- Dec 26, 2022
- First Name
- Bob
- Last Name
- Worley
- Spouse
- Anneliese
- City
- Midlothian
- Chapter
- Dallas / Ft. Worth
- Admin
- #1
If anyone is interested in my latest woes...
After 17,000+ miles, I'm starting to notice some issues (I have a 351W/427cid SBF built by Craft Engines in 2016) :
So, I finally got an appointment slot open at Grubbs Motorsports, where Michael and the crew can sort it out. I dropped it off Thursday, January 2nd.
Regarding the misfiring, the first thing they found is, the spark plugs were black and nasty. The plugs only have about 6k miles on them. They installed new spark plugs and that helped some.
The next thing he did is swap out my QuickFuel 780 carb with vacuum secondaries, with a new-in-box QuickFuel 750 with mechanical secondaries, upgraded with their needle, jets, air tubes blah blah blah for cobras. That helped out a great deal. But still having intermittent stumbles.
So the next thing they did is look at electrical issues. they replaced the spark plug wires and coil wire. swapped out the distributor, coil, ignition box, didn't help. They bypassed the green/purple distributor wires to the MSD box. nothing.
They did find a loose ground under the dash, a grounding bolt I welded to the cowl support, wrong size nut that was finger tight.
Then I got the latest news: Broken valve springs! what the heck?! I checked my build sheet from Craft Engines and they used Pioneer springs, #053274. Michael Grubbs said Pioneer is not even a good performance brand. Just great. Craft Engines strikes again.
The January 14th: #5 cylinder valve was .085" shorter. Bore scope shows the valve is bent. Next step is to pull the heads and see how many more valves are bent, and replace them. Then off to machine shop for valve job and check.
He also showed me where some of the rockers were not aligned dead center to the valve stem, pushing sideways on the valves. Unbelievable.
Bottom line is: I know Lance at Craft Engines really screwed over a lot of customers over far worse than me. But this is going to really cost me, and I haven't even started paying off Christmas yet ... :/
January 17th: : all but four valves were bent or distorted due to broken springs and/or misaligned rocker arms. Getting a complete new set of AFR valves.
Picked up Friday January 24. Test drove Saturday, all the power is back and runs fantastic. and no coolant leaks overnight.
After 17,000+ miles, I'm starting to notice some issues (I have a 351W/427cid SBF built by Craft Engines in 2016) :
- Coolant leaking from somewhere, while its cold, sitting in the garage. Every time I roll it out of the garage after a week or so, there is a dinner plate size puddle of coolant on the floor, dripping off the oil pan drain plug. I've been up and down and all around and can't find anything. About this time last year I had it in to Grubbs Motorsports for an oil leak and gearbox swap, and they found the back of the intake manifold had a woefully minimal amount of silicone sealant, when built by Craft Engines. They removed the intake and resealed it.
- I've been feeling like its down on power, or maybe I'm just getting more comfortable and used to driving it. But I also notice when I'm accelerating HARD, at around 5k rpm, it would stumble/misfire. Almost like hitting the rev limiter. I checked the MSD box, the rev limiter is still set at 6,200 rpm.
So, I finally got an appointment slot open at Grubbs Motorsports, where Michael and the crew can sort it out. I dropped it off Thursday, January 2nd.
Regarding the misfiring, the first thing they found is, the spark plugs were black and nasty. The plugs only have about 6k miles on them. They installed new spark plugs and that helped some.
The next thing he did is swap out my QuickFuel 780 carb with vacuum secondaries, with a new-in-box QuickFuel 750 with mechanical secondaries, upgraded with their needle, jets, air tubes blah blah blah for cobras. That helped out a great deal. But still having intermittent stumbles.
So the next thing they did is look at electrical issues. they replaced the spark plug wires and coil wire. swapped out the distributor, coil, ignition box, didn't help. They bypassed the green/purple distributor wires to the MSD box. nothing.
They did find a loose ground under the dash, a grounding bolt I welded to the cowl support, wrong size nut that was finger tight.
Then I got the latest news: Broken valve springs! what the heck?! I checked my build sheet from Craft Engines and they used Pioneer springs, #053274. Michael Grubbs said Pioneer is not even a good performance brand. Just great. Craft Engines strikes again.
The January 14th: #5 cylinder valve was .085" shorter. Bore scope shows the valve is bent. Next step is to pull the heads and see how many more valves are bent, and replace them. Then off to machine shop for valve job and check.
He also showed me where some of the rockers were not aligned dead center to the valve stem, pushing sideways on the valves. Unbelievable.
Bottom line is: I know Lance at Craft Engines really screwed over a lot of customers over far worse than me. But this is going to really cost me, and I haven't even started paying off Christmas yet ... :/
January 17th: : all but four valves were bent or distorted due to broken springs and/or misaligned rocker arms. Getting a complete new set of AFR valves.
Picked up Friday January 24. Test drove Saturday, all the power is back and runs fantastic. and no coolant leaks overnight.
Now I need to do the whole clutch thing again. Want to put in a removable crossmember so I can pull the trans from the bottom. Getting too old for this crap!