Aluminator FAILURE

[Fastlane Cobra]

My motor is fine but lately the new V8 BMW M3 and the C63 AMG has been looking good and very tempting to switch over. It seems to me that Ford has cut so many corners with our cars that it leaves us scrambling for fixes and severely inconvenienced. I will miss my cobra even if I step up to a better built perfect car. I would just hate to deal with a broken cobra motor.

 

[forcefedcobra]

There are more than 3 cases. There are no less than 5 people in the thread on modular fords that have the issue. Also they are not all from the same build time. The motors affected come from back in Feb. til current and that includes motors from before the long back order and the post back order rush. FRPP is trying to feed us crap and call it filet mignon.

This issue could all have been solved by the most simple junk yard test............Try to spin the ****er over by hand. YOU CANT! The harmonic balancer is shoved so tight up against the timing cover it takes a rachet and cheater bar to get it to turn.

Like others I went this route to save time. Time is something I dont have alot of since I work a crazy busy schedule and the cobra is my daily driver. Now I'm stuck with a car sitting in a shop and a pretty looking POS sitting on the engine stand. FRPP is going to give me the option to either void the warranty and fix it myself that way it isnt down forever or screw me out of more time while I wait for it to ship back to them, get fixed, and then ship back.............Wow what a choice!

Back when I had my fox I bought a new trans from D&D. The idiot that I purchased it from over the phone put it in the corner and never shipped it out. Then he had the balls to scream at me over the phone because I was upset that his mistake was costing me money while my car was sitting in the shop (went in the day the trans was going to show up so the old one could be removed) for over a week after the trans should have been there. The owner of that company paid half the cost of it sitting in the shop, overnighted me the trans, and made his idiot employee come into his office and apologize to me on the phone................If FRPP made half this effort I could atleast walk away from this experience and call it a lesson learned and not feel like my wallett and ass was hurting so bad. Instead I get to grin while they dont even have the curtosy to give me a reach around

 

[04sleeper]

Man. I hate to hear this.

Good luck man. Keep us updated on how it turns out.

 

[totenkopf13]

................If FRPP made half this effort I could atleast walk away from this experience and call it a lesson learned and not feel like my wallett and ass was hurting so bad. Instead I get to grin while they dont even have the curtosy to give me a reach around

Absolutely. . . at the very least.

 

[jumperjack]

First we have to find out what is the culprit the wrong thrust washer being installed during assembly or the timing chain cover casting being to thick. If FRPP would acknowledge exactly what the problem is then and only then can we pursue a fix and the reimbursement including labor costs from them. I want to know which it is because if the crank is installed to far rear during assembly then so is anything attached to it. This means quicker wear on all the moving parts and shorter lifespan. Grinding the timing chain cover to get the car up and running is like putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound if the thrust washer is the problem. My builder and I are both going to call FRPP Monday and try to get some answers. It doesn't seem as though are really doing much but if enough attention is drawn to this with bad publicity they might be more prone to get off their asses and do something.

 

[SYMach1]

I almost bought one...but I choose to build mine instead. Guess that was a good choice. Sorry about the bad luck

 

[DoomsDay]

Honestly at this point, i just want a full refund and themt o pay to have the motor R&R'd. Ill go elsewhere to have a motor built. I dont want a replacement, i dont want parts or anything else. I was a full refund.

Because honestly if they gave me another one, i'd be just as worried about the assembly as i am with this one, its a joke, poorly done, poorly represented, and even worse, they are still acting like its OUR fault the damn thing failed.

Ill buy a shortblock and heads/valve covers at this point. Ive already got all new rails/intake, idlers ect

 

[adler]

I didnt read all of the post on here, but when I was working at a big mod motor mustang shop, we ran into that problem on a few stroker 4.6 motors. We found out that the snout on some of the stroker cranks were shorter than normal causing the balancer to rub on the front cover. I think that I put together 2 maybe 3 motors that had that problem, and I noticed one while I was assembling the motor. The owner of the shop had shims/spacers made to correct that problem. The spacers sat behind the balancer.

 

[Oxford Snake]

Add another one to the list, I can see an area on the back of the balancer where it has been rubbing and aluminum powder on the center spokes of the balancer. Guess I will be pulling that apart tomorrow night. Pics will be up soon.

 

[Oxford Snake]

Aluminum dust on the balancer.

 

[Oxford Snake]

You can see the wear marks further inside on the back side of the balancer.

 

[forcefedcobra]

damn that sucks oxford! It just proves that ford is way off the mark and outright lying about the one build batch of motors only being the ones with the problem.

 

[forcefedcobra]

***UPDATE***



Just got off the phone with "Steve" at FRPP. First off if anyone has this issue and/or needs to contact FRPP for any reason......ask for STEVE! He has been the only person on the tech line that has done jack for me. He would even put the phone down to go ask a question and make sure I was completely statisfied and confident with the situation.



Since my motor is not in the car they are not offering me an financial help only speedy service so I can get it corrected and have the car running.



