SVTurbo 98 Posted May 18, 2013 Report Share Posted May 18, 2013 A little while back I was getting my car tuned and it started making some horrible noises after a dyno pull. After I got it home, I pulled the passenger side valve cover off and noticed the timing chain had a crazy amount of slack in it so I thought it was the timing tensioner that failed. Once I pulled the timing cover off, I saw exactly what happened and it was the timing guide dowel that the guide pivots on was broken. Luckily the guide didn't fall off the tensioner or I would have lost timing and crunched some valves. Apparently, ford uses a 6mm screw in style dowel on the teksid blocks compared to the 8mm press in dowel on the iron/boss blocks (03/04 cobra). From what I've read you can usually get away with the 6mm dowel in the teksid until you upgrade to heavy duty valve springs to compensate for bigger cams. A two step is also really hard on the dowels. Here's a pic of the slack in the timing chainAnd here you can see the broken dowelLuckily I wasn't the first person to have this problem and as of last year there is an upgrade. A guy on ModFords (rtusnake) had the same thing happen to him and decided to make upgraded dowels that are 8mm vs the stock 6mm. I also found another guy on ModFords (JamesHell, owner of Cobra Engineering) who sells a fixture for this upgrade so it can be done with a regular drill and without having to take it to the machine shop to get the dowels drilled perfectly straight. I decided to contact both guys and ordered the dowels and fixture. Here's a pic of a stock dowel vs. the 8mm dowel on the rightAnd the fixture that bolts to the existing timing cover holes. It has the correct size guides for the drill bit and the tap which are easily swapped back and forth. James also includes the drill bit and tap so it's pretty dummy proof. The only thing is I just had to measure the depth of the existing dowel hole and make sure I didn't drill any deeper than the hole already was.BTW I would be lying if I wasn't intimidated at first by this whole process. Knowing I could ruin the block if I screwed up was definitely on my mind. Most of the people that have done this upgrade have done it with a bare block outside of the car so that was another challenge. I also didn't want to take the timing chains off in fear of not putting them back on right. Luckily the fixture fix behind the chains without a problem so I didn't have to. I'm sure I could've taken them off and put them back on exactly how they came off but it was one less thing I had to worry about screwing up so I chose not to. I just taped up the area around the oil pan and oil pump so no metal flake found there way in there. I also taped up the timing chains and under the fixture and used grease for the drill and tap to catch shavings.Heres a pic of the fixture in place after I drilled the passenger side dowelThe driver side was a little trickier as far as catching metal shavings because there was a gap behind the fixture. I basically just shoved a piece of tape behind the fixture with the sticky side up which worked well combined with the grease on the bit and tap. After the drilling and tapping, I put a little bit of red locktite on the dowels and put them in.I had to take the timing guides to a machine shop to get the holes slightly opened up with a 23/64" drill bit but after that I just reinstalled the timing set, double checked the timing and everything looked good.I unbolted the drivers side valve cover but left it in place because I thought I was going to have to remove the hydro boost setup to get it off but all I had to remove was the throttle cable, clutch cable and the oil dipstick tube and it lifted right off. I reinstalled the timing cover making sure to add a dab of rtv in the necessary spots. I replaced both valve cover gaskets because they seemed to stretch and didn't want to stay in the groove. Also reinstalled the pulleys and got a new arp bolt for the harmonic balancer since the other bolt was tty.Reinstalled the intake, coils, wires, radiator....and hotside for the turboTurbo, downpipe, cold pipeTurbo blanket, radiator hoses, etc....and done. Here's a little idling vid after I got it running while "burping" the cooling systemThanks to Michael and James, we can now fix the weakest part of the teksid block. The process was really easy and I would recommend doing this upgrade if you are starting a fresh teksid build or even if you already have a built teksid. I got lucky that my timing guide stayed in place keeping enough tension on the chain to keep it from jumping teeth as it could've been really bad. Now back to my tuner to finish the e85 tune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1997cobra Posted May 19, 2013 Report Share Posted May 19, 2013 (edited) oh my fapso jealous, what intake mani is that?nvm, just trolled you and found out my self. super nice man, I am totally jealous Edited May 19, 2013 by 1997cobra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVTurbo 98 Posted May 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2013 Thanks man I'm looking forward to actually driving it for a while instead of constantly working on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildWillyWalker Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 Nice write-up. I never knew of this mod before but since I have a block, I might as well do the upgrade before I build it.... in 5 years. -.- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackmage Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 wish i would have done this when I had my motor out, or even knew about it hah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVTurbo 98 Posted July 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2013 This upgrade/mod has only been around for about a year and I didn't know about it either until mine broke. Before Rtusnake made the dowels, if yours broke, you were basically sol and had to replace them with stock dowels and hope they didn't break again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froush Posted July 6, 2013 Report Share Posted July 6, 2013 So how much were the new dowels? And whats the plate for? Added insurance i guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVTurbo 98 Posted July 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2013 So how much were the new dowels? And whats the plate for? Added insurance i guess.The dowels were $58 shipped for the pair. The purpose of the plate is so I can drill and tap the holes perfectly straight using a regular drill instead of taking the block to the machine shop. It has two different sized guides that swap back and forth..one is sized for the drill bit and the other for the tap. They are perfectly centered on the existing holes in the block so it makes the whole process dummy proof...unless you drill too deep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1997cobra Posted July 6, 2013 Report Share Posted July 6, 2013 $58 for a few dowels....im going to start a business just selling dowels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froush Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Gotcha. Yeah, the regular dowels are $20 a piece and apparently are known to break. Ive never heard of this before though but since im building a teksid ill go with the added security. I definitely dont need that plate if its just to keep the drill bit straight. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVTurbo 98 Posted July 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Gotcha. Yeah, the regular dowels are $20 a piece and apparently are known to break. Ive never heard of this before though but since im building a teksid ill go with the added security. I definitely dont need that plate if its just to keep the drill bit straight. lolYeah you don't need the plate if you can take your block to a machine shop and have it drilled. Just keep in mind, the hole has to be perfectly straight or it will cause problems. I wouldn't try to free hand it or you could end up having to send it off to helicoil the boss to fix it. BLK_03 on modfords tried to use a hand drill/tap before the fixture was made and drilled one of the holes crooked and had to have it repaired. He also broke 2 of the stock dowels on his TT build before he upgraded so it's not uncommon for them to break. It's definitely cheap insurance considering what could happen if you broke one and the guide fell off the tensioner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff Daddy Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Did you degree those cams? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 might as well do this with the teksid sitting in the basement lol. thanks for the tips. i was unaware and would rather fix this before it breaks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laddanator Posted August 22, 2013 Report Share Posted August 22, 2013 If mine break or I pull the motor out before then, this mod is a must. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laddanator Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 Could I get contact info to order this kit? Thanks! Nice write up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musturd Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 Damn I forgot how sexy ur motor is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVTurbo 98 Posted September 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 Could I get contact info to order this kit? Thanks! Nice write upSorry for the late reply...I ordered the pair of dowels from 'rtusnake' on modfords and the fixture came from 'jameshell' on modfords. Michael, 'rtusnake', had a batch of the dowel made and sells them for $58 shipped. James, 'jameshell' owner of cobra engineering, designed the fixture and sells it for $110 plus shipping. If you decide you don't want to keep the fixture, James will refund you $75 after you return it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laddanator Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 Sorry for the late reply...I ordered the pair of dowels from 'rtusnake' on modfords and the fixture came from 'jameshell' on modfords. Michael, 'rtusnake', had a batch of the dowel made and sells them for $58 shipped. James, 'jameshell' owner of cobra engineering, designed the fixture and sells it for $110 plus shipping. If you decide you don't want to keep the fixture, James will refund you $75 after you return it.No problem and thanks. Meant to write back that I reread your post again and found what I was looking for and have already contacted rtusnake about the dowels. I must admit 58 bucks for two dowels are expensive but