[99mustang232]

stumbled across this guys cardomain page, looked like a pretty good writeup that some may find useful;





Camshaft and Valve Spring Walkthrough

Approximate Time to Install – 15+ hours with two people

This thing is a very general walk-through of what it takes to install a camshaft and replace the valve springs on a 99+ V6 Mustang engine. I am not held responsible for any problems that are caused by using this walkthrough for your own cam installation.

There is no general rule for what parts you are going to need for your goals, but if you are replacing your camshaft with a more radical one, it is generally a good idea to replace the valve springs with better ones to match the higher lift and put in longer pushrods. Some people will replace their roller rockers as well, this is not necessary since you want to be getting most of your lift from your cam, not your rockers, and the higher efficiency roller rockers would gain you a 1-3hp net gain. Not worth it in my opinion. You will need a new gasket set, since you don’t want to be reusing the old ones, if you have an older engine, MLS gaskets are a good idea. Some people say you need to replace your lifters with a new cam, but I don’t necessarily think that is true. But it wouldn’t hurt to replace them as well. Shims usually come with a longer pushrod set. You will not gain a lot of hp from a cam swap, unless you also swap out your heads intakes for ones with better flow (like P&P). You will get an awesome lopey idle and a good experience of diving head first into your engine. I will not be going over a head swap or intake swap today, as I just replaced my cam. Later on, I will write-up a how-to on swapping to a 99+ Windstar Upper/Lower intake and what fabrication work needs to be done.

For the Record here is my RPM-mustang cam specs….

INTAKE & EXHAUST
LOBE CENTER SEP = 110 CAM DEG
VALVE OVERLAP = -13 CRANK DEG

INTAKE
VALVE OPENING = -2.5 'BTDC
LOBE CENTER = 106 ' ATDC
VALVE CLOSURE = 29.5 'ABDC
DURATION = 207 CRANK DEG
MAX CAM LIFT = .2920 IN.
NET VALVE LIFT = .5052 IN.

EXHAUST
VALVE OPENING = 37.5 'BBDC
VALVE CLOSURE = -10.5 'ATDC
DURATION = 215 CRANK DEG
MAX CAM LIFT = .2920 IN.
NET VALVE LIFT = .5052 IN. INTAKE & EXHAUST
LOBE CENTER SEP = 110 CAM DEG
VALVE OVERLAP = -13 CRANK DEG

General Tools/Supplies Needed:
Wrench + Socket Sets w spark plug socket
Zip ties
Screwdrivers
Razorblade
Empty Buckets
Masking Tape and marker
Shop towels
Torque Wrench
Air Compressor
Rubber Hose
Assembly Lube
Coolant, Oils, Fluids
Towels
Gloves

Specific Tools/Supplies Needed: (most can be rented for free, or bought for cheap)
Harmonic Balancer Remover Tool
Harmonic Balancer Installer Tool
Valve Spring Compressor, the small one that doesn’t require taking off the heads (if replacing valve springs)
Fuel Rail Remover

Parts Needed:
New Camshaft
New Valve springs (if necessary)
New Gasket Kits (intake, timing cover, water pump, etc.)
New Longer Pushrods (if necessary)
New Shims (if necessary)
New Lifters (if necessary)
New Roller Rockers (if necessary)

Tips during Install:
1. When you unplug a wire, wrap some masking tape around it and write down where it plugs into. This helps to remind you where it goes, and it makes it easy to spot something you may have forgotten to plug in.

2. When you unbolt a part to take it off, once its off try to screw the bolt back into it so you know exactly where that bolt goes and so you don’t lose the bolt!

3. Do NOT force parts off the engine, these engines have pieces made of aluminium that will break if you try to force them off. I made this mistake with my timing cover. Most parts will come off easily (with the exception of the timing cover) but if its not coming off easy, there is usually a bolt or some kind of silicon seal that is keeping it from coming off.
Here's a pic of the damage...

[99mustang232]

4. Buy a Ford Manual (Haynes or Chilton works), this will provide invaluable knowledge when you can’t figure something out, as well as providing all the torque specs for all the bolts.

Here's a general map of the engine in case you don't know what each accessory is...

[99mustang232]

Time for the Install!

1. This isn’t that important but it’s a good idea, go into the trunk and turn off the fuel pump (drivers side rear of trunk button), and run the engine till it runs out of fuel. This will make the install less messy later when you take off the fuel rails. If you don’t want to do this, just disconnect the battery and let the car sit overnight, this should drain most/all of the fuel.

2. Disconnect batter negative terminal and cover it in tape of plastic. We will be setting a lot of stuff on top of the batter later, and this makes sure nothing gets shorted and you don’t get electrocuted.

3. Unbolt hood and ground. This isn’t necessary but it is a good idea since it will give you more room.

4. Optional- Take a digital camera and take pictures of all the parts of the engine before you start taking stuff off. This is a good reference for later if you can’t figure something out.

