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View Full Version : ISKY FE Lifter experience??



Thomas C Potter
07-23-2006, 07:35 AM
Continuation of my 428's inability to start. Yes, some dork had the dist in 180, it was the cat!! Now it pops/backfires back thru carb. Timing at 16. Seem to have lil compresion. Brother has my comp gage!! My leading thought is the Isky 'stock replacement ' lifters I used. All other valve train is stock. Valve stem clrc is good, I measured them all. Could I have been sent the wrong lifters??, lifters that require a rocker arm adj which of couse stock lame FE's do not have. I measured the oem lifters vs the isky before install, all seemed good. Pushrods are the ones that were in the engine. Corteco head gskt very close to oem thickness. Thoughts??

TP

Joe Walsh
07-23-2006, 08:38 AM
Continuation of my 428's inability to start. Yes, some dork had the dist in 180, it was the cat!! Now it pops/backfires back thru carb. Timing at 16. Seem to have lil compresion. Brother has my comp gage!! My leading thought is the Isky 'stock replacement ' lifters I used. All other valve train is stock. Valve stem clrc is good, I measured them all. Could I have been sent the wrong lifters??, lifters that require a rocker arm adj which of couse stock lame FE's do not have. I measured the oem lifters vs the isky before install, all seemed good. Pushrods are the ones that were in the engine. Corteco head gskt very close to oem thickness. Thoughts??

TP

Are you SURE that the distributor is installed correctly??

Popping & backfiring through the carb sounds like a 180 degree distributor install.

TooManyFords
07-23-2006, 06:06 PM
Did you degree the cam? That will tell you two things; 1. that your pushrods are the correct lenght (by measuring the lift on Cyl 1) and also where TDC is so you could be sure you got that distro in correctly,

Also, you are using 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8 as the firing order, correct?

I've done lots of FE motors and gosh, not offense, but they should be dirt simple to get running. Set the advance to 10* to start and work your way up once it is broken in. Pull the number one plug, pull the coil wire, put your thumb over the spark plug hole and crank it over. When it blows your thumb off, then move the crank back till you read Zero on the damper. That should be TDC. Pull the distributor cap and make SURE the rotor is pointing to the wire that goes to #1 cylinder. If not, move it again and then put everything back together. It should fire right up.

Let me know how it goes!!

John

JACook
07-23-2006, 06:15 PM
Continuation of my 428's inability to start. Yes, some dork had the dist in 180, it was the cat!! Now it pops/backfires back thru carb. Timing at 16. Seem to have lil compresion. Brother has my comp gage!! My leading thought is the Isky 'stock replacement ' lifters I used. All other valve train is stock. Valve stem clrc is good, I measured them all. Could I have been sent the wrong lifters??, lifters that require a rocker arm adj which of couse stock lame FE's do not have. I measured the oem lifters vs the isky before install, all seemed good. Pushrods are the ones that were in the engine. Corteco head gskt very close to oem thickness. Thoughts??

TP
I've used Isky lifters on several builds over the years, and never had any issues.
I'm presuming this is a hydraulic cam, with hydraulic lifters, since you don't have the adjustable rockers.
(BTW, most FE builders will suggest you switch to adjustable rockers when installing a performance camshaft.)

Lotta engines have non-adustable valvetrains though. Nothing lame about it at all. With hydraulic lifters,
unless the block or heads have been cut a bunch, or you've altered the base circle of the camshaft,
there's no issue. Once you start changing stuff, though, you need to make changes in the valvetrain to
compensate. Stud-mount adjustable rockers allow you to compensate at the stud, but you do so at the
expense of valvetrain geometry. On an FE, pushrods are available in different lengths, or you can use
aftermarket or stock 352 adjustable rockers. Either of these will allow you to compensate without mucking
up your valvetrain geometry.

Can you provide your cam, lifter, and valve spring part numbers?
Did you degree-in the cam?
Can you describe the method you used to check lifter preload?
Did you prime the oiling system?

If it wasn't popping back through the carb before you spun the distributor 180, and now it is, I'd say the
distributor's likely not in the right place now, if it ever was.

First off, I think you need to quit guessing and take a compression measurement to make sure you're
not hanging any valves open. If your compression gauge has gone on walkabout, spring 10 bucks for
a new one. Doesn't have to be all that fancy for what you need right now.

Second, don't guess on the distributor. Put the engine at #1 TDC compression stroke, and set the
distributor where it belongs. Rotor should be pointing just CW of the rear cap clip, and the advance
can should be pointing more or less straight ahead. Then make sure you've got the wires in the correct
order, CCW from #1. 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8 for all FEs. I assume you're familiar with Ford's cylinder numbering.

(And BTW, for future reference, if you loom up your wires, do not run the #7 wire next to the #8 wire.
I usually loom mine 5-7-6-8, top to bottom or left to right.)

Thomas C Potter
08-10-2006, 03:19 PM
Lucky me!! Low and lack of compression was the clue, wrong lifters was the answer!!! Valves held open .01 to .05 " Isky pn 392 is for FEs.

Long version - Local store did not have 16 lifters, so I call good ole Summit. Their computer listing indicated Isky 4XX. These look / measure just like the oem ones I removed. Isky box label says Ford V8, no paper inside to tell me other wise. Wonderful. Then the no start problem, #&*$&^!! I call Isky to get the story first hand. I need 392. Summit guy digs out the Isky book, and in that catalog it states 392 for 390/428. So being a smart guy, I get the first 3 lifters out without removing the intake. Next one hits the sheet metal vally pan, so off comes the intake @#$%^&!! and all the other stuff %^&*(!! Fortunatley I used an Edlebrock aluminum intake that I drilled the locating pin hole for. And while removing the distributor, my son sneaks into the garage and scares the heck out out of me!! Good one. I drop the distributor, and guess what, the Pertronix does not work. So back to points for now. But it started right up and hope to soon drive it some. This better be worth it !!!!

Thnx for those who offered opinions.