I want to lead off by reminding you that this post is not designed to attack anyone/member but simply gain advice for my issue. Any negative feedback towards them or myself will not be entertained. Three weeks ago I created my procharger build thread project for the sake of "fitting in" with the forum and pleasing certain s/c'd individuals. During this project, there were no known issues with my car other than my horn and my only past related repair were the timing guides and tensioners. So recently, I delivered my car to a member on here for the 96-98 cobra timing cover and cam over swaps. The swap took about 4 days to complete with no issues to report from my installer. My installer claimed to have went through all the proper checkup procedures before I picked the car up and even then nothing was reported. On my way home (60-70mph) from my installers home, (25 miles away) I experienced some hesitation as if I needed new plugs or cops. As I approached the upcoming traffic, the car suddenly developed a consistent hesitation and backfiring as I decreased speed. Once I've reached a point in traffic were it was stop and go, the car died on me. (embarrassing moment especially during traffic hours) so immediately I attempted to start my car but it struggled to crank over. Once it cranked over, I was lucky to pull to the shoulder of the road to search for any visible issues. There were no leaks, no smoke, and nothing looked loose under the hood. Since I was 5-10 minutes from my home at that time of need, I was blessed to limp home. Remind you, this was exactly 30minutes after I left my mechanic. Gave him a call to pinpoint an issue and unfortunately he was not able to help over the phone. I allowed the car to sit over night and scheduled a drop off time for next morning. Fast forward to his home the next morning, the car felt like it didn't want to go and it had a consistent knocking during acceleration. It felt as if the trans was slipping or I had an open exhaust. (Loss of power) Once I stopped in front of his home, the car had a faint knock, rattle noise and vibration under the hood. I left soon after that to let him diagnose the car. So days later, after the removal of the covers again, a compression test was done, oil pan was removed to inspect the crank and other procedures. His discoveries were the passenger side upper timing guide had broken off and within the oil pan, he discovered that broken timing guide and another timing guide. (replaced last may by another member) Fast toward to yesterday, I received a disturbing phone call from him saying the knocking is still there even though new guides and metal tensioners were installed. So I guess its safe to say I've recently joined the individuals who now needs an engine rebuild due to either age of my engine 127,XXX or mechanical negligence. I know its going to be hard to determine the cause of my loss but can anyone add other ways to diagnose my engine without a tear down. I have another well reputable member helping me with a marauder block but before I move forward with a replacement or rebuild, I want to use all possible options of diagnosing it.
Thank you