5. Take off the belt by easing up on the belt tensioner and sliding the belt off.

[99mustang232]

6. Take off radiator cover and brackets. Pull out the screws in the pushpins, and then pull out the pins. Unscrew the brackets for the heat exchanger hold downs and the overflow bottle. Disconnect the overflow bottle and take it out.

7. Drain the heat exchanger from the plug on the passenger side bottom. Make sure you catch the coolant with a bucker or pail. Take a open ended wrench and unscrew the transmission fluid lines on the drivers side of the heat exchanger, grab the fluids with a bucket or pail.

8. Unsnap the coolant hoses from the engine and take them off. Now, put a pucket or pail under your water pump and spin the pulley as fast as you can to try and drain some of the fluid out of it.

9. Once all the fluid drains, pull out the heat exchanger and fan assembly and set it off to the side. This gives us a lot more working room in the engine bay. We will not need to take out the radiator, thankfully because of the shortness of the V6 engine.

[99mustang232]

10. Take off the intake system from the filter to the throttle body and unplug and mark the MAF sensor wires. Take off the PCV system from the valve covers. You will also need to take off the IAC on pre-01 models. Unplug all electrical connections to the manifolds accessories and mark where they go.

11. Take off the spark plug wires from the spark plugs. If they are stock, they should already be marked to what cylinder they go to, with aftermarket ones make sure you mark them right. Take off the spark plug pack on the driver’s side of the engine. There should be some snap connections that hold the spark plug wires in place, unsnap them and move the spark plug wires out of the way.

12. Unbolt the upper intake manifold and take her off. This is a good time to inspect the manifold for any blockages and perhaps clean her out for better flow. It is important that you clean the bottom of the manifold surface with a razor blade and alcohol, to get rid of the old gasket and seal better with the new gasket.

13. Unplug and take off the Fuel Rail w/ injectors. The fuel line will need a special (but cheap) tool to put load on the spring and remove it. I put the fuel injector wires under my wiper blades to get them out of the way without having to total disconnect them.

14. Fill the lower intake port holes with rags or shop towels to keep stuff from getting in them while you work, and also unplug the IMRC controller at the rear of lower intake from it and mark it, as well as any other electrical connections.

[99mustang232]

15. Rotate the engine until Cylinder 1 hits Top Dead Center. My friend did this by putting his finger in the spark plug hole and having me rotate the engine until the air was blown out of the cylinder.
16. Unbolt the AC Compressor on the passenger side and zip tie it to the side of the engine bay, so you don’t’ have to mess with any of the AC lines. Make sure though that none of the lines get crimped.
17. Unbolt Belt Tensioner Bracket and set aside.
18. Unbolt and disconnect the alternator, set it aside.

[99mustang232]

19. Unbolt and ziptie to the side of the engine bay (on top of the fusebox cover) the power steering pump bracket. This thing is one heavy mofo, so be careful. It might also leak so make sure it is sitting right side up.
20. Take off the crankshaft pulley and water pump pulley. Mark the position and use your harmonic balancer remover tool to take off the harmonic balancer.
21. Take off valve covers.
22. Take of the CPS Sensor from the timing cover, be sure to mark its position so that you can put it back in the exact same way!

[99mustang232]

23. Unbolt the waterpump and remove it. Then unbolt the timing cover. There are lots of bolts on the timing cover on the lower end near the oil pan. Make sure you get them all. It might also be necessary to loosen the oil pan and break the silicon seal with it. Timing cover should come off with just a little bit of work. I forgot one bolt and tried to force it off and ended up breaking off a small piece of it. DO NOT DO WHAT I DID. Clean all gasket surfaces on water pump and timing cover with a razorblade and alcohol.

24. Unbolt and take off the lower intake manifold, clean all gasket surfaces with razorblade and alcohol. If you want, you can clean out the ports if there is a lot of carbon buildup.

[99mustang232]

pictures

[99mustang232]

25. Mark the timing chain positions and remove. Take off belt tensioners.

26. Unbolt rocker arms, and take out pushrods, lifter holders, and lifters. Take note of their orientations as you will have to put them back in the same way.

27. Mark and take off the cam gears.

28. Mark cam position and take out old cam.

29. Lube up the old cam with some assembly lube and slide it back in making sure it lines up in the same position as it came out. Replace cam gears, timing chain, chain tensioners, and all other pieces inside the timing cover in their EXACT position as before where you marked. Put the lifter holders back in and put lifters back in the same orientation as before (keep orientation for new lifters if you are replacing them). Replace pushrods with stockers or longer pushrods if needed.

30. Time to replace the valve springs, you can skip these steps if you are keeping the stockers. Start at the cylinder farthest back in the engine and take your valve spring compressor tool and compress the valve spring. Now you don’t want the valve to fall out, so, have a bud shoot some compressed air via a rubber hose into the spark plug hole until the valve is held in place. Grab some needle nose pliers and take out the valve spring retainers. BE CAREFUL NOT TO DROP THEM! They may only cost .59 cents from Ford to replace, but this little part extended my install by a whole day.

[99mustang232]

31. Take off the old valve spring and decompress it. Compress the new one and put it into place and replace the valve spring retainers. Decompress the spring and you have finished replacing the valve spring. It takes awhile to get the hang of it, and its kind of tedious, but finish doing all 12 valve springs.

32. Put the rocker arms back on (or the new roller rockers if you want) but don’t bolt all the way down just yet. Have a buddy rotate the engine until top dead center of the compression stroke (power stroke) and then tighten to 25 ft/lbs for the intake and exhaust rocker. Put your fingers on the pushrod and see if you can twist it. If you can twist it, move on to the next cylinder. If it is so tight you can’t, then unbolt the rocker and put in a shim. Tighten down and see if you can twist the pushrod. The pushrod should be able to be twisted, but the rocker shouldn’t be easily rattled. If the pushrod can’t be twisted, add a shim, if the rocker is rattling, then take out a shim. Did this for all 6 cylinders.

33. Put your spark plugs back in and bolt on your valve covers.

34. Lay down new gaskets on the prepped surfaces and some silicone in the corners and bolt down the lower intake to specifications.

35. Put on a new timing cover gasket and lay down some silicon on the oil pan, and reinstall the timing cover. When I broke mine, I just JB welded the piece back on, and it hasn’t been leaking, thank god.

36. Put new rubber gaskets on water pump and bolt it on to the timing cover with a new gasket.

37. Use harmonic balancer tool to reinstall the harmonic balancer to the crank. Install pulley (might be a good idea to make it a underdrive pulley for that extra power). Install water pump pulley. Put the CPS (cam positioning sensor back in the marked position).

38. Bolt on the tensioner bracket, power steering pump, alternator, and AC compressor.

39. Start plugging connections back in. Reinstall the fuel rail and fuel lines, plug into injectors.

40. Reinstall the spark plug wires and spark plug pack. Make sure they go to the right cylinder as before.

41. Lay down gaskets and reinstall upper intake manifold and start plugging things back in.

42. Put heat exchanger back in, and put coolant lines and hoses back in. Don’t forget tranny fluid lines.

43. Replace the overflow bottle, hold down brackets, and radiator cover. Refill your heat exchanger with a 50/50 coolant/distilled water mix. This is something good to do before summer starts!

44. Put the serpentine belt back on.

45. Put intake system, MAF, and PCV back on.

46. Check to make sure there are no extra parts, bolts, nuts. Everything is plugged in and there is nothing that looks out of place. Compare to photos taken at beginning of the install to make sure everything is back to normal.

47. Reconnect battery.

48. Try to start her up. My car started up on the first try. If yours doesn’t don’t panic, check to make sure the fuel pump cutoff switch is turned back on, and it might take some turnovers to get all the oil and fuel pumping through the engine again. If you smell a oil burning smell, don’t panic, that is all the oil from your hands burning off the headers. It should go away after a few hours of driving. If it STILL doesn’t start (god forbid), just keep checking to make sure everything is working. If you have a code checker, that might come in handy. Just keep troubleshooting everything you took off to make sure you didn’t screw it up. If that doesn’t work, tow it to a shop and have them find out what’s wrong. It could be something wasn’t installed back in right, or you’re just missing something dumb. Might have to pay extra just to get the car to work.

Listen to the car idle now, doesn’t it just sound mean? Some people say they needed a tune because the car ran shitty after their install. Mine didn’t need one.
Hope this helps out guys!
Any questions, email me at CharlierAllen@MSN.com

[his cardomain page]

[Twist 2 Go]

Originally Posted by 99mustang232 Approximate Time to Install – 15+ hours with two people

[99mustang232]

haha, not everyone does this in their sleep and after reading the article it really took him 1 day + 15hours, lol

[artisan00]

hey, if i did it for the first time, im sure itd take me that long too...
(ill find out when i get my new engine hopefully - its proving a pain in the butt since i need to go there in person to pay and i dont think i can do it on a weekend, and i work during the week )

[turp]

Did you submit this as a how to article for the main board? If not I can sticky it.

[AtlanticBlue99]

Is it copy/pasted or original work? This would make a great how-to article, but I don't know the author.

[99mustang232]

i copied and pasted from cardomain, i sent that guy a invite to the forum under his guestbook but haven't seen him sign up yet.

[Onemanzu]

dude ik this is an old post... but can yall help me with this problem... i have been working on it for almost 15 hours uninstalling the front timing cover... what all bolts can yall see and how do you suggest i pry the cover off?

[mustangmike!]

What an amazing thread .... Why is there no sticky to this ????

[sterlingboy]

wow....that would be a fucking pain in the ass....i seriously think it would take me 3 months to finish something like that lol