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RAD's 3L build

Alright good to know now I just need to make sure it fits. I just dropped my heads off for the three angle valve job they should be back in a week. I also talked to my machinist about reversion and he said just leave the exhaust manifolds the way they are. Reversion is just caused by tumbling air sometimes caused by overlapping valves and things like that but the step between the exhaust runner in the head and the header will be the best for my performance.
 
alright guys so I'm getting started on my assembly of the engine today and I have a quick question. I had my heads resurfaced but I never had the deck of the block done because I left the internals in it. Is there anything I should do like polish it up or anything before I mount the heads?
 
RAD Merc SVT said:
alright guys so I'm getting started on my assembly of the engine today and I have a quick question. I had my heads resurfaced but I never had the deck of the block done because I left the internals in it. Is there anything I should do like polish it up or anything before I mount the heads?
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No, just clean any gasket material off of it. If there was no damage to the head surface (warping) then there is no issues with the blocks mating surface IMO.

EDIT: Also make sure your bolt holes have been cleaned of debris and burs. I strongly recommend using a chaser tap on all of the holes to ensure they are clean. Make sure you have new head bolts too if you have not already bought them.
 
Alright I'll do that thanks. I already have the head bolts and i'll go rent a tap. Also, I'm not a paint expert so I need some help with that. I'm painting the valve covers, UIM, and IMRC box. My question is do I just need to clean them really well and paint them or do I need to hit them with sand paper? and what kind of paint should I use?
 
I wish I could just send them to Blu but I can't really afford it and I just need to get this car done. I'll look through his stuff and maybe I can find some room in my budget for it.
 
Mine were pretty dirty so I used a steel brush and sand paper to get them as clean as possible and then used some primer and high temp paint from autozone.
 
RAD Merc SVT said:
Alright I'll do that thanks. I already have the head bolts and i'll go rent a tap. Also, I'm not a paint expert so I need some help with that. I'm painting the valve covers, UIM, and IMRC box. My question is do I just need to clean them really well and paint them or do I need to hit them with sand paper? and what kind of paint should I use?
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Make sure you just get just a thread chaser (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-900200/), not a thread tap. A tap can re-cut threads and may damage your original tapped holes. If you are forced to use a thread tap be extra careful to ensure you don't damage the original threads. I have used thread taps in the past to clean out bolt holes, so it works... but you have to really, really take care when doing so.

As for the paint, what SJon85 will do the trick. Just ensure that the surface prep is completed correctly otherwise the paint will just chip/peel off. A good wire brush and some heavy grit sandpaper should do the job. If you have a wire wheel and air tools that will speed things up quite a bit.
 
alright cool thanks guys. and I did use a chase not a tap thats what I meant. Ok so I ran into a problem when I lined the head gaskets up to the block there were some coolant passages in the block that are blocked off on the gasket. any thoughts? I'm gonna start searching

Edit: I just read MikesStripedSVT 3L build and he ran into the same problem but no one answered it and he moved on and at the end of the thread he said it drove fine. So I'm gonna go compare to the old gaskets and then I will probably move on.

Edit again: For when somebody else runs into this problem the original headgaskets have the same passages blocked off
 
RAD Merc SVT said:
alright cool thanks guys. and I did use a chase not a tap thats what I meant. Ok so I ran into a problem when I lined the head gaskets up to the block there were some coolant passages in the block that are blocked off on the gasket. any thoughts? I'm gonna start searching
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pics?
 
alright guys I just got home from work and I'm gonna try and get the cams and the timing done tonight. I'll see if my mom will let me borrow her camera so I can take some pictures of my progress. I have already run into a problem though. It seems that a few of the parts on the heads where the cam rotates have some burrs on them but nothing has been done to that part of the head so is it like that factory? it's right on the edge where it meets the cap. I want to file it off but I'm scared I'll screw up the surface. Ideas? also when installing the cams my chilton says torque down the caps but not the thrust caps until later and from what I've read on here you guys just tighten them all down. does it matter? thanks
 
The burrs are from the casting process. Just leave them alone they are all like that on the sides of the caps.

As far as installing the cam caps the manual tells you to install the normal caps first and then install the thrust caps. Follow that procedure.
 
I got the cams and chains on last night and that is a pain bank 1 sucks. To make sure everything was alligned properly I rotated the engine to make sure nothing hit and everything was good. I did notice something that might be a problem though. As I rotated the engine about every revolution, the chain on bank one would lose tension agains the guide and it wouldn't regain tension for a bout 45 degrees of rotation. any ideas?

DSC04890.jpg
 
RAD Merc SVT said:
I got the cams and chains on last night and that is a pain bank 1 sucks. To make sure everything was alligned properly I rotated the engine to make sure nothing hit and everything was good. I did notice something that might be a problem though. As I rotated the engine about every revolution, the chain on bank one would lose tension agains the guide and it wouldn't regain tension for a bout 45 degrees of rotation. any ideas?
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Thats normal, the tensioners need oil pressure to keep the chains tight at all times.
 
Alright I need some help with the simpler stuff if you guys don't mind

1. This is what I have of the Water pump and lines the rest is in the car. What needs to be 3L and what is 2.5?
DSC04896.jpg

DSC04895.jpg


2. Also, this red hose and green hose that go into the UIM are broken (I broke the red one) where can I get a new one. same question with the green one but also where does it go to?
DSC04898.jpg

DSC04899.jpg


3. Finally, I would imagine this needs to be swapped over as well because there isn't one on my 3L but for my own knowledge what is it?
DSC04901.jpg


Thanks for the help guys
 
Ok I'll give this a shot. I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.

1. You can use the 3L water pump with all the 2.5 cooling lines. I think you'll want to use the metal coolant outlet from the 2.5 which is next to the pump on the right with the sensor plug. I needed to swap this piece from the Escape engine I used, but I'm not sure if the Taurus and Escape have the same setup. The Escape had a plastic piece. I know the Escape 3L pump looked different but the Contour lines hooked right up.

2. This one I'm not totally clear on but I think the green is the EGR and the red is the fuel pressure regulator?. I guess I would try and repair the vac lines, new ones might be hard to find. I had to use some hose to replace some vac lines but it looks like it will work just fine.

3. You can swap this over to the 3L. There should be a plate on the 3L that covers where this goes. It's for the PCV system on the Contour.

Nice work and good luck. I hope this helps.
 
RFcsvt said:
Ok I'll give this a shot. I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.

1. You can use the 3L water pump with all the 2.5 cooling lines. I think you'll want to use the metal coolant outlet from the 2.5 which is next to the pump on the right with the sensor plug. I needed to swap this piece from the Escape engine I used, but I'm not sure if the Taurus and Escape have the same setup. The Escape had a plastic piece. I know the Escape 3L pump looked different but the Contour lines hooked right up.

2. This one I'm not totally clear on but I think the green is the EGR and the red is the fuel pressure regulator?. I guess I would try and repair the vac lines, new ones might be hard to find. I had to use some hose to replace some vac lines but it looks like it will work just fine.

3. You can swap this over to the 3L. There should be a plate on the 3L that covers where this goes. It's for the PCV system on the Contour.

Nice work and good luck. I hope this helps.
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Your correct. Green is for the EGR valve and red is the fuel pressure regulator
 
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