Swinford Engineering - Cam Weld Experience

new 3/26/03, 6/09/03, 8/5/03,8/26/03, 10/2/2003, 06/14/2004, 12/03/2004

Got my cams welded by Brad Swinford (Lafayette, IN). Brad does the disassembly and has a professional welder to do the actual welds. Brad is a very detailed guy and provided photos of the process. I highly recommend him. Brad would be a good option for people in the Midwest. On my car, Brad followed the check-list that Kirk Doucette recommends. 

Brad also did some other maintenance items that I had been putting-off until the cams were welded. 
1) P/S flush & fill
2) Transmission Fluid & filter change.
3) Changed fuel filter
4) Coolant flush & fill

Bob True
97 Toreador Red (64,000mi)
Indianapolis, IN

Tim,

Brad is listed in the "Folks Who Will Weld Your Cams" list on the V8SHO web page, that's how I found him. His email address and phone number is listed there. Brad has a company called Swinford Engineering, but I think it's a one man show. He has an arrangement with a garage that lets him use their shop. I am a very satisfied customer. I can't believe how much more responsive my car is with the intake system cleaned. The before and after pictures really showed how much crud had built up.

In case you can't find his contact info here it is.

Email: swinford@insightbb.com 

Phone: (765) 447-1008

Bob

Front Cams Prior to Welding.jpg	Front Exhaust Cam After Welding.jpg
Front Intake Cam After Welding.jpg	IMRC After Cleaning.jpg>>
IMRC Before Cleaning.JPG	Overhead Engine Shot 1.jpg
Rear Cams After Welding.jpg	Rear Cams Prior to Welding.jpg

6/9/03

Hi,

Just wanted to drop a line letting anyone in the Lafayette, Indiana area know that I just had my cam's welded at Swinford Engineering. Brad and his welded are a great team and everything went very smooth. I dropped the SHO off at his house Friday night, he put it in his garage and we talked for a bit. His wife and mine got along great so Brad and I went out to the garage and talked cars. He had all kinds of neat toys; from Cobra calipers to superchargers, and he is just looking to start bolting on. But as far as the actual operation of welding. It went great. He started at 5 in the morning on Saturday and finished up around 11 am. He said everything went great and the engine looked fine. The best was I dropped it off clean, and got it back clean. With no circumstances. I could have not asked for better service, and the price was good too. 600.00 includes all new gaskets, the 100k, cleaning the injectors ( which he has a neat way of doing ), cleaning all the intake parts, the IMRC, and of course the welding. He supplied me with pictures of before and after , also he included the VIN in the pictures as well. If anyone has any questions his email is swinford@insightbb.com and mine is mikeyeager@cinci.rr.com I would be glad to talk with anyone on his behalf. I would send my mother to him if she drove a SHO. I just wanted to let everyone know about Brad and his great work. 

Thank You

Mike Yeager
98 Black over Grey
WELDED
Cincinnati Ohio

Buford,

Please post the following plug for Swinford Engineering as he did a great job on my car. Thanks 

I would just like to pass on thanks and praise for the Cam Weld and other Maint. done by Brad Swinford. Not only was he courteous but very accommodating as with his recent family addition he took valuable time to help me out. Due to my own time constraints I had to drop my car off on Friday and drive home via rental then drive back Saturday. He had everything laid out when I got there and hooked me up with a ride to pick up my rental. He also had some good ideas we discussed that look promising. All in all it was a great experience albeit a long weekend, and when my pictures get here I will post them. 

James Gilbert 
98 T - Red 
Welded at 73,500

Larry,

My experience with Brad Swinford of Swinford Engineering was great. We arrived at his place around 11:00 PM on Friday night. Because we were so late in arriving, I was unable to get a rental car and Brad gladly dropped us off at our hotel. His place is very convenient to many hotels. Since we didn't have a car and our hotel checkout time was noon, Brad assured me that he would do everything he could to complete the welds on my car as soon as possible. I also had him perform a flush and fill on the Power steering and replacement of the cabin air filter. Much to my surprise, Brad called around 11:15am to let me know the car was finished. He met us at our hotel just as we checked out. 

I have attached some of the photos that Brad provided.

Thanks,

Joe Weinle

8/26/03

My care was tapping, so I contacted numerous people including Tim Wright. I got Brad Swinfords phone # at SWINFORD ENGINEERING and told him my problem. After some thought he decided he would look at it .He told me to bring it up and he would look at it .I dropped off my car on Friday night. On Saturday afternoon he called me up and told me good news. He was able to to fix it and the car was ready. BRAD SWINFORD made me feel so comfortable. He was able to re-align the bad sprocket on the cam and weld it. Weld the rest of the cams, Did the 100k tune up, cleaned the intake, did the wiring harness, changed oil & filter. He's a Very Good Guy. He also fixed stuff I never told him about: Like re-align my hood, fix my door panel, fix the back of my seat. He also hand washed my car including windows, filled up my gas tank and added fuel injector cleaner..The car runs like so strong now its great.. Again BRAD SWINFORD of SWINFORD ENGINEERING is the best thing since sliced bread. If your in the Indiana, Ohio, Illinois area I would definitely take my car to BRAD!!!!at least call him. 

