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I placed an order with Promaxx for a pair, I understand these have updated castings to help with the cracking issue between valves. they don't indicate whether they're in stock so we'll see how long those take to come.
So since I really like this truck, and use it a LOT, I'm planning on fixing her up proper. When I took that image with the boroscope, I could also see good cylinder cross hatching. Given I've taken very good care of this engine and have even spoiled it with royal purple since I bought it (I've put the last 100k miles on it), my general feel for the low end is that its fine. It also received the delta cam treatment to the rockers (hardened inserts) a couple years ago so I'll transfer those over, they still look pretty good.
So I've set my heart on a comp cams 410 cam, which says 2-4 weeks out on their website. Like everything else these days there's a wait for good things right?
Comp cams doesn't seem to carry lifters for this engine, so I'm assuming any new lifter will do?
What are this forum's favorites for timing sets, head bolts, gaskets etc? Any tips/tricks or pitfalls? The head bolts are probably torque-to-yield and need to be replaced yes?
Very good. on my heads on the 3.0 motor 3 or 4 of the exhaust valves were burnt. all I did was replace the heads and what a difference. you'll have a good motor when your finished!
Quick update on this thread. Crap cams kinda did me a number. I mean I get that there's supply chain issues and all, but they charged my card on 4/30, then said they expected the blank by 5/31 and it would take another week to grind/ship. But when I called on 6/5 I was told they didn't have it yet, weren't going to give another estimate and that they had all the popular engine guys backordered 9 months and I was basically the only Ford 4.0L guy wanting one and therefore I had no priority. They had also flat out refused to recommend a pushrod length and told me to measure it myself (ok not terrible but you'll see my point). I canceled it, called Delta cams who then had me a cam on my door step WITH pushrods a week (almost to the hour) later, for less than half the price of the crap cams cam by itself. Oh and did I mention he didn't charge my card until he shipped it?? What a way to treat your customer crap cams, sit on my money and then tell me its not gonna happen... This is actually the third time I've done business with Delta cams (I used to live in Washington not far from their shop), and I think I'm becoming a fan. I have their modified rockers in this engine, and had a 276 cam ground by them in my old mopar 383 big block I was very happy with.
Anyway, ripped the heads off and tore the motor down to the timing cover over the weekend. I will post photos later, but cylinder #6 had the smallest crack out of cylinders 1,3, and 6. Somehow I was not misfiring on cylinders 1 and 3, nor is there any evidence of coolant getting into cylinders *shrugs*. Head gaskets looked intact. Pretty amazing considering I never once saw this motor overheat on the gauge. I'm actually kind of wondering about my gauge now... It does seem to start off on cold and warm up
Edit: I'd like to also point out that several valves appeared to have started receding into the head indicating seat wear. All of the guides seemed very good. While all of the stem seals were in their proper positions I did find one exhaust valve that looked like it had started getting a little oil on it and carboned up (I think it was cylinder 4...)
Pistons/cylinders look better than I expected for 265k miles with visible cross hatching, not even a noticeable ridge at the top of the cylinders. The 4.0 bottom ends always astound me with their resilience.
Weekends are really the only time I get to work on it right now, therefore it is slow going.
This is where it'll live for the week. Heads are torqued down. I forgot how frightening I find TTY head bolts but got through them all without any failures. Manifolds are a bit of an experiment, I couldn't get por 15 or header paint locally (there's a shortage in our area apparently) so it's rustoleum BBQ paint. Supposed to be good to 1200F so we will see how it stands up. I also found the camshaft synchronizer to be worn out when I pulled it so have one of those on order. I hope the Cardone branded units are OK. Given the relative ease to change it I opted against the $220 Ford unit.
I own a 98 Ranger with a 4.0 that is ticking real loud and is pressurizing my cooling system . I noticed recently that it has a new water pump so I am pretty sure it overheated for the prior owner and cracked something. I have been following your thread and i live in Castle Rock WA . Delta is in Tacoma right? that is within driving distance for me. But i didn't see where you were getting new heads from I thought you made a reference to a better design. and that makes sense. If you don't mind repeating yourself for me. I would be appreciative.
Yes Delta is in Tacoma. I used to live in the outer areas before I moved to California hence my previous business with delta.. I do not think you will be disappointed, but if you do not want to drive the shipping seemed reasonable.. as to how much of a difference it will make in the ol seat dyno I don't know yet.
Delta will also mod your rocker arms to have hardened steel inserts as a solution to the worn pushrod/rocker issue that can stem from poor oiling which is more than likely the tick you're hearing. Some guys like this mod, some don't. I have a modded set and am pretty happy with it. I think he charged me $150 back in 2017.
Heads are from promaxx. Again good service from those guys.
edit: some thoughts on your situation yes cracked heads if cracked badly enough can manifest in similar symptoms to a blow head gasket minus oil/coolant mixing. Didn't happen in my case. Mine would start to run bad after it got good and warmed up (like going up the local mountain or going down the highway and getting off/hitting a light). I think as the cylinders warmed up the cracks which extended through the valve seats opened up and I lost some compression. This seems to jive with the fact I didn't find anything obvious with a traditional compression tester. But if your cracks are bad enough it should show with a compression tester. Good luck.
Fire up came with a puff of blue smoke and lots of ticks that went away after a few minutes. I suppose thats Parr for the course given the design of the lifters in these engines. I did soak em in oil but I'm sure there was still air in them. I have an exhaust leak somewhere on the drivers side. I had a bit of a fight with the steering column when installing that manifold and beat up the gasket. Might have to try that again later but it's pretty minor.
It is SPUNKY. Like I can pass cars on 1 lane highways now (in legal passing zones of course) wirh relative ease where I wouldn't have dared before. This engine never wanted to rev much above 3k rpms before and now it's spinning 4500 rpms before it feels like it wants a shift (it's a 5 speed)
Took it on a shakedown up highway 1 to Pescadero and back. Not a single issue aside from the exhaust tick (under load of course)
To anyone considering promaxx heads and/or the delta cam: I am a happy man. Do it.
Now I'm gonna be off looking for a decent cat back. I also read somewhere there's a bit bigger ID throttle body that really helps these engines too. I got the bug
Enjoy a pic of pigeon point lighthouse. Happy 4th of July everyone!!
Glad to hear everything worked out! I am going to go with the same as soon as i have the extra cash. I would like to know what you end up using for the Cat back when you find one. Peace...
I ended up changing the driver's side exhaust manifold gasket as the engine tech ones aren't holding up. I used the metal felpro ones which seem to be a lot more robust. I passed California emissions and now I'm starting to hear the passenger's side so when it gets a little worse it'll get swapped again as well.
Fuel mileage is a wash for me, its no better or worse. Of course I'm using that added torque more often than I probably should, but given I can do so for the same mileage I'm going to count that as a win. Its kinda fun to flex on other local rangers, when you scoot past them on a hill or off a light the drivers tend to have a confused look, I can only imagine them wondering how I get the truck to move like that. Its not so fast that most other people notice though.
Overall very happy with how this project turned out, the mechanic who did the emissions test commented that its the smoothest running 4.0 Ranger he's seen in while and he likes my hurst shifter. I guess it should be smooth after its had so much replaced, including injectors! It also feels good to see the top end all nice and clean every time I check the oil and inspect on stuff.
04-30-2022
