25 replies to this topic

[asmoto05]

I have had my ported 3l one the road for almost a year now. She has been running lean in bank one and two. There is also an egr code and a bank two o2 sensor. I have sprayed for leaks changed tps,maf, all new uim and lim gaskets. While I had her apart I cleaned the lim, she was crusted bad. Could there be a leak in the rod gaskets?

[Terry Haines]

Have you ever had a new chip or recalibration since the 3.0 was fitted?..what are rod gaskets?

[asmoto05]

No since I did a ported 3l I didn't think I needed a retuned. And sorry was refuring to the rods that rum through the secondaris the were carbon covered open. And I cleared them so they would open and installed them on my 3l and now the issue.

[Terry Haines]

...OK, so I will make the following assumptions about your 3.0 engine..
*Is an oval port 3.0(heads) but with adaptor plates to fit the 2.5 LIM and 2.5 UIM..

If so I have seen many of these that develop vac leaks on those plates.There is no type of formed gasket on these plates and one side usually just has gasket goop on the metal to metal faces for a seal..this is not a good design and can fail with vac leaks..Am I correct on specs so far??

[asmoto05]

Yes sir, I used bugzokie plates to cut the head. Then a black rtv sealant to seal the plates down. Also replacing the lim and uim gaskets. The only gaskets I didn't replace the exhausted ones.

[Terry Haines]

I'm not sure how thick those plates are but a better design would have a m/c groove round the port side to accept the ford 'o ring' style gasket. The RTV is not a good choice in this location and,due to the bolt spacing/clamping,does not appy enough pressure on a thin film of RTV..a stronger,thicker set in o ring would work better .As is used on some of the 3.0 oval plastic LIMs..
I think I would check your plates for leaks..

[BuckeyeSVT]

+1 for not being a fan of those plates and trying to make the intake seal with RTV. All this is done on an SVT correct?

-Dom

[asmoto05]

Yes sir. I have gone over everything else a couple of times with no luck.

[Terry Haines]

...how thick are those plates?..I'm sure we could set them up on the CNC mill and m/c the groove top/bottom to take a correct 'set in' Ford gasket..or make a better plate for the job!!
A metal to metal with gasket goop gives no compression to the gasket at all..over time it will fail..again and again..RTF is not good for this application.

[spridget]

The conversion isn't finished until it's retuned, regardless of what you have heard.

<-- also not a fan of bugzuki plates, "port matched" 3L conversions, or RTV to seal the intakes.

[asmoto05]

I know they aren't a popular choice over here. Plates are about 3/32" thick. Then what else could o try to gain a better seal?

[Terry Haines]

...if they are 3/32 then that is less that 3 MM and way too thin to be stiff enough to have a good seal between bolt positions..a 3/8 plate with a m/c 'o' ring groove would be better. But you maybe able to run a very clean bead of Si around the port on the heads..and leave it for a while to cure off and give some thikness of material to be compressed..then just a thin smear of Si on the plate then assemble and leave at least 24 hrs to cure...it may work but anything with such thin plates is a risk.
Maybe others who have used these plates have fixed this...JB weld??!!!...who knows,I'd ask around.

[asmoto05]

I have read up on as many options as I can. I have seen others who have used jb weld to fill in the injector valley. But truely would it hold up? Then the plates weren't necessary. SI what is that? Would like to get it straightened out cause overall she runs excellent.

[Terry Haines]

..SIlicone...The plate design needs a positive type seal on it's lower face..gasket goops etc are only a band aid for a design that needs to be taken to the 'next level' of improvement...

[asmoto05]

To bad there wasn't a way to take the old lim gasket set and mod one side just for the side against the heads.

[Terry Haines]

..if the plates had the correct size groove then an O ring type gasket can be made that will fit the unique size port. O ring sets have been around for years.The O ring material is on a roll and can be cut/spliced/joined to fit in most all shapes of opening..does not have to be round. It's just engineering to cut the grooves etc..Not that big of a deal for CNC m/c equiptment..We have done it here on many strange one off parts that need a seal...

[asmoto05]

OK first would the SI be able to hold up to heat? And could you take the grey gasket paper you can get at an auto store and trace out the plate shape . Then place a line of si around it virtually making a gasket set?

[Terry Haines]

*Most all Si gasket makers in tubes ate high temp Re Permatex 'ultra black' Hi-temp RTV silicone gasket maker*Si is used all over the place as it resists heat well8The stoc 3.0 'o' ring type gaskets on the plastic manifolds are Si* The 'inlay' on the 2.5 intake manifold gaskets is Si *Paper/sheet type materials will not work well in this location, they are too thin and too hard. The port seal area is large and has few bolts to hold it..in this type of situation a softer but thicker material needs to be used...

[asmoto05]

OK I picked up a tube of the ultra copper high temp rtv silicone. I am gonna try it this weekend when I can keep the car tore down for a couple of days. I changed my oil this last weekend and now she seems to idle decent. But when you come to a stop she stalls or wants to stall. This has started since the oil change, and the oil level is good I am just lost.

[asmoto05]

Well this last weekend I pulled her all apart and redid my plates. I am currently getting two codes p0156, and p0171. Now could those two be inter connected? And she idles great now have had one bad spell but overall mega improvement.