Wanting to build a reliable 95 SC

C

cava2

Guest
I recently installed a remanufactured engine from Recon. During the installation I had to purchase a new harmonic balancer. Since Ford no longer carries this part I purchased one from an aftermarket manufacturer. However, the balancer I recieved had a strange hunk of metal attached, but nevertheless I trusted it was fine. Much to my dissapointment, when the engine cranked for the first time it had horrible vibration problems. I removed the balancer and had it balanced at a machine shop after 200 miles of use. I believe my mistake was leaving it on that long as the engine is now knocking badly. I had my suspicions confirmed by a mechanic that the bearings are probably screwed. I have decided to do an entire rebuild of the motor with better/stronger parts. My ultimate goal is an SC that is good for at least 175k miles. What is the best rebuild kit available or should I buy the parts separately? What brand parts? I know the heads have poor coolant flow, which is where most of the heat is tranferred during combustion, so I plan on running stock boost. I also would like to convert my AOD to a manual and was wondering how to go about building a stronger transmission or which manufacturer to buy one from. Are my goals realistic? Thanks for any replies.
 
cava2 said:
I recently installed a remanufactured engine from Recon. During the installation I had to purchase a new harmonic balancer. Since Ford no longer carries this part I purchased one from an aftermarket manufacturer. However, the balancer I recieved had a strange hunk of metal attached, but nevertheless I trusted it was fine. Much to my dissapointment, when the engine cranked for the first time it had horrible vibration problems. I removed the balancer and had it balanced at a machine shop after 200 miles of use. I believe my mistake was leaving it on that long as the engine is now knocking badly. I had my suspicions confirmed by a mechanic that the bearings are probably screwed. I have decided to do an entire rebuild of the motor with better/stronger parts. My ultimate goal is an SC that is good for at least 175k miles. What is the best rebuild kit available or should I buy the parts separately? What brand parts? I know the heads have poor coolant flow, which is where most of the heat is tranferred during combustion, so I plan on running stock boost. I also would like to convert my AOD to a manual and was wondering how to go about building a stronger transmission or which manufacturer to buy one from. Are my goals realistic? Thanks for any replies.
the obnly correact aftermarket harmonic balancer is the BHJ unit and it requires a zero balance pulley wuch either comes with the ASP set or you car rebalance your stock pulley
 
the only problem with swapping to a 5-speed in that year is going to be finding a console cover for the 5 speed
 
Incorrect balancer!

My friend had the same thing happen to him. After replacing his engine, along with the balancer, he had a terrible vibe. Someone sold him a balancer from a N/A 3.8. That type has the "chunk of metal" on it since the N/A's are externally balanced. S/C engines are internally balanced, the balancer should be symetrical. Sorry to hear the bad news. Where did you get your replacement balancer? We cant have suppliers selling the wrong parts, especially to a dying breed! Good luck with the rebuild. JJ
 
Where it not too get a balancer

Napa, autozone, and advance autoparts all sell the N/A balancer as a supercoupe balancer...I told them that it wasn't the right one and nothign has changed in the computer system...Is there anyway we could have them replace our engines for that...the same damn thing happened to me I bought one of Advanced autopart's recon engines and they gave me the N/A balancer that I partially broke in the new engine with and now it is ****ed (knocking) and I don't think their ****** warranty is going to cover it.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top