Scott Crager -------Cam Failure # 289

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I recently had the cams welded on my '99 Silver Frost. I had not been 
noticing any of the classic symptons, but after reding one horror story after 
another, I decided to be pro active, and avoid trouble, not to mention expense. 

My work schedule allowed me to take my car to Brad Swinford of Swinford 
Engineering in Lafayette IN. I arrived on a rainy Friday night, spent the night at 
a local motel, and was on my way by noon the next day. Brad said that he and 
his welder did not see any evidence of problems with the cam gears when they 
opened it up (lucky me!!). He welded the gears, put in new plugs, changed the 
oil (Valvoline) and filter and the power steering fluid, and repaired the 
burned wiring harness on the rear side. In addition, he did a lot of other 
general maintenance (cleaning, adjusting, etc). Bottom line, the car runs better 
now than when I bought a year ago, even gets better gas mileage. I felt that 
he was very professional, and truly cared about my car. If you are in the 
midwest, I highly recommend him as a reliable source for taking care of your car.

He can be reached at: swinford@insightbb.com, or through his web site, 
www.swinfordengineering.net 

The bad news is that, due to increased financial obligations (kid in 
college), this car is now for sale. In addition to the above work, I recently had a 
left front wheel bearing replaced, an alignment, and new front tires. Anyone 
interested, contact me at sonics63@aol.com.
Jim Mason

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06/14/2004

Larry,

Please add this to the Cam Weld Testimonials for Swinford Engineering. Also,
please add me to the Inappropriate and Unnecessary Honor Roll, as well as
the V8SHO Owner's Directory.

I have a '99 Silver Frost with ~81,000 miles that I purchased from a local
dealer in December 2003, having fully researched the cam issue. The car was
a one-owner trade-in and was nearly perfect, save for a couple of door dings
and a small bad spot on the passenger seat leather. I snapped it up,
thinking that I would get the welds done ASAP and all would be good.

Less than three weeks after I got the car, the transmission failed,
requiring a complete rebuild. The dealer pretty much told me to get bent.

FWIW, don't ever buy a car from Eastgate Motorcars in Cincinnati. They are
dishonest, slimy and care nothing about their customers after they drive off
the lot.

My crappy third party warranty company (Eagle Warranty, fyi) would only pay
$1,300 toward the rebuild (they did offer to send me a junked trans -
obviously, I said no way), so I got stuck with a rather large repair bill on
a car I had owned for less than one month.

The guy who rebuilt my transmission (Mike Yeager) is a longtime SHO
enthusiast and has been riding my butt to "GET THOSE CAMS WELDED!!" since I
the day I drove it out of his transmission shop in January.

After saying the "Unwelded V8SHO Owner's Prayer" every day for the last six
months, I was determined not to be victimized by Fud again. Once I had
finally paid off the transmission repair, I made the 3-hour trek from
Northern Kentucky up to Lafayette, IN to see Brad Swinford at Swinford
Engineering and get the weld done.

I was extremely pleased with the service and quality of the job he and his
welder did. They welded all 4 cams, performed the 100,000 mile service, did
a tune-up and oil change and had me back on the road in less than five
hours.

Brad is such a nice guy, he even loaned me HIS '97 to drive around town
while I was waiting for them to finish. I can't say I would've done the
same, but that's just the kind of guy Brad is. (FYI, the contact info you
currently have listed for Brad on V8SHO.com is out of date. The email
address works, but his phone number is 765-447-1008.)

On the ride back home, my feelings of mild contempt for this car began to
melt into unrestrained joy as I opened her up on the highway. I had been
driving like a little old man since the tranny failure and felt like a
teenager again listening to the beautiful howl of that V8 when I punched it
and heard those secondaries open up.

Kudos to Brad and company on a job well done!

Needless to say, I love my SHO again, though I will never buy another Ford -
new or used.

If you live in the Midwest and need to get welded, I wholeheartedly
recommend making the trip to see Brad.

Thanks to you and Tim for providing such a great resource for V8SHO owners.

Sincerely,

Tom Wright
'99 Silver Frost
Fort Thomas, KY
Welded 6/11/2004 (Swinford)
Rebuilt AX4N with Trans-Go shift kit and cooler
"Porterized" K&N air intake
________________________________________________________________________

Larry,
Please include the following recommendation regarding Brad Swinford of Swinford Engineering out of Lafayette, IN. I would highly recommend anyone who wants to get their cams welded and/or any additional services on the SHO, as I found Brad to be quite knowledgeable about the car. He did an excellent job of welding the cams and a whole list of other things as a preventative measure for any potential problems. Please do remember not to bother him while he is working on your car, since I was being too nosy and had poor Brad spill some oil in his work area, sorry Brad!! I had some issues with the transmission and Brad went out of his way to research the issue and get back to me. If anyone has any questions or concerns regarding his services, feel free to contact me at anajam@airhydropower.com  . I rate him as an A+ for service and hospitability.
Thanks!

Aamir Najam
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