E-303
Camshaft install on a '96 Ford Explorer 5.0L
Special Tools Needed:
Harmonic Balancer Puller
Spring Compressor
Air Hold Fitting (If you don't want to find TDC 16 times).
Parts
Needed:
E-303 Camshaft FMS-M6250E303 $80
FMS 1.6 Roller Rockers FMS-M6564B351 $135
FMS Valve Springs FMS-M-6513-A50 $43
FMS Valve Spring Retainers FMS-M6514B50 $23
Assembly Lube $1.99
Timing Cover Gasket $10.99
Manifold Gaskets $9.95
Valve Cover Gaskets $11.99
Gasket Adhesive $3.99
Motor Oil $11.94
Antifreeze $6.46
Oil Filter $4.99
Total $343.30
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| Remove
front bumper, grille, headlights, fenders (I highly reccommend). |
Remove
air intake, coil packs, plugs, and wires... |
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| Remove
upper intake... |
Lower
intake and valve covers... |
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| Remove
fan and water pump... |
Remove
harmonic balancer... |
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| Remove
timing cover and set cylinder #1 to TDC. There is a mark on the cam
gear and the crank gear that will line up with eachother. |
Remove
old rocker arms and place stock pushrods into a piece of cardboard in
order of the removal. So you can replace them in the exact same position
they were in. |
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| Mark
where you Camshaft Position Sensor is at cylinder #1 TDC. Mark both
the base of the sensor compared to the block, and the actual inside
flange compared to the sensor housing, then pull the entire sensor out. |
In
order to remove the stock camshaft without hacking up my grille I had
to jack the entire body up about 3". Luckily I had a body lift,
otherwise it would have been 6". I'm not sure how you stock guys
can get these cams out without cutting up the front end. I loosened
the front four body mount bolts in order to jack the front half of the
body higher. |
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| Apply
plenty of assembly lube on the new camshaft. Remove the camshaft plate.
Slide the old cam out and the new cam in in exaclty the same position.
There will be a pin on one side of the cam that the cam gear will line
up with. Once the new cam is in, reinstall cam position sensor. |
Find
TDC one cylinder at a time to perform the valve spring removal procedure.
Using a spring compressor, compress the stock spring. Use a small hammer
to tap the top of the retainer, moving it down, so the locks will be
removable. Install the new springs and retainers the same way. Reuse
stock keepers. |
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| It
will be much easier to install the rockers if you remove the whole heater/blower
box dealio. Three bolts on the outside, one behind the glove box, and
a couple vaccuum lines and harnesses, and she'll come right out. |
Now
you'll have a clear shot at the heads to install the rocker arms. Replace
the stock pushrods. Find TDC for each cylinder (in firing order) and
install rocker arm. A trick to finding TDC is by looking through the
spark plug hole, watching the piston travel up and down as well as the
push rods moving up and down. TDC will be when the piston is at it's
highest point and the two push rods for that cylinder are at their lowest. |
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| Have
the rocker arms submerged in a cup of motor oil before installation.
Reuse the stock rocker arm trays (under the fulcrums) and using new
hardware supplied with the rockers, finger tighten them down to 0 lash
(meaning you can spin the pushrods in your fingers but you cannot move
them up or down. |
From
there, torque the rocker arm bolts to 17 ft lbs. That should take anywhere
from 1/4 - 1 full turn. If it take more than one full turn, than you'll
need shims (I did not). Install vlave covers, and crank the motor and
listen/feel for the rockers making contact with the cover. If nothing...
keep going! Use plenty of motor oil or assembly lube where possible.
Clean all your surfaces where gaskets are used, reassemble heater box,
motor, electronics. Start her up and see what happens! |
The entire project
took about a day or so. Give yourself at least two days to complete this project.
You may also
want to purchase a new timing chain and lifters if you have a lot of miles
on your 5.0L. I only have about 8k.
Questions? Email me!