Lazarus' rod knock.

Grog6

Grog6

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Harriman, TN
Vehicle Details
2x 1996 Cougars, 1997 Tbird 4.6's all.
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Lazarus has developed a rod knock, after an estimated 500k miles. The odo quit at 366k in 2015, so I feel pretty good on 500k. I drove it 120 mi/day until october 2017. It developed a rod knock in 2020 due to me running all the oil out the pcv circuit; the pass head fills with oil at high rpm, eventually sending it out thru the manifold. Running for miles at redline will empty the crankcase. Running at redline in 4th is bad for other reasons but we won't go into that. cops here weren't even pulling people over during the pandemic. I passed a trooper at 110, and he didn't even look up. :)
So, Lazarus. I'm divided; part of me wants to let it run until it windows the block; the other part wants to yank it out and put new bearings in it. I have a teksid block on a stand, and parts to build it. What do y'all think? I have a set of ported 4v c- heads that need assembly for the teksid, but that's a 'stretch' at this point in my life.
 
I think you'll enjoy building it. Even if you aren't driving it, you'll enjoy riding in it when whoever does drive it gets the chance to. Unless of course, you have other plans for those parts. :)
 
Ah the opportunity cost question. Build great motor, won't for long the old one lasts. Don't build the motor, lose the fun of a quicker car.

I'm all for building the teksid. Life is too short to go slow😅
 
I say donuts til it blows up all the beans. Then 4v swap it.

I’m jealous of the ported C heads, do you know what they flow?? I know stock heads flow about 220-30 cfm. What intake do you have??
 
I to this day I occasionally ponder whether I should have DOHC swapped or fixed the 2V I spun the bearings on. I still have a fondness for the modest little 2V. I'd say go with what you can feasibly complete, avoid project car hell which the DOHC has a lot of pathways into.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
I to this day I occasionally ponder whether I should have DOHC swapped or fixed the 2V I spun the bearings on. I still have a fondness for the modest little 2V. I'd say go with what you can feasibly complete, avoid project car hell which the DOHC has a lot of pathways into.
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I'm with Matt on this one. A driving car is always better than an unending project. Get it running again. You can always build the project motor for installation later.
 
The dohc swap started in '09; it's already been development hell, lol. In that amount of time I bought and installed a pi engine. :) First problem is the IMRC's. Then I found the stock hood would need a hole to fit the 98 intake. :) So, I got a 93 dohc engine, and routing the inlet and airbox I didn't like, so I am now on C-heads, from a 99 Conti, and a mach 1 intake, following Matt's build. In the interim, I had to pull the pi again, so I could properly install the Torque converter. Cheap help isn't always cheap; and People on pain pills suck. :roll:
I finally have the heads ported to where they all match flows, the inner port radius has been rounded, and widened. I used a vacuum chamber, and a solenoid too open and close valves across the rpm band to watch the flow as it opened using a smoke source. (I've been limited the last 3 years.)
From the porting, I found the 93 heads are the worst flow, the 98's were the best, but a blower would be needed to take advantage of them. The flow transitioned from the primary mostly, to the secondary mostly, as rpm increased. Only near redline, 7k rpms was as fast as I could open and close a valve, and only near that limit did I see both ports flowing close to the same. The C-heads don't seem to do that at all; both valves seem to flow equally across the board.
I still have to cut the intake open, and port the lower section of the manifold. There was ton's of flash in the ports down to the plenum. There's more at the bottom I can't reach. And I cracked the plenum, trying to remove the freeze plugs by letting it freeze, while full of water. Didn't work, so now it has to come apart, so I can weld up the crack. :)
When I had the stroke, I had just gone thru three sets of beehive springs , testing them for strength at close, and at installed height. I kept one set that had the higher closed strength, and matched the others. I need to sort valves into the heads, and install the hardware.
I have 3 sets of 4v cams; one set I bought here, and they are ground blanks. I measured them, but the numbers are strange. How much duration is too much? The numbers I have appear to be ~220 degrees on intake and exhaust, and that doesn't seem right.
I went out and looked at the transmission I was building 5 years ago; I's got to be scrubbed in the parts washer before I assemble it. I don't think cat hair helps seal, lol.
 
Grog6 said:
The dohc swap started in '09; it's already been development hell, lol. In that amount of time I bought and installed a pi engine. :) First problem is the IMRC's. Then I found the stock hood would need a hole to fit the 98 intake. :) So, I got a 93 dohc engine, and routing the inlet and airbox I didn't like, so I am now on C-heads, from a 99 Conti, and a mach 1 intake, following Matt's build. In the interim, I had to pull the pi again, so I could properly install the Torque converter. Cheap help isn't always cheap; and People on pain pills suck. :zrolleyes:
I finally have the heads ported to where they all match flows, the inner port radius has been rounded, and widened. I used a vacuum chamber, and a solenoid too open and close valves across the rpm band to watch the flow as it opened using a smoke source. (I've been limited the last 3 years.)
From the porting, I found the 93 heads are the worst flow, the 98's were the best, but a blower would be needed to take advantage of them. The flow transitioned from the primary mostly, to the secondary mostly, as rpm increased. Only near redline, 7k rpms was as fast as I could open and close a valve, and only near that limit did I see both ports flowing close to the same. The C-heads don't seem to do that at all; both valves seem to flow equally across the board.
I still have to cut the intake open, and port the lower section of the manifold. There was ton's of flash in the ports down to the plenum. There's more at the bottom I can't reach. And I cracked the plenum, trying to remove the freeze plugs by letting it freeze, while full of water. Didn't work, so now it has to come apart, so I can weld up the crack. :)
When I had the stroke, I had just gone thru three sets of beehive springs , testing them for strength at close, and at installed height. I kept one set that had the higher closed strength, and matched the others. I need to sort valves into the heads, and install the hardware.
I have 3 sets of 4v cams; one set I bought here, and they are ground blanks. I measured them, but the numbers are strange. How much duration is too much? The numbers I have appear to be ~220 degrees on intake and exhaust, and that doesn't seem right.
I went out and looked at the transmission I was building 5 years ago; I's got to be scrubbed in the parts washer before I assemble it. I don't think cat hair helps seal, lol.
Click to expand...

