Another BFN Rebuild

Roger, very interesting! Ive yet to find someone who could confirm the existence of a true reverse rotation RH roller cam for a BBC (as opposed to the "standard rotation, reverse firing order" gear drives like we have). I know they exist for the SBC's, as Joe has one in his 383.

I guess Im good with my gear drive set up for now- but I wouldnt mind having one of those on the shelf either! Im curious how much they can be reground though- isnt there a limit to such things based on surface finish/heat treat?

BuffaloBFN wrote: TRBenj wrote: Roger, which cams are those? Im confused! Me too. Did we miss the story line? Roger, roller or FT?

Tim, Greg, These are the rest of NOS RR roller cams chain drive,I have done a deal with the guy to clear them up with some other parts I need.
So if things don't work out with the gear drive cams I do have spare billet cams you could regrind to a lower lift as they are race/drag cams,that's if your happy to change over to chain drive and swap the distributor cog
They are still in the US (New Jersey) looking to ship over to the UK in the next week or so.

Your covers are at least a little different than mine then. And I totally forgot about the elbow...duh. So I'll have 1 fill, 1 PCV, and 1 breather. I used 4" and 1" allen bolts for that part.

This is my OCD...didn't want 2 different size fill plugs...wouldn't have matched.

Roger, I do think I remember you shopping marine speed shops?

Tim, my VC's are also used. I don't think they're made anymore. My question is about how you set it up assuming you have the same set up I got. My covers have 2 1.25" holes on one, and the other has one 1" hole.

The originals had 1 larger hole on each side with a smaller addition hole for the PCV on one. In other words, I had an oil fill plug on each(same size) and the PCV.

I can figure and fit everything, but I'm thinking they will look funny.

Roger, which cams are those? Im confused!

The pricing seems consistent from one source to another, so hopefully Im not being taken for a ride! We havent pulled the trigger yet- currenly working with Cam Motion. I got the feeling that Marine Kinetics wasnt taking me seriously, and LSM stopped returning my emails.

Unfortunately, this is the best picture I have of the motor assembled.



You'll have to be more specific on what "hardware" you want to see. We ordered our own VC bolts from McMaster. We bought our VC's used, so they already had the holes cut in them for the PCV and breather. We sourced grommets from Summit and Mcmaster.

Greg, are you interested in the clearance to the manifolds with the valve covers? Im afraid I dont know the brand- but the ones I see on ebay look to be the same as what we've got.

$550 you say... I just put in a call to Cam Motion and the guy I spoke to said $750. Based on what he's saying, I believe he's the one who built the cores for Marine Kinetics. Their pricing is the same. I also called LSM Engineering and they can build one for about the same price.

When did you talk to Danny Griffin?

Joel, youre right- it may be a big block thing. I know with the stock-ish sized prop (13x14 Acme) we ran, the engine is underturning by a good margin... somewhere in the 300-500 rpm range. With the bigger 750cfm carb, the secondaries dont come in until youre above 4000 RPM, which is approaching 45mph. The v-hull really shines on a big lake too.

Eric, the cam didnt look too bad- face of the lobe (where it contacts the lifter) looked pretty good. It was the edge that was beat up. My guess is that the lifter broke first, and the jagged edge tore the lobe up. I wouldnt think the handful of times that we spun the motor over after the overheat (it never ran- only cranked) could have done it... but I could be wrong. No signs of damage in the lifter bore, pushrods, or rockers. The offender was on cyl #7, I forget if it was I or E.

i would bet that lifter had something to do with the water coming into the combustion chamber, I just sent a 25 hp kohler, (still related) to the engine family, it had a bent pushrod and the lifter was wiped, for the life of me i couldnt figure out how the pushrod bent, no marks on the piston, valve moved freely....but from what i gather, and the guy i use for machine work asked if my customer was squirting starter fluid down the throat and the answer was yes, he pin pointed it as being something to do with the cylinder cooling down and seizing the valve....beats the fck outame, sometimes you gotta put the torque wrench away and slam them together, those are the ones that run like raped apes.
out of curiosity, what hole did that lifter sit in?

Thats my best guess, yes. All cylinders had some water in them- and they would keep filling up after blowing the water out the spark plug holes. Compression test came back fine, and there were no signs of failure from the intake or head gaskets... so the exhausts were the culprit as far as we could tell.

