[Flyboy60]

I just blew my head gasket - oil cloudy and white foam on #4 plug and the center of the plug is gone

Is there any write up or thread i could follow to rebuild this engine?
Any pits falls to watch out for?

[93stangfutr5.0]

truthfully it is an easy job to do i dont believe you have to pull your cam out since it is over head just remove your intake, valve cover, and exhaust manafold and you should be able to get the head off. well it isnt that simple since you have the fuel rail but its not as hard as other cars.

[turboeeyore]

i had a crack in the 2nd cylinder by a water jacket, have the block inspected before rebuilding.

[Flyboy60]

How do i time the car after install?

[93stangfutr5.0]

well the car is non interference for one so you wont have to worry about bending valves but the timing marks should let you know just set it at TDC.

[Flyboy60]

Find TDC the same way as a 5.0? Put finger over #1 cylinder spark plug hole and wait for air pushing out by rotating crank - two plug so which one to use intake or exhaust?
I need more info - thanks

[NavySVO]

Use the pics to get the initial alignment on the crank and the cam. For the crank, there should be a peen mark (dimple where to match up the timing to. I put white-out on mine to make it easier to see.
Then,
The tensioner has 2 bolts. One that goes through it on the right side that holds the spring in (#1), and one that is on the left that holds the tensioner in place when tightened....whether you loosen the tensioner, or release it and then tighten the bolt to hold it in place (#2). The orientation i just stated, is as you are looking at the engine.

1st, make sure the spark plugs are removed.

Loosen the sping bolt a turn or so, then loosen the "hold down" bolt a couple of turns.

release the spring pressure of the tensioner and then tighten the "hold down" bolt to keep the tensioner in place.

Adjust the belt.

SLOWLY loosen the "hold down" bolt. Going slowly will ensure that the tensioner won't "jump" the belt quickly and the tensioner should take up the majority of the belt's slack. Loosen the bolt a turn or so now to allow for the next step..

rotate the crank BY HAND (meaning don't use the starter......) 2 revolutions and then tighten both tensioner bolts. The tensioner should have taken up all slack in the belt now.

rinse and repeat if neccessary if the timing is off.

BE PATIENT....it took me a few tries to get it to where i liked it.
Well, I tried to put the pics up, bt the server won't let me. I double-checked the file size and everything. You can go here and read up on it:
http://www.svoca.com/forum/showthrea...=belt+replaced

[NavySVO]

here you go.....it worked this time

[NavySVO]

On another note, you need to fix the problem behind the blowing of the gasket. 2 things will cause this:
1. Overheating the engine
2. Detonation. I am leaning (not a pun) towards this since the spark plug electrode was melted off.

[Flyboy60]

Thanks you very much NavySVO!
How can I verify whether its too lean?

[93stangfutr5.0]

check the exhaust

gray-too lean
black-too rich
no coloration-perfect

[NavySVO]

Originally Posted by 93stangfutr5.0

check the exhaust

gray-too lean
black-too rich
no coloration-perfect

That is the old school carburated car method for sure. For injection, if one cylinder is running lean this will not be finite enough of a test. And actually, a light brown residue is about perfect combustion.

I would send off the injectors to be cleaned and bench flowed. This is relatively inexpensive in comparison to the repairs that result from something like this. In your case (as well as everyone in the 2.3 world) about $25.00 a piece.
RC Engineering is one of many places, but they are probably the best. Here is the results of a Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...e&aq=o&oq=&aqi=