I'd say let the engine stay in development hell while you keep the car mobile. I kind of want to just build an engine without a clear plan for a chassis one of these days. You've got the engine itself covered but getting it into the chassis and functioning is where the pitfalls lay; exhaust, fuel rails, hood clearance, wiring, throttle and cruise cables, cooling system... It's all different, I know you've gathered some of this stuff but I wouldn't begin to tackle actually getting it in the car until you for sure do.
 
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I agree. My plan currently is to pull the 96mpi, put new bearings in it, new seals,lap the valves, put a crosshatch on the cylinders, and put it back together. As long as nothings broken, that shouldn't be that bad.Getting it out and on the stand is the hard part. I need to assemble he transmission I was working on; it is attached to the stand I want to use. It should be a beast; kolene steels, raybestos blues, and built with all the sonnax parts.
I just remembered that I need a pi transmission tube; mine The heads they bolt to are different.
 
I think a few of us should get an engine swap party going at Grogs place when he's ready.
 
I'd be down for that. He's less than 30 minutes from me.
 
I'm game! We should wait until it's warm, we can make it a party. We used to camp at the river every weekend, until we got so fucking old, lol.
I can do food and drinks, if we camp. :) We have a pool.
We can discuss it all at the eclipse party next year. I'll pull my pieces together, and see what I've got.
I have everything to build the 4v heads, but that's Way more involved. Yanking an engine, refurbing it, and putting it back is totally do-able; I have a set of kooks for 2v; new seals, rings, bearings, oil pump, Mark pickup and pan. Oh, and a Mark pan with an extra wart, lol. :D 7.'5 qts, lol. We have Arp bolts for everything. I'll pick up a new tc and flexplate,if I don't already have a small-pattern one. I'll probably pick yp a new stock crank. Matt, 04 mustang gt is the modern mark crank, right? and IIRC, you can use the 4v crank with a 2v block if you use the right rear thrust bearing, and drill two lube holes, right? The esoteric shit I've read about these cars, and Matt still knows so much more than I do, lol.
 
Yeah; that doesn't show up on any searches, and the links are dead. If it were easier to flip over my 'spare iron engine block, I'd go look, lol. I have a mark engine on a stand, sans everything but block, mains, and bolts. I was told to keep it under pressure, so the mains are torqued to spec.
So is modular depot dead?
 
I have a spare set of 2v springs and hardware. I'll see about measuring the set I have. I bent a valve on that engine, doing a wot burnout, with a lonnie tune with no 2-3 wot upshift. It floated,spit the follower out, caught it again, and stuffed a valve into the piston hard enough to crack a valve guide. (That's the red Cougar's original engine. :) The engine block is fine, after 233k miles, and I'm betting the one in Lazarus is too.
 
I've got a 4V out of my old 98 mark with just over 100k on it if that helps. No intake, I used that on another 4v swap years ago. I believe the oil pan is on it but not 100% sure. If that sparks your interest, I'll dig it out. Oh, yea forgot the best part...... It's free
 
I appreciate the offer, but my lack of travel ability leaves me to parts already on the property, pretty much. I have everything to build a 4v, or refurb a 2v, I just need to do it. I have a set of pi cams and kooks for the 2v. Even if the 2v crank is toast, I have the red cars crank with 233k on it, that miked within oem specs. It's in the book I keep, but it was about 500 microns of wear, half a thousandth after 250k miles. :)That's from here to the moon, lol. The mark crank I have is also in that range. There were different parts for the engines; 3 tolerance ranges. Those numbers are pinstamped into the front of the block, or the heads. It's most visible in the pistons; a 1, 2 or 3 is printed on the top. My Mark block was a 2,2,2,2,2,2.2,3, and there's one 3 piston. IIRC, the oem specs are in the book.
 
OK; I went thru and looked at the parts I have. Ihave a set of b heads, with two types of heads and intakes. Two cranks, the 96 2v, and a 97 Mark
I also havea set of C- heads, that I ported to Nicks directions. I made the flow match in all cylinders. I need to cut the bottom off the mach 1 manifold, and clean up that side. There's a ton of flash.
 
Then I need to bribe Oscar to weld it back together. I tried to pop outthe "freeze plugs, and they almost removed the bottom. :)Almost, lol.
 
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