Four Wheel Drift-Internet

Volume 2 Number 4 AND Volume 3 Number 1
Fall 2002 and Winter 2003

By Don Mallinson, President

We had to combine two issues again after a wild winter of not enough time, and a lack of focus (not the car, but the mind set!) on your editor's part.

Seems like publishing four magazines a year is a lot tougher than I thought, but I WILL get a handle on this.

As with the last time, this "double" issue is not a true double.  It isn't twice as big, just the normal amount of pages, and it doesn't count for two issues for our member's subscriptions.  I have added one issue to everyone's membership, if they were paid up through the Winter 2003 issue.  This insures that everyone gets full value for their membership fee.

Welding Cams

This Winter (2002/2003) was the winter of the V8 SHO "Camfest" by Kirk Doucette.  Kirk, a SHO Club member, gearhead, mechanic, philospher and many more positive things, went on the road (by invitation) to locations where people didn't have ready access to one of the few known businesses that have experience with the disassembly/welding/assembly process with the V8 SHO.

Camfests were held in Oklahoma, Illinois, the east coast and more are on the way I am sure.  Kirk has also come up with a few solutions to problems we didn't know had started to develop on the V8.  The V8 fleet is just now getting to the age where long-term maintenance problems start to pop up.

We have almost 15 years experience with the V6 and very little that is new pops up these days, but the V8 fleet is just now getting past 100,000 miles.  Here are some things Kirk (and others) have found that we now know:

1.  Back head wire bundle melting.  There is a wire bundle that crosses each head.  The coil wires are contained along with others in this bundle.  The front bundle is covered by the plastic appearance cover and isn't a problem.  The back bundle is covered by the hot metal intake plenum and there isn't as much air flowing back there.  The result is evidence that the wire bundle starts to melt onto the valve cover.  If left long enough, it can melt through the protective cover and short out wires with serious problems developing that can be hard to track down.

The solution is to check this bundle at the first opportunity.  You can just remove the back plenum and get to this bundle without total disassembly of the intake system.  IF the bundle is OK or just the outer cover is slightly melted, AND the car is running OK, then you should insulate this bundle.  One solution is header wrap available at most auto parts stores or speed shops.

2.  Butterfly assembly sticking.  The butterfly assembly is the last part before the heads.  This can get coated with sticky oil residue from the PCV system, leading to poor performance over 3400 rpm when the butterflies don't open.  Thus you have a 24 valve motor (only 8 intakes)  instead of 32.  A side result is the IMRC (Intake Manifold Runner Control) assembly can break costing more money.  It is highly recommended that you take apart the intake and clean the entire assembly including the butterflys every 60-80,000 miles.

3.  Throttle body sticking.  Same problem as #2 above, but the throttle body this time.  Again, oily PCV fumes get into the throttle body and cause the butterfly there to stick.  The symptom is the gas pedal seems to stick, usually when the motor is cold and you have let all the way off the gas for a short period.  Again, clean this with carb cleaner every 60,000 to 80,000 miles.  This can be done by just taking off the intake hose from the Mass Airflow Meter, and after opening the butterfly all the way and holding it with something sturdy (so it doesn't slam shut and cut your fingers!) you can soak a rag in carb cleaner (I don't recommend you spray carb cleaner down the throttle body!) wipe down the area.  You will see what I mean when you remove the intake hose.

The throttle body isn't that hard to remove, so the best way to do this is to remove the entire throttle body to clean it right.

4.  Water pump belt.  This isn't really a problem, I haven't heard of any belts breaking, well maybe one or two, but it generally isn't a problem.  BUT, while doing a cam weld, you have this exposed and the belt costs under $10 at most parts stores and it takes just a couple minutes to put on.  I recommend you replace this belt by 100,000 miles.

All the above are things that can be addressed when doing the cam welds, along with putting in new spark plugs (they have to come out anyway, so you have just the cost of buying the plugs), and just cleaning up things in general.

While Ford and Kirk recommend putting in new gaskets on the intake, they CAN be reused if in good shape.  Also the valve cover gaskets can be re-used if not torn or brittle.  BE sure to clean up the old gasket sealer that is in just a couple spots from the factory. Pay attention to where it is and replace it with new sealer when you put things back together.

There you have it, the new things we have found that the V8 needs or should get on a regular basis.  More to come later as we find out more about these great cars as they age.

Don Mallinson, President
SHO Club