#1 issue........the HB timing cover clearance issue. This is caused by the crank being set too far back when the thrust washer and main caps were installed. They are going to email me the instructions for setting this directly from the service manual and they are also going to overnight the TTY bolts. They want me to remove the cap bolts, push the crank forward, and install the new cap bolts and recheck the endplay and clearance of the HB/timing cover. I have already stated that I measured the difference between the stocker and aluminator and it came up .009 short on the aluminator. This can easily be caused by the crank setting too far back.............They also offered me the option of paying the shipping back to them to be fixed and shipping it back to me. Since I am not willing to wait that long I decided that the fix it myself with their help would be best. Also since they are telling me to do this to my motor and are going to verify that endplay measurements and hb/timing cover clerance is correct they WILL cover the entire motor on the warranty.



#2........clerance of the two raised boss' in the valley.........I was informed that these should be machined down on the s/c version so it is a direct swap with the stock motor but are left on the n/a version for knock sensors..............My motor did not have these machined down. They want me to contact them back when I get the part number for my motor so they can make sure it is the s/c version and then gave me the go ahead to grind them down or cut them off so they will clear the ribs on the terminator intake manifold.



So far my experience has improved with FRPP thanks to Steve. Am I happy? NO! but I can atleast see the light at the end of the cylinder bore and am confident that the issue will be fixed and the motor will be back in the car and running with no issues and a warranty that is intact all while not having to jerry rig anything else to get it running again...............as for those that swapped timing covers or ground it down. I hope that you never have a problem and dont think you will as long as endplay checks out however I prefer to fix it correctly and not have to worry that something I hacked on could cause me to be screwed on the warranty later on down the road.

 

[FromGTtoSVT]

op:

for months now I have been carefully watching every thread that has said aluminator in it.

Very disapointing.

 

[forcefedcobra]

op:

for months now I have been carefully watching every thread that has said aluminator in it.

Very disapointing.

Dont let it totally turn you away from getting one in the future. Hope that FRPP learns from this and let us have the headaches for now.

Each call I have made to them has seemed like they are getting more and more interested in resolving these issues and are getting more and more educated as to what the problem really is. I am sure after we all get our motors fixed and working they will fix these small issues on any future motors that are sent out.

 

[SpectorV]

wow this blows... if it was me in charge I would make it right end of discussion... the customer might have to wait a bit for me to get them the parts or what not... but I would do what it took to keep their business.

 

[forcefedcobra]

got an email back from FRPP and they are saying that it is for sure the crank being a fraction too far back when the thrust was set and when that is fixed the harmonic balancer will clear the timing cover.

I replied back asking if they have actually done this fix to motors that either had that problem and werent shipped out yet or motors that have already been returned for a fix. As soon as I get a reply I will let everyone know.

Also for the break in period that many have asked about. It is suggested to run mineral oil of the specified weight for 500 miles while not reving the engine high and all around taking it easy. then change the oil to mineral oil again and you can drive slightly more aggressive and rev it up to 6k for a while. then after 2-3k on the mineral oil you can switch to synthetic.

 

[sighwest]

Forcefed, I'm having a SC Aluminator shortblock installed on my 97 b head Cobra. If endplay is within specs, and I'm using the factory timing cover, I should be set, correct? I've been following both forums, and want to make sure I understand this right.

 

[forcefedcobra]

Forcefed, I'm having a SC Aluminator shortblock installed on my 97 b head Cobra. If endplay is within specs, and I'm using the factory timing cover, I should be set, correct? I've been following both forums, and want to make sure I understand this right.

I cant answer that for sure just yet. I'm still waiting on frpp to reply back about the swapping timing covers option and to see if they have actually done some R&D on this fix with motors that have not been sent out yet.

My main concern is finding out if the crank being set too far back is going to cause unwanted wear on anything and in turn cause a premature failure or even cause transmission problems due to it being "too far back"...............

proper location of the crank and in turn proper endplay is vital. many people are getting proper endplay readings with the harmonic balancer removed but that still doesnt mean things are in good shape.

As I get more answers from FRPP I will post up on here and the other forum. If any of you have questions you want to ask frpp you can drop me a PM and I will be more than happy to give you Steve's email. he has been very helpful compared to thers I have spoken with.

 

[hawaiiancobra]

got an email back from FRPP and they are saying that it is for sure the crank being a fraction too far back when the thrust was set and when that is fixed the harmonic balancer will clear the timing cover.

I replied back asking if they have actually done this fix to motors that either had that problem and werent shipped out yet or motors that have already been returned for a fix. As soon as I get a reply I will let everyone know.

Also for the break in period that many have asked about. It is suggested to run mineral oil of the specified weight for 500 miles while not reving the engine high and all around taking it easy. then change the oil to mineral oil again and you can drive slightly more aggressive and rev it up to 6k for a while. then after 2-3k on the mineral oil you can switch to synthetic.

this is the biggest **** and bull story from ford i've heard yet. move the crank, kma, thats a plain lie, it might help for today, but the problem will return soon, break your engine in all around easy, bullcrap, you'll never set your rings and your engine will be a dog and oil burner. ford sucks bad. ford must have gotten into the candy industry, cause they sound like a bunch of fudgepackers