Hello all,
I've been absent from the list for several months due to a job change.
Over that time, I managed to go on one of my annual pilgrimages, The
California Melee. 500+ mile rally over some of Northern California's best
backroads. It was a great time. My 67 Mk 1A ran great, except my battery
crapped out in Stewarts point. Fortunately, they had one their all chartged
up and ready to go. I even had a bit of fun with a couple of Porsche 911's
on Bolinas-Fairfax road. It is a very tight, narrow, bumpy road- it was a
blast. I manged to hold off the Porsches, but just barely. I'm going to
need posi before I try that one again!
More recently, I went to my first STOA meeting up in Santa Rosa. It was
a great meeting, lotsa nice folks, and some very generous hosts. I managed
to get my car TAC'd as well. Unfortuantely, on the way home, my recent
troubles began. Over the previous few weeks, (since the rally), on trailing
throttle my car had been making what sounded like valvetrain noise,
basically a subdued valve tapping. I spoke to Dino Fry who buiolt the motor
20+ years ago, and he said it is probably an exhaust manifold gasket. Sure
enough, the exhaust manifold was a bit loose, so I snugged it up before the
trip to Santa Rosa. It didn't really fix the problem, but I really wanted
to go to the meeting. It wasn't to loud, and I thought the car could go
another 100 miles before further investigation. I WAS WRONG!!
So, I've just left this great club meeting, and I'm about 5 miles south
of Santa Rosa, heading back to SF, when all of a sudden the valve train
noise gets really loud! OH SH**! I limp back over the bridge, and get the
car towed back from the Golden gate bridge across town to my garage. (That
part of the trip took 4+ hours, but that is another story...). Upon
examination, I found I had two bent push rods. So, two questions remain:
1. Do I get a new set of Ford Motorsport pushrods or a set of the Crane
push rods? Is there a third choice that is better that I am not aware of?
2. Do I pull off the heads and see what horros lurk beneath (I know, OF
COURSE I should do that) or just put new push rods in and see how it runs?
When I last shut it off, temp, oil pressure and idle were fine, it was just
the loud bangs due to the pressure wave exiting the intake valve because the
exhaust was no longer opening. I know, I should do a thorough inspection,
that is the right thing to do. But is there any slight reason why I should
think that it was just failed push rods, and that I can escape without
pulling the heads? CAn I pull tghe heads with the motor in the car, or do I
have to drop the motor/Trans out the bottom to get the heads to clear teh
firewall?
thanks,
Windsor
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