Hi, I've posted on here a couple of times about this problem with no luck. I'm still hoping someone might be able to help me out. Here goes... I have a 1968 coupe that was originally a 289 2bbl but is now a 302 2bbl. the swap was done before i got the car. When i looked at the car, it had a very noticeable rocker clacking. It seemed to run pretty well, but it just didn't seem like it had any power. I got it home and began to fix the little miscellaneous problems like a few ratty looking wires, new starter, etc. and when I took the valve covers off to adjust the rockers, i noticed that every one of them was way loose (I expected this due to the amount of noise). What i didn't expect was that every rocker nut was already down as tight as it could go (it has the "positive stop" studs which are the ones that are meant to be torqued down and left alone). I checked all of the pushrods to see if they were bent and they're all fine, I compared their length with the ones from another 1968 302 mustang that I had and they were all the same length. I put a straight edge across the top of all the studs to see if any had backed out and none are higher than others (all even). There are no signs of unusual wear on the rocker arms or fulcrums either. I also noticed that it began running on only about 4 cylinders (you could pull 4 of the spark plug wires off of the coil and it would make no difference in the idle). Also, if you remove the vacuum lines from the vacuum advance on the distributor, there is no noticeable difference in how it runs. While trying to turn the engine over by hand to bring each piston to TDC to adjust the rockers, i noticed how near-impossible it was to turn over even with a breaker bar and all the plugs out. After trying a few suggestions from people and running it, I noticed that id began to have a slight squeak or squeal while running (idling, it never ran good enough to where i was willing to drive it) and soon after, it began to show zero oil pressure. I checked the sending unit feed wire (stock gauge) and even replaced the sending unit which made no difference in the pressure reading. I quit running it for fear it would sieze up, but it won't even turn over like it wants to start hardly at all since i shut it off last time. It has plenty of good, clean oil in it by the way. I recently pulled the intake and checked the lifters for visible wear and found none. Sorry for the long post, but i am very frustrated that i can't figure out what's wrong. Thanks in advance for any help you can give...

Josh

 

i fear at this point in time you need to start tearin the motor down. its possible the cam is wiped out, meaning the lobes are worn just about flat, this will explain your rough running and loose rockers, but all of em? thats just wierd. the low oil pressure problem and sqealing when running sounds terminal. if the cam is wiped then its possible metal trash wound up in the bearings and killed em hence no oil pressure. you can try pulling your oil filter and cut it open and look for trash inside. if you find lots of metal then another motor is in order.either way it doesent sound good, i say time to pull it out and check it out. good luck.

 

Sounds like a dead oil pump to me. This would explain the rocker issue, oil pressure and why it's starting to seize up. Sounds like an engine rebuild.

I'm no professional but was talking to a buddy here whose been working on cars for 20 years and this is what he thinks. Others here will hopefully add there comments.

 

I am not an expert with engines, but if i were you, i think i would pull the engine and rebuild it or get a new one all together. Since it is not the original engine, you could just put another runner in there, or look into a rebuild or getting a crate engine.

good luck.

 

New engine time. I'm going with oil pump or something oil related as well. Lack of oil wiped the bearings and cam, which would explain all the other issues. Cut the oil filter and see what's inside it and see if your finger gets all nasty grey/black when you run it across the filter media(that can cause metal to get in your fingers, so be careful).

 

Definetly time to tear it down and do a rebuild if the block and major parts are ok .

 

If every one of your rockers nuts are bottomed out and they are all still loose I'll bet your cam is whipped.

Depending on how many miles / how much wear is on the engine I would be very hesitant about just swapping cams because if it is a high mile engine new cam bearings will be needed.

 

Yep, I say the engine is screwed too.....

With your multitude of symptoms, I think you can just forget about an easy fix...

 

bad news alright. i'm with the lads above.
bad oilpump caused cam to die and if you don't take it apart fully you'll mess up whatever is left working

 

A quick way to check if the cam is indeed whipped is to pull the coil wire, pull a valve cover and crank the engine over. See if the rockers are going up and down as much as they should. Not just bobbelling arounda scosch but really moving up and down like they shoud