New 2/6/6, 4/16/04
Gen IIIs are somewhat scarce out here in Idaho so today was rather interesting. I drove up on a '97 TR on I-15 today and flagged him over. The car belongs to his daughter who is attending college near by and he was in town to get new tires for her. The car has 76k miles and he was unaware of the cam issue. I told him to checkout the website and gave him my info for welding the cams. After getting home, I headed over to the local Ford dealer to tank some parts. One of the Techs asked me my thoughts on a '97 PG with 65k miles and a broken valve head stuck in the piston. Seems his brother-in-law, a Tech at the Ford dealership in a nearby town, purchased it after the owner decided to not bother repairing the car when told what the repair bill would be. He bought it for the cost of the service charge to diagnose the problem (partial teardown and borascope). The dealerships around here know very little about the Gen IIIs. The brother-in-law is not sure what he wants to do with the car yet. The vin # is 1FALP54N0VA125762. I'll provide more as it is available.
Lucien Frederick
'96 SF welded
4/16/04,
Well, I just finished pulling the head on failure #653. It is not a cam failure! The #2 cylinder lost the head on the valve that receives the fuel. Head didn't bounce around much. Destroyed the plug tip (this tore the threads out when the tech pulled the plug), cut into the edge of the other intake, and buried itself into the piston. Cylinder wall is spotless. Believe I already have a good piston and rod. Will look for a replacement rear head instead of getting this one repaired. Cams were excellent and the motor interior was spotless; best of the six I've opened to date.
Lucien Frederick
96 SF welded 26 mm RSB rear SFBs up front camber kit brake bias plugs FPS
programmed & cooled Transgo kit
Had trouble inserting photos; #653 NOT a cam failure, next failure will be #653. - Buford