Roush Engine Failure – Pictures

[Excaliber]

Like I said in an earlier post, some rocker/shaft assemblies are better than others. There has been much debate here on Club Cobra, with many opinions, on what is best for an FE.

So, what is Roush using, that Keith doesn't like, and what are some brands that are acceptable for an FE?

Mine are "blue", I forget what brand that is but they've been working out nicely for many thousands of miles now. Maybe I just got lucky, they came with the engine.

[Excaliber]

I think I had to much valve clearance which led to the failure of my solid roller lifter, after about 10,000 miles on the engine. When I tore down the engine, to my surprise, I also discovered the broken rocker shaft. I'm not sure when that happened, after or before or because of the bad lifter? Anyway, Gessford mentioned that the rockers were an early design because the adjusting nut was dead center and was later moved to one side of the rocker (I don't know why). 12,000 miles later, the rockers are still working good so they must be "OK" (I forget the brand).

[madmaxx]

How did your camshaft look. That roller has disentegrated. I would think your cam was toast!!

Originally Posted by Excaliber

I think I had to much valve clearance which led to the failure of my solid roller lifter, after about 10,000 miles on the engine. When I tore down the engine, to my surprise, I also discovered the broken rocker shaft. I'm not sure when that happened, after or before or because of the bad lifter? Anyway, Gessford mentioned that the rockers were an early design because the adjusting nut was dead center and was later moved to one side of the rocker (I don't know why). 12,000 miles later, the rockers are still working good so they must be "OK" (I forget the brand).

[Excaliber]

I do agree with Rodknock, it's not crystal clear to me.

I do agree with Patrick, I'm scratching my head WHY you would bother.

OH WAIT, if it's a Roush motor, by golly you might want to check that before you fire it up, check it again at 500 miles, loose sleep until around 2,000 miles and then check the dam thing again!

[RodKnock]

Hey, if you guys don't want to check your brand new all-aluminum FE engine after about 1,000 miles of usage, an engine with a history of valvetrain issues (granted it's more related to old FE's, not modern era), then you can choose to ignore it.

I, however, will take the precaution of checking everything, at various intervals. Murphy's law, baby. Muphy's law.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

Hey, if you guys don't want to check your brand new all-aluminum FE engine after about 1,000 miles of usage...

I bet your starter motor bolts are loose -- all three of them. Especially the one at the top that is hard to get to.

[Jamo]

Actually, I think you both have a few screws loose.

Back to the thread.

[Excaliber]

I lost that roller lifter pretty close to home, I turned around and actually drove it home! The cam lobe didn't look bad, not that I would have used it again, but I was surprised at how little damage it had incurred.

I ended up rebuilding the entire motor mostly because I wanted to do it "my way" with all new specs on everything.

Valve train failure on an FE, RodKnock says:

...(granted it's more related to old FE's, not modern era),

Oh really?? I'm not so sure about that! There is still plenty of room to screw up a motor with all modern parts. It's all about how those parts work together and how it's assembled.

Actually the old FE's were pretty darn reliable, ANY engine is going to have it's share of problems when it's RACED hard (like the side oilers were). And many an old FE was rode hard and put away wet! I'm not sure the failure rate today is any different than it was back in the day. When you max out the horse power and run it hard, "stuff" is going to break, old or new.

And that will happen sooner if it wasn't built right in the first place. Like leaving bolts and nuts loose, or not choosing wisely what parts to use that work together well. Some combinations of parts are just better than others. There's more to it than just going through the catalog and buying this set of heads and that set of rockers and these pistons to go with that cam.