Might be go big or go home time on my '06
 

I've been sitting on this for a while, about a year. It started with a late night oil change, and under the garage lights I saw glitter in the oil, a concerning amount of it. But the engine ran fine, smooth and quiet. I sent oil in for analysis, and it consistently came back as "Iron levels are a little high but we don't see anything alarming. No signs of bearing metals. Keep an eye on it". I drove the car like a Prius...no Ok I can't.... but I kept the RPMs under 3500 and never did more that 1/2 throttle when I had to. Oil changes every 500 miles.

Then last month I said, screw it the car's either fine or it's not. I took it on a 600 mi road trip (highway, light acceleration), let the oil go up to 1500 miles and sent it in for analysis again (should get that back any day). Well, the verdict is in. And fine it is not. The engine started to develop a tick a couple weeks ago, so I brought it into my trusted shop to see if they could find it, and it didn't take long.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/themust...f6b2871ee.jpeg

Had a chat with them about it. Here's what he said
"If you look closely at the cam, second & fourth lobe from the right, you’ll note the grey pattern starting to develop on the second. That’s the hardened surface starting to wear off On the fourth it has changed to a rough texture indicating high wear through the hardened surface. Several others are starting to show the grey pattern too. "

We talked about a few different options, and he's working on quotes to handle each of them. But here they are in order of $$$

1. Just replace the cams and followers. It'll get rid of the tick and I can pray that the metal in the oil didn't hurt anything else. The oil reports so far at least support the idea the bearings are still OK.
2. Replace the engine w/ a rebuilt stock 3V. There's a company (forgetting the name right now) that will sell a turn-key engine with a 100k mile warranty, but then I'm back down to stock power levels. And it's been a loooooong time for me since 255 rhwp was good enough. It may end up being 2/3 the cost of the next option.
3. Rebuild the motor. For the labor cost around here, we'd be looking at forged internals in prep for a supercharger down the line. Some builds they've done will support 800 HP, though I don't think I'd ever wanna go that nuts.
4. We didn't talk about this one-- Coyote swap. Certainly wouldn't be cheap. Even just the engine is $10k and that's before mounts, harnesses, control packs, exhaust, air conditioning kits, etc.

Anyway, that's all I've got for right now. I've got a lot to think about for how much I want to do to a 17 year old car. It's got a lot of sentimental value, and it's my car (ordered it new from the factory, got my name on the window sticker and everything). Also have so much time and work into at this point too. Would be hard pressed to find another car that ticks so many boxes for me. But it is starting to show its age now, and I'm sure there are a lot of 'nicer' cars for around the same money I'd end up spending on a rebuild and supercharger. But the idea of getting rid of the car after so many years...just doesn't seem real to me right now.
Lots to think about.

You definitely have a camshaft wear issue going on there....and that's odd, you really don't see that on roller cams unless a follower/rocker arm fails and the wheel starts locking up and grinds against the cam causing this kind of wear. How many miles are on this engine?

Paul He Has 116K on the Car, The Comp Cams #127400 were installed in 2016. That is What I am Seeing Digging Through Old Posts. Don't Know Mileage At Install!

Mgb,

KC

While I haven't seen it...being that they are aftermarket cams it is possible that it's a cam material issue surfacing...especially if there is nothing wrong with the cam follower on that lobe.

Sure Like to get a Peek at the Followers!

Maybe Send Those Pics & Your Story to Comp Cams & See What They Say!

Enlarged Pic a Bit

Mgb,

KC
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/themust...3816ba07ed.jpg

With the prices of new and newer-used cars these days, the budget for fixing this one might be more than you think.

I am in the same place with my 2010 .... it's getting a bit "long in the tooth" even though it doesn't have any acute problems right now. I'm thinking I might do a "refresh" (fix all the body issues, squeaks, groans and rattles) over the winter, and maybe put on a supercharger to make it "new" and fun again. Depending on how much work is needed in your engine, it might not be super expensive. Maybe there is a local rebuilder you can work with for reasonable money. Just for giggles, check out Department of Boost if you haven't already.
departmentofboost.com

Getting Rid of a Long Owned Car is Like a Car Divorce and You Know it's Cheaper To Keep Her! :dunno:

Mgb,

KC

There are cars I regret selling and some I don't. I owned my teal SVO for 20 years...when it was damaged in the Tornado in '13 I had the friend who painted it originally redo it because I didn't have the time. He did a great job on the first go around but this time even though I blew everything apart, he missed some things...I blame his wife who wouldn't leave him alone for 2 seconds to do his work so he was rushed and he missed stuff...it was little stuff but my OCD wouldn't let it go and I was faced with put it together and sell it or start all over again and redo it again. A friend who had been bugging me for years to sell him the car happened to call at the right time and I sold it him...drove it to Baltimore and handed over the title and keys. Sometimes I miss it but I did everything I wanted to with it, had it featured in magazines, etc so I really don't regret letting it go and I've moved on to my other projects. But the '68 Mustang I sold when I was '18 I do regret and countless others I should have kept but I still have plenty to distract me for now...although I'm about at that thin the herd point that I need to sell a few...I just hate dealing with the stupid people that inevitably call when you sell a car.

It sure is difficult to sell a car you still enjoy. You definitely will miss it no matter what you buy.
I'm still missing my 2007 GT/CS that I traded in for my current GT. It's been 13 months now and I hope the feeling eventually disappears. I really like my '14 and it's so much better in so many ways, but perhaps I just haven't bonded with it yet. It usually takes a long road trip so eventually that day will come next year. Normally i would have taken it this year but I did that Vanishing Point trip in my R/T.
I wish you the best with your decision. It's going to hurt either way.

Hey Paul,

Sorry for taking so long, had to dig out the paperwork from when I got the work done. It was 3/12/2016 , 90579 miles. The shop asked me about my oil situation, i.e. what have I been using. It's been Mobil 1 5W-20 since the car was new, except I've had a local place do an oil changes here or there, but always synthetic 5W-20. The shop said they're not fans of Mobil 1, they like Amsoil, but they put 5W-20 in when they did the install back then.

Not a bad idea! I'll reach out and see what they say. 25k mi and 7 years won't be under any kind of warranty, but who knows :dunno:

Yeah new car prices are nuts now! A GT Premium starts at $47k! They've given me a quote to replace the cams (and rockers. Parts and labor are ~$3k --yeah labor rates are crazy around here), but're still working on quotes for the other two options. I still have the stock cams, and they said that'd save $750 on parts -- buuuut they'd obviously have to either re-tune the engine or put back on my stock intake plenum, intake, and possibly the throttle body and return the tune to stock. And I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK 100 RHWP. I think the only way that's happening is if I end up going w/ selling the car.

Maybe time to start modding the '14?

Yep that'd definitely be a worry here. Drove a buddy's '12 GT (auto) and despite how it throws you back in the seat, it still felt like so much of a heavier car than mine. Even though it rides better, faster, better gas mileage, better interior, etc. If I was going to replace mine, it'd have to be a significantly better car in almost every way -- or just an entirely different car. Otherwise I'd always be comparing it to my '06 I've had 17 years of memories with, and I'd want to do it for under $30k, preferably ~ 20k. But there's not a lot of cars that tick the boxes for that price:

• torquey motor w/ a wide powerband (drove a '22 ecoboost on vacation last year...fun on a trip...not for me to own though)
• manual with a great feeling shifter (love my T56)
• RWD (can't stand working on FWD and don't want torque steer)
• great handling
• reasonable size (Challenger wouldn't fit in my garage)
• great sound (my wife's Mazdaspeed 3 has no soul in that dept)
• great looks
• 4 seats
• easy to work on
• not $$$$ to mod
• not prone to breaking (lookin at you, older BMW's)

Definitely get that on all counts.


LOL

That's a great lookin color combo for sure but too close to mine. For that money I think I could pretty easily justify rebuilding my motor and supercharging it. And on the supercharger side of it, I was kind of thinking about going w/ a centrifugal supercharger.

I was thinking, what about a BOSS 302? the 2012 in particular before they updated the front end (like the sharper look). But an 11 year old car still going for $40k?

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

The More You Look The Closer You Get to What Works For You! I'm Hoping For a Good {Comp Cams Advice} Solution~:nice: When it Comes To Desirable Old Cars it's All About Condition Condition Condition! Make a Point to Watch the Next Good Televised Auction for a Feel!

Mgb,

KC

No problem. I have no issues with mobil one...but I see some shops push amsoil constantly mostly because they are dealers and want to sell it but in my experience it's the oil change intervals that matter most. My first fox was a '88 LX 5.0 I bought from the original owner with 123K on it and the only thing he was religous about was oil changes every 2800 miles....I continued to change the oil religously while beating on the car like it owed me rent. at 320K miles and 2 AOD transmissions I blew a head gasket which I think may have been my fault for over torquing the intake...maybe not but I pulled the engine apart with intent to rebuild. I had a friend who was a machinist at a machine shop helping me and he measured the bore, pistons and even the oil pump and everything was perfect and in spec...he even said I could reuse the oil pump...I argued that being that it had over 300K on it and his response was "Your money"...I just couldn't put it back in the engine. Bearings were perfect as well...cross hatches in the cylinder walls. I balanced it, same pistons, new ring and bearings and I put another 140K on it before selling it. On the other end of the spectrum I have a friend with an 89 Convertible he bought new who brought me his car for a rebuild..over 300K but he wasn't good with the oil changes like I had been...I had to bore it .020 and I threw away everything else as it was worn and just put in better parts.

So the key is oil changes....even on my S550 I don't buy into the 5000 mile intervals...it's 3K for every oil change, my 7.3 Powerstroke gets the same. It's always cheaper to do frequent oil changes than build a new engine. I do have favorites when it comes to oil...I use Driven in my diesel and older Mustangs and I used Motorcraft synthetic blend in the S550, mobil 1 in my mercedes. I recently was talking to old race team guys from Ford when I was in Detroit for the Motor City Fox Fest and one of those guys who was an engineer told us how he switched Ford to Mobil one in their race program with the SVOs back in the day...he said he even puts a very thin weight into the power steering pump and it never would wear anything out....that was interesting.


Only 25K on those cams I can't see any valid reason why the lobe would get that kind of damage unless it was A: a defect; B: the follower failed and the roller stopped moving and just ground the cam lobe.

You could put stock cams back in but you do NOT need to remove the plenum, intake or throttle body...you would have to adjust the tune though. Certainly cheaper to retune it than to give up all the go fast parts you installed. Labor is intensive on this fix....if there is no damage on the other camshaft maybe you could get one new cam from the manufacturer...still labor intensive but 1 cam would be cheaper than a pair if they would accomodate you.

just a quick comment/thought about the Mobil 1: I think a lot of "old timers" (meaning, as old as me or maybe a bit older ) still have a bad taste in their mouth from the "synthetic oil scandal" back when Mobil 1 first came out (mid '70's I think) .... I use Mobil 1 in most of my engines and it seems to work great, as far as I can tell, I have never seen any problem and the engines seem to run forever