michialj

ok here is the deal. over the summer i rebuilt my 87 5.0. it had 180,000, was a little down on power and neede a new clutch. I got the kit from summit, and put it all back togather after polishing the cylinders up. everything ws in spec. The engine had an e303 cam to start with (is that stock?) and the only thing i changed was i smoothed out the exhaust side of the heads and cleaned out all of the egr ports. I fired it up, and it runs like crap. (idles poorly, dies when i start it, and doesn't seem to make all the power it should.) It throws a code for one (sometimes two) of the cylinders on the right back and says something is wrong with that O2 sensor. I have had it to ford and they don't know what to do. it doesn't apear to be sucking any extra air and where (checked with propane.) It also has a new TPS, plugs, wires, cap, one new injector, that didn't fix the cylindr that was running bad. Any thoughts? I am going home over christmas and would like to get the car back on the road, has anybody else had problems like this? or on second thought, does anyone want an 87 gt? it was a new engine

mdvaldosta

My guess would be cam or ignition timing. have you done a compression test yet? what's it read?

1BADASSLX

DAM THAT SUCKS MAN!! I WOULD CHECK TIMEING IF IT HAS BIG CAM IT MIGHT IDLE ROUGH!

88GT40

you have to be careful when removing/installing cam hope you didnt screw up the bearings, make sure the cylinders have poper compression and check the cam timing, and ignition timing like mdv said. also did you overhaul the fuel injection system, you can easily cause major problems when removeing your distributer if you dont follow correct procedures to the tee... hope you get her running...good luck

91hatchgt

Well is it MAF or SD... I have heard that if you mess with the cam it may not run right. SD (speed density) cars are not good with mods.

michialj

it has new cam bearings, and i am pretty sure that i installed teh cam right. I am almost sure that cam and ignition timing is right, the old man actually helped me with that, and this is about his zillionth engine he has rebuilt, the first EFI one though. which brings me to the point about the injection system, how do i check it out? adn how do i overhaul it?

also, the car is SD but it ran fine with the same cam before. I can't figure out why only half teh engine runs fine now! ahhh, i am thinking about just putting a holley on top and being done!

mdvaldosta

First, before you go any further STOP, take 2 steps back, and check the compression - don't proceed until you take the 10 minutes to do that. Once you do that, and verify that you have good compression in all 8 cylinders, then make sure all cylinders are firing, eliminate 1 cyl at a time and see if it runs worse - if it runs the same then you've got a dead cylinder. Then check for spark and fuel to that cylinder. Don't go any further until you do those two steps.

619socalstang

mdv is pretty smart, i would lisen to him, and if that doesnt work i would change the oil and look for metal my guess is you mixxed up the lifters and when you put then back in the car you flattend some cam lobes. been there done that.

me alot fast than u

*L*..yeah I taught him what he knows..you said polish the wall..you means honed right?....I have a feeling you have some piston rings not seating....what grid stone did you use??? and what rings did you use??? I think you may have a few compressions rings not seating..any oil on top of the engine??

Aliate X

It seems a lot of poeple have a problem with poor idle and stalling, with all those mods, do you still have the stock fuel pressure regulator? If so, thats your problem, get an aftermarket one and bump it up to 40 pounds. I had the same problem after doing headers and cats, fuel press regulator fixed it.