Its worth noting that the cam failure and overheat dont appear to have been related... we simply discovered the lifter/cam issue when the engine was torn down. We're going to send the parts back to Comp to see if this is a failure that should be covered under warranty or not.

Its been bugging me that I never brought this thread to completion... though I suppose the boat still isnt "done" so I guess I can keep adding updates.

We got the motorbox far enough along to be functional for the summer. The inside got reinforced, and then the corners were glassed:





All trimmed afterwards:





Then I went about adding the notch for the pylon. I cut the glass cylinder off to match the angle of the front of the box:





Taped it in place, and then glassed it in.





Then it was trimmed, and one final layer of glass was added around the outside.



After that, it was trimmed flush and level... then simply installed. Those who saw it at GL may remember that it was still largely unfinished- but it did fit over the engine nicely. The plan is to put another coat of glass along the seam, grind it smooth, and then put a layer of white gel on both the inside and on the uncovered glass portion of the outside. Depending on how it looks, it may stay bare for a while, or it may get covered with vinyl eventually.



The boat itself ran well initially- with the same Acme 1598 (13x14, .080 cup), the engine was able to turn ~5500 RPM with the EMI manifolds installed. Unfortunately, after a few laps around the lake, we found water in the oil- which we traced back to the fancy aluminum exhaust. For the next few weeks, we ran it with the older cast iron manifolds that came with the boat. Top end was down a touch (~5300 RPM), but the boat was good for a reliable 58.x MPH on the GPS, with several blips in the 59-60mph range. This included a decent 58.4mph showing at GL, good enough for a 2nd place finish behind Joe's mighty '83 (59.2mph).







The fun was relatively short lived, however, as I overheated the boat running around in the lagoon near the camp ground. The strainer was *slightly* clogged:



That resulted in a hydrolock, and another pair of toasted exhaust manifolds. Upon tearing it down, we found a broken lifter and a corresponding rough looking cam lobe- so the motor is currently back out of the boat and torn down as far as the cam.



The most likely scenario is to give it another go with a flat tappet cam, unless we can find a RH roller for short money (not likely!). The good news is that we have some shiny new exhaust manifolds from Dana Marine that should hopefully get us back above 5500rpm come spring.



The lake hasnt even frozen over yet, but only 3.5 months before it melts... come on spring!

politicallycorrect wrote: wakeboardin2k4 wrote: 95000 mile oils not burnt, was low but no apparent leaks. First time it slipped was 4th gear going up a hill on the highway with my trailer and empty barracuda behind it. Maybe 2000lbs. Did 3 fast slips in a row before I let off the throttle for it to catch. Otherwise it's done it mostly in second gear with no trailer on the truck. Has slipped maybe 6 times in the past week. I hate to add to thread hijacks, but I like to speak up when I can. The earlier style fords had way more torque than the transmissions could handle. I'm not as versed on the internals as Eric but I don't know of many people that haven't replaced or rebuilt transmissions in those trucks. My father in law had to replace his in '86 twice before 200,000. Not sure if they offered a manual in 95 but it is the way to go with Ford diesels...or retrofit an allison .I've been told when towing especially in hilly terrain to shift up and down manually. The rest on those trucks is pretty bullet proof except for the water jacket around the cylinders tend to rust through. My dad had to sleeve his old 6.9 which is the same block as a 7.3.

It was the crank position sensor. What was actually happening was a power loss that felt and appeared like symptoms of a trans slip.

In regards to the water jacket, a-men to that brotha! Except mine came through the side of the block. I am hoping this trans lasts. I had a trans shop take a look and they said it's fine.

Tim this boat looks awesome! I like the aluminum bracket on top of the strut bolts to mount the steering cable. Is that your idea?
Scott

The pan doesnt look like aluminum to me... I assume its the original OMC pan.

We made an honest attempt to keep it looking as original as possible... until you pop the engine cover anyways.

I finished raising all 4 sides of the motorbox and pieced in the corners last night. Hopefully Im just a few days away from being able to brush some gel on it. Pictures to come!

the speed sensor is also tied into rear abs also,
TR i was pulling your joint and do remember seeing the trans pics, ive been skimming your thread for 2 years now, just waiting for the big day