I don't know why you guys are so quick to condem this engine! I could be wrong, but from memory I'm pretty sure the pistons cannot hit the valves on the ford 4.0lt, so there is no reason to assume they have. As I said before, the engine and engine bay look very clean, for it's age, therefore it seems reasonable to assume this vehicle was in good running condition before the damage occured. There's every possibilty that there could be serious damage, however, if you follow what I said in my previous post, this motor could be up and running for under a $200!! (If the cam's still OK, under $100)

thanks for all your help and advice guys, but by the looks of things the valve with the rocker thats snapped would have been a result of the piston coming up and snapping it clean off, nothing else would have enough pressure to do that, and plus the inside of the timing case is covered with shavings and scratches from the cam gear floating around while the previous owner was cranking the engine over wondering why it wouldnt start..

the engine is about 80-90% out right now, iv just hit a bit of a wall with the bell housing bolts (pictured below).

still price hunting.. like i said in a previous post the prices around here (newcastle) are 770, 660, 570 and 850.. there is one on ebay for 450 but it would be about 200 postage to newcastle, and my mate has found one in Victoria for the same price with about the same postage cost.. i also did a bit of a ring around in Sydney and i didnt have much luck there either so if anyone in the hunter/sydney/newcastle/port stevens etc area have a EF-EL engine then ill be your friend

anyway, on with the pictures, if anyone has any advice on a easy way to get this bastard of a bolt out that would be awesome (top of the bell housing). the only way i can think of doing it is either buying a ratchet spanner or as a mate just recommended getting a "supatool" grade spanner and bending it over.. any help would be great on this and anythign that im doing here..

Trust me, valves do meet up with pistons, the 4 litre IS an interference motor.

Those two top bolts are easy if you're under the car.

Support the trans on a trolley jack and unbolt the two bolts that hold the mount to the chassis.

Ensure the top radiator hose is disconnected before lowering the trans or you could break the top radiator mount.

Lower it slowly and you can easily reach the top two bolts if you have a few half drive extensions and a unijoint.

Sure is. Ive seen a fair few engines that have lost timing chains and every one without fail had more than half the valves bent. In this case you dont even have to wonder as the rocker arm has been broken which is a result from piston to valve contact.

Alternatively, you can jack the transmission rear up to the floorpan - you'll be able to get a ring spanner on them, reverse it so the spanner shaft is angled forward.

champion. this way worked for me, i didnt try the raising the rear of the gearbox because i only just read it 5 seconds ago.. but yeah, a whole lot of extentions and the unijoint worked a charm

so the engine is out now and on the engine stand.. ill take it apart tomorrow hopefully or next weekend to see what the damage was but untill then the hunt really begins for a new engine!

rightio well im just about to buy a EF engine, i spoke to the guy selling it and he said it will fit but ill need to switch the dizzy from my EL engine onto the EF, he said its a direct swap with no problems so im going to take his word. but just out of interest, can anyone verify this before i spend the money?

edit - double post

Yeah you need to remove all the coil pack stuff from the EF and then fit the dizzy from the EL..
you don't seem mechanically challenged so I'm sure it won't be too hard a job.

I know there's people on here that have done the conversion and can tell you whether it's simple or not

thanks mate, just payed for it and its on its way down from qld. would you believe that even at trade prices, aswell as trading in my old engine it would still cost $650 with one month warrenty around the newcastle area. i found a company in queensland that sold the engine for $450+$150 freight making a total of $600 with a 202 day warranty (no idea why its 202) and i still get to keep the old engine.

so the engine will be posted tomorrow, should arrive weds avo at the TNT depo and it should be right to chuck it in on the weekend

yeah if anyone has timing tips etc on how to do the sensor --> dizzy switch then that would be much appreciated. the way that i would do it is put the 1st cyl to TDC, cam lopes on number 1 up and dizzy to number one, is that about right on a ford 6?

thanks guys

Heres somthing for you to think about: I have an au engine in my el, low k's, and really reliable.
Look at these and see what you think.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Modified-AU-4-0- ... dZViewItem

and one not Modifyed:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/AU2-Falcon-Low-k ... dZViewItem

Mine is an engine from these fellas, and it only had 27,000klms on it. it was an easy conversion.

Heres the topic here in ford mods on the conversion.

http://www.fordmods.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24205

thanks for that mate but i ended up going with the EF engine.. just seems to be the cheapest and easyest option.. i found the engine on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/EF-Falcon-4-0-li ... dZViewItem

the car has done 308k's but the EF engine i bought has only done 166k's so im pretty happy with that hehe, should be arriving on weds ill post up some more progress when i pick it up

Hey bryce, never thought id see you buy a ford. Good luck with it. If you need a hand putting it in give us a call.

Top stuff, those guys are the guys I got my engine from
Shouldnt have any issues there!!