I had a chain guide fall apart and clogged the jack shaft bolt on Passenger side of the engine. It twisted the bolt off and and that was all. Didnt break the chain. I ordered that dang Ford "special" tool set to install the new chain "improved " kit,after I pulled the engine and discovered there are no keys on any of the chain sprockets except the crank and front of the Jack-shaft. The cams are held in position by torque only. Any how after spending a weekend and a half on the job changing all the gaskets front and rear main ect. The engine still didn't run right. I pulled the motor AGAIN and checked all of the positionsame and readjusting everything. " Which it did not need " I reinstalled the motor and trans and THE ENGINE IS STILL JACKED UP. I pulled passenger head checked all the valves the FIRST time I had the engine out I followed Cloyes,step by step install procedure twice and it is STILL JACKED UP. any suggestions? I'm am complete disappointed in Ford AGAIN, for they really design stuff to fail and so you have to buy a 300 dollars special tools set to fix. I have been working on motors for over 28 years and this TYPE of motor that ford has designed is a complete piece of crap. I absolutely loathed Ford junk for 25 years and gave em another shot,to my regret. Does anyone want to see a Ranger filled with gasoline cab and bed? And lit up like a 4 wheeled hand grenade? That's where she's going.

 

The 2.3 liter Mazda L engine (I think that's correct) Ford calls it the Duratec engine, has no keys on the cam sprockets either, as well as on the crank _ just lost of torque to hold things in position.

As far as your engine is concerned, I would start with a simple compression test to make sure that the valve timing is correct. I don't know what the compression should be specifically, but it should be at least 160 psi.
On a complex engine like yours, turning the crank over by hand with care should be done to make sure that the pistons don't come up and contact the valves.
Not telling you what to do, but a guy has to start somewhere.

Also, if somehow the valve timing did go out of sync, perhaps one or more valves are bent, so no matter how well you install the chain, it will not run properly _ a compression test will tell you for sure.
The bolt twisting off on the jack shaft may have thrown the sprocket gear on the cam out of sync which may have bent the valves.

Start with the mechanical end of it first and rule that out.

What year is it, does it have a distributor or a cam shaft position sensor ?
Check the firing order, some of the most seasoned mechanics get this wrong even after checking it twice.

Sounds like a break is needed here to catch your breath.
I can understand your frustration, I've been through it myself.

 

Why yes, I do want to see that. On video!



GB :)