Hey everyone,

So I took my Mustang to a track session finally after 3 years of building up my car. I was very happy how the car performed, but after about 3 pretty intense runs, a fairly loud tapping noise was coming from my engine. I was able to drive home and after narrowing it down to something in the lifters, not the rockers, I took apart my engine. So here is what happened: Apparently one of my roller lifters (I have roller rockers as well) spun and got lodged 90 degrees of what it is supposed to be orientated at. You can see in the pictures what happened. So the loud clicking noise was the lifter popping on and off the retainer clip.

My main question is how did this happen? I know I was putting the engine under high stress, but I'm wondering if it had anything to do with oil pressure or oil breakdown.....Anyways, if some one can help me out on this, it would be awesome to get some other opinions before I put the engine back together.

Also, I haven't had a chance to research what brand all the roller and cam parts are. The engine was built before I got it, so I'm not sure whats all in it.

 

IMO you exceeded the rpm limits of your valve train, floated a lifter, which knocked the "dog bone" off....

Those rollers are heavier than standard lifters, which means that for a given valve train, the rpm capability is less for a roller than for a flat lifter.

It is MY OPINION that your failure is a result of valve train over speed, and probably nothing more.

Linked lifters would have prevented the lifter from turning in the bore, but stronger valve springs would have stopped the lifter from turning too, and should be used whether you go with linked lifters or the "spider and bones".

Build your engine with a rpm limit in mind, and a rev limiter will be a wise decision, especially if you are going racing.

 

+1........If you drove it home your engine must have a ton of metal in it now..Are you planning on tearing it all down?

 

Not a question of are you, more like, after you tear it down, what are the new plans?

 

If you are running those lifters in an early block with no dog bones or spider keeper then there is your reason. Ask me how I know about hat one. Never mind, don't ask, I don't like to relive it.

 

I'm planning on getting the same cam and a set of the lifters that are linked together instead of the dog-bone clips. I also will probably get some heavier springs too and most likely a MSD 6AL, just to be safe.....

 

You do realize that engine is now toast right? All that metal floating around in the oil is going to ruin the bearings.

 

I don't necessarily agree with that..... In practice, the small shards of metal will....

a. Mostly wash into the oil pan

b. Some will be too big to pass through the screen in the pick-up.

c. ALL will be too big to pass a properly functioning filter

IMO the biggest risks are

a. Some shards will find their way onto the surface of the new cam

b. The oil pick-up will become blocked

c. Tho oil pump will experience unusual wear from shards passing through

There are "risks" in not tearing the engine down for a rebuild/clean out, but IMO, if a little common sense is used in the repair, the risks are slight, slight, slight. These slight risks can be almost entirely mitigated by cleaning out the valley, and dropping the oil pan to inspect/clean the pan, pump, and pickup. (But, I would probably just flush the pan on the engine, engine in car, myself. )

By the time any car engine reaches 100K, it will have ingested lots of metal

 

when my hyd. cam went flat, i "washed" the engine with about 2-3 gallons of diesel and drained as per the recommendation of my engine builder. I then went to a roller cam and since then have had low oil pressure.Being that i had so many issues with Ford Performance, i gave up and let the engine be as it was.

Me personally, i would pull some rod caps and a main and check the bearing to make sure.No sence in wiping out a crank journal.Also cut your filter open and see if theres any metal and how fine it is. By the looks of it, is gonna be very fine, not chunks.

 

I would put money on it that the bearings are all scorched and sometimes even a cylinder wall could get scratched bad enough to need to be bored.

What cam were you running?

I have an xe282hr that I need to sell.