..wow..i cant beleive that about the lifters...lifters ride on the cam..to push the push rods that pushs the rocker arms that opens the valves...thats a big job for a 08 f150 with hardly any miles...eekkk ..i drive the ***** off mine i hope i never have these probs as my 36000 miles is coming up ...

 

it almost seems like if you baby your truck, stuff goes wrong, but if you borderline beat on it, it lasts awhile. my truck has almost 20k on it right now, i bought it with 139 miles back in september of 08 and have taken it to the track twice, raced god knows how many times and it still runs great, but i also have that light ticking sound at idle but so did my 04 heritage with the 4.2L so i thought it was normal. i figured it was because of the 5W-20 oil. my 78 f150 351W did the same thing but under stress, not idle. did it mainly in 4th gear going up hills for a few seconds after shifting into 4th. its weird, a 78 f150 V sounding that close to my 04 and 08 V6.

 

anybody know of a website or anything that has high performance cams and stuff like that for the 4.2L? when i had my 89 2.8L firebird i found a site for high performance parts for the 2.8L, 3.1L and 3.4L camaros and firebirds since they are the same block pretty much. and the 4.2L and the 3.8L engines are the same pretty much too. just wondering.. and please dont tell me to go to V6f150.com, no matter how many times i sign up, they never fully approve me so i cant type at all and have limited searches and stuff. thanks

 

Timmy, your ticking under stress on your 351 was most likely spark knock. If lifters are clicking, they will click all the time.

 

Got the truck back, here's what they did.

Replaced a/c clutch, replaced drivers seat foam and seat cloth. Performed pressure test, preformed oil pressure test. Found lifters not holding pressure. Replaced all tappets both sides. Replaced oil and filter fill fluids road test all ok.

Tappet valve
Gasket intake
Seal
Gasket intake man
Seal
Gasket

They changed the oil and filter. Used syn. blend. Going back tomorrow and they're giving me another free oil change with full syn. because that's what I had in there.

 

x2 on spark knock....i always thought my clicking was the injectors firing... thats why i never really bothered me i have a noticably higher click when its cold... i guess if it comes apart it will go out with guns blazing

 

Check www.supersixmotorsports.com or www.moranav6racing.com

 

i had that truck back in 2002 so it had 275k on the clock. but it did it because 1st thru 3rd were very low gears and 4th was normal. it was a logging truck in Oklahoma before i had it. actually i owned it, before that my grandpa owned it, and before that my uncle owned it. my uncle bought it in Oklahoma where he was stationed in the army and bought it with low miles apparently for the year. he got the engine rebuilt around 100k. I didnt know the rearend and all that but the shift points were 1st-5mph, 2nd-15mph, 3rd-35mph, and 4th-90mph. i only used 1st like 3 times, always started in 2nd. only did the ticking shifting into 4th going up hills, even slight ones. but other than that it was fine. im guessing it was just because the engine was struggling to keep from stalling since it would have been a pretty low rpm for going up hills. had it for 2 yrs, got it with about 255k, sold it with 280k with NO problems other than the last day before i was buying my 89 firebird, the front main seal went on it. perfect timing tho...

 

thanks. i looked at them both, supersix had a HP calculator and i tried 2 different numbers. i used a calculator before but used my vehicle's weight. forgot to add my weight in it so this time i tried a rounded number plus my trucks weight according to my registration. my truck weighs 4364 and i am about 165-170 so i figured on 4500Lbs to round it off. well it says 237hp at the engine or about 185 at the wheels, or with just my trucks weight it was like 177 at the wheels and i forgot the other one but i think in the 220 range. i figured i had about 210-215 with my intake and my helper tube to begin with. i am guessing my truck doesnt weigh as much as it says on my registration.

 

Spark knock, Timmy.............

 

timmy..i dunno were you are from but..cant you find a truck scales somewere...get actual weight ..hell around southern illinois you just weight till it gets dark out...pull onto someones scale...and look in the window ..and hope the readout of the scale is covored up buy somthing...but usually you can find the read out somewere.....haha

 

When I swing by my local scrap yard I know how much my truck weighs...

 

what exactly is spark knock?

 

well my local scrapyard is about 30 miles away and i think the mill around my house has a scale, dont know how much they charge tho. and i dont have money to be wasting right now, maybe next week when i get paid. getting paid every other week really sucks. i would have had some $ left over but i had to pay my truck payment yesterday.

 

Spark knock is "ping" - detonation. It's caused by a combination of lean mixture, advanced timing, low octane fuel, and load. 1978 vehicles did not have any sensors or computers, everything was mechanical or vacuum operated, and preset. Using oxygen-added fuel (think ethanol) in a carbureted engine is running it lean to begin with. I'd be willing to bet that if you had used premium gas in it, it would not have pinged. Retarding the timing a few degrees from spec would have shut it up too. So would richer carb jets.

This was very common back in the old days.