing one side first, fire and warm it up and then do the other side. What I found is the first one or two turn out to be about .018 when it is dead cold. The ariticle on the new Ford SVO Super Cobra Jet Heads (Mustang/Fast Fords) being installed on a crate 514, they also set the valves at .018/.019 cold.

Remember this; If the valves are a bit tighter all you do is move the tork curve up in rpm and make them a bit less noisy. Not a bad deal for an engine that has 598 ft lbs of tork in a 2,400 lb Cobra. When you start hearing them loosen up a bit, time to adjust them again.

You really can't hurt the motor unless you take them down to zero lash, but it won't be as stong too tight. Try .018 cold and I think you'll find you will be at .024 hot.

[craigayl]

My 2 cents.... I now have 4000 miles on my 514. It's seen 7000 rpm's numerious times. I ajusted the valves once at about 50 miles and will do it again at 5000, but there is no excessive tappet noise yet.. Too, these roller tappets are the best of high tech. Not going to wear out any time soon....

[Back in Black]

It seems to be an enigma/matter of opinion, as to exactly when to make the adjustment. It DOES need to be done, but I still figure the Ford tech was a bit extreme in the short intervals he suggested. Regardless, at first I am going to make the adjustments frequent, and maybe as time goes on it will become apparent that this is not truly necessary.



gsharapa: I always understood that too tight valve lash (eventually) led to burned valves. What can you tell us about that?

New installed engine pics in my gallery...she is getting much nearer to delivery.

[gsharapa]

Black In Black:

In response to your question about too tight on the valve lash (burned valves), that is very true on the old solid lift cams but these new solid roller cams are much different. Clearly you would not want to be at zero lash and .010 would be a bit tight but setting at .025 Hot (.018 cold) or .020 Hot is only going to move the tork curve up. I checked with the Company that makes the 514 Crate SVO motor and they set them at .018 cold and then check them when they are Hot. The specs on that cam call for .025 Hot which which works out to be about .019 cold with aluminum heads. You should always refer to the specific Cam company and their specs as that is where they feel the Cam performs the best in that engine. Mine are set at .018 cold which seems to be right at .023 Hot. Not much valve train noise and it runs! Unlike others above, I will check my adjustment a bit more often, every 1,000 miles or so unless they start making noise. It's a piece a cake to adjust anyway.....

[Tom Wells]

Hey BiB!

Is that the Ford crate motor distributor I see in the photo of your EFI unit?

If so, DUMP IT NOW!

Mine was marked REMFG and it ate my cam when its bushing tried to weld itself to the shaft.

Get a good aftermarket distributor.

'nuf said,

Tom

[Back in Black]

Actually, it was an issue for me too, but I did not want to delay delivery any further than it already is. maybe we can sneak in this change. It's MSD internals, but the housing (just for start up) was going to be left stock...it was mostly just an oversight, was going to ask for all MSD, then I got worried that it would be another boat anchor issue. I will get on it asap.
How many miles before your dist. ate itself?

[jdean]

Tom,

I read on the Crane Cams web site that the company does not recommend the use of high volume oil pumps with their cams. This is because of the greater risk of dist. gear failure.


This seems strange to me, since 90% of performance engines that would have a Crane cam would also have the HV pump.

I know mine has a Melling HV pump in it. I also have a new stock pump handy. I am wondering what I should do.

What type of pump do you have?

[Tom Wells]

Hi BiB,

Funny you should ask

The engine went exactly 812 miles before the distributor and cam gears wore completely out.

Get rid of the bushing type distributor and go to ball bearings - it's a lot quicker than pulling the engine after 812 miles! Jegs sent me the MSD overnight.

Hi jdean,

I now have a Melling brand oil pump - don't know which model. It cost $56 if that's any help. We sent the Ford crate motor oil pump back to Ford - haven't heard anything from them yet. I will say the oil pressure with the Melling pump is 5-10 psi lower than with the Ford pump, averaging about 50 psi hot and about 40psi at an idle of 600-700 rpm.

The real problem was the Ford-supplied crate motor distributor - at least that's what we all believe - since there was burned grease on the inside of the housing along with bits of burned bushing metal material.

Regards,

Tom

[gsharapa]

Ford changed distributors this year when they went to the Eagle Rods. My new 514 has a Mallory
Billet distributor in it and really looks like a MSD. You can take the vac advance module off and lock the plate down and set it a 32 degrees total.
A couple nice stainless screw and a small rubber plug and it looks great.

Here is Texas we had a lot of problems with the MSD distributor gears coming apart so make sure you have the right gear for your cam!!!!!

[Back in Black]

Will let you know what was actually on the motor. it is supposed to be the new version with the eagle rods, etc...

I wanted a Pro Billet MSD...this was my original plan, but I had such a long list of extra features that I overlooked specifically asking for the COMPLETE unit somehow. I do have the rev limiter and crank position sensor...handy extras.