I hate Ford engineers....

....with the white hot passion of a thousand burning suns. No pics, just elbow-deep in my first head gasket replacement, and I feel the need to b!tch. Using a non-running car for practice and then I'll do it all over again for real on my rally car.

Seriously, someone needs to have a gun put to their temple and the trigger pulled. Who were the idiots that thought up the placement for some of these screws and bolts? I thought I was going to be able to unbolt the head without completely removing the cams, but there are 4 of the 10 bolts that I can't get my socket in there. **sigh**

My back is killing me. I'm beat. Going home now to cry myself to sleep. ***sob***

i would have to go look at either of my two engines sitting in the garage but i was pretty sure you could get to all the head bolts on a zetec

I've wondered the same about the power steering pump. Lets run the high pressure pipe to the underside of the pump where no wrench can get to it. Brilliant!

As for the head bolts... IIRC, there are 10 total and they are all slightly under the cams. Not a straight shot. I don't know if you can get enough of an angle on the torx with the cams still in there. On a 98+ it's impossible to do because of the stupid VCT. The cams have to come out.

HTH,
BP

the power steering pump comes off the engine with 4 bolts and then you can work it past the engine mount. ive done it 4 times now without any problems.

I know...still crappy design though.

I can get to 6 of the head bolts, the center pair and the outsides. But on the other 4, the head has a little indention that kicks out towards the cam and is too close to the cam for my bit to slip past. I'm going to see if I can find a new bit that is more slender than the one I'm using. **sigh**

ButtonPuncher said:

I've wondered the same about the power steering pump. Lets run the high pressure pipe to the underside of the pump where no wrench can get to it. Brilliant!

As for the head bolts... IIRC, there are 10 total and they are all slightly under the cams. Not a straight shot. I don't know if you can get enough of an angle on the torx with the cams still in there. On a 98+ it's impossible to do because of the stupid VCT. The cams have to come out.

HTH,
BP

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I am really starting to hate the VCT zetec, the cam and timing belt setup is beyond stupid.

Its impossible to get the cam timing correct, and damn near impossible to keep the belt from walking.

Very true.

I abandoned it all together. My new motor is from a '00 Focus. No VCT crap.

If anyone wants a couple VCT heads, they're yours for the cost of shipping.

BP

Zetec cam timing..Maybe if you read the Ford CD and followed the instructions you might not make such a cock up of it!.Setting the cam timing is easy, but do as the CD says SLACKEN THE DAMM CAM GEAR BOLTS...This alone helps get the cams set.Follow the instructions to the letter...Cutting corners on cam timing is downright ...stupid!!TH

todras said:

Zetec cam timing..Maybe if you read the Ford CD and followed the instructions you might not make such a cock up of it!.Setting the cam timing is easy, but do as the CD says SLACKEN THE DAMM CAM GEAR BOLTS...This alone helps get the cams set.Follow the instructions to the letter...Cutting corners on cam timing is downright ...stupid!!TH

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That's very true. Without loosening the bolts, there's no way to properly set it. You're putting all of the tension on the intake side of the belt. There's no way to take the slack out of the exhaust side.

The instructions still suck for setting a Zetec with VCT. They don't say how to compensate for the VCT shift. I tried it a half-dozen times and still couldn't get it dead on. The VCT always seemed to be partially "charged" if that makes sense. I could always rock it back and forth by using a wrench on the exhaust cam. I couldn't figure out to get to the end limit. :shrug:

BTW, Terry rocks.

BP