cam swap

[ricardo93]

What's the best cam shaft that you guys would recommend in an 86 ranger, mine might have snapped, and I need to replace it :-/ so I need some recommendations, keep in mind that my ranger engine wise is completely bone stock, there is no head work or anything at all

 

[stegomon]

are u sure it is not the timing belt or timing gear/chain. as far as i know. cams don't break very often with stop hp. but i may be wrong

 

[jhammel85]

I haven't heard of that either.

If it's stock, just get a stock cam. Unless you are up for it, you can put in all the other work and put in a hotter cam but I honestly don't know who makes them for our engines...

 

[ricardo93]

Well I'm not sure, I still have to take it apart and find out, but anything can snap after almost 30 years, but I'll let you guys know for sure when I find out, and I know oreilly sells them but I'm not to sure how good they are

 

[ricardo93]

http://m.oreillyauto.com/mt/www.ore...=Ford&model=Ranger&vi=1137473&un_jtt_redirect

This is the link for the different stock cams that oreilly sells

 

[RonD]

Just go with a stock cam.

Computer control engines are preset for the engine parameters so changing the cam lobes for higher performance would also require changing/reprogramming the computer.

Good source of information about the Ford Lima engines here:
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/4cylinders.html

 

[ricardo93]

Out of

 

[ricardo93]

Out of the two from oreilly which would be better?

 

[ricardo93]

well the cam is fine, I checked the timing and on the cam side it was off 180 degrees, so I reset it, changed the belt, changed the main drive belt put it back together, but now it won't start, not even while trying to jump it, it just cranks, what is going on? I need immediate help, this is m DD and I'm ****ed if I can't fix this

 

[RonD]

Not sure about what you mean by the cam being 180deg out?

The cam shaft rotates once for every two rotations of the crank shaft.
So the crank passes TDC twice and cam rotates once, a 2:1 ratio

The distributor/oil pump gear, and cam gear could be 180deg out, they are the same size so are a 1:1 ratio, did you reset this gear when you reset the cam?
If not distributor would be firing on exhaust stroke instead of compression stroke, so no start.

 

[ricardo93]

Not sure about what you mean by the cam being 180deg out?

The cam shaft rotates once for every two rotations of the crank shaft.
So the crank passes TDC twice and cam rotates once, a 2:1 ratio

The distributor/oil pump gear, and cam gear could be 180deg out, they are the same size so are a 1:1 ratio, did you reset this gear when you reset the cam?
If not distributor would be firing on exhaust stroke instead of compression stroke, so no start.

Well according to the hanes manual it was 180 degrees away from the mark, and from what I saw there was 3 gears behind the cover, the cam, the crank, a pulley and then another gear, is the 3rd gear, which is approximately the halfway point between cam and crank, is that the oil pump/distributor gear?

 

[ricardo93]

Well I just reread that section in the manual and the third gear, is apparently an auxiliary shaft gear, but the book in no way explains what this gear does, and I don't recall seeing a timing mark on that one, so I'm not sure, but as far as I can tell, there was no reason for my truck to not start, but I'm gonna use a different battery today to try and start it, and if that doesn't work I'm gonna tear into it again

 

[RonD]

Yes, that 3rd gear needs to be in time with Cam gear, it runs the oil pump, AND the distributor, so if you didn't change it when you changed the Cam gear then your distributor is now 180deg out.

The pulley is the tensioner that keeps the belt tight.


I think I know where the confusion came from.
You probably put the crank shaft on the TDC mark
And then looked at the Cam mark, which is 180deg off every other cycle of the engine, as it should be.
Hanes should have a note that says if timing is 180deg off, rotate crank one full turn to TDC again and check Cam mark, it would then be correct, or off by a few teeth if belt had slipped.

You will note the distributor is located just behind and above the "auxiliary shaft gear", it has a gear that is powered by this "auxiliary shaft", which also powers the oil pump.

 

[ricardo93]

Thank you! That helps so much, cuz I was just free spinning that little bastard, because, according to games its just somewhere more for tension


So basically, I have to do this with the did cap off, correct? So I can be sure that its still at cyl. #1? And line up the cam and crank to the correct marks?

Also, I'm gonna pull the plugs, clean them and make sure the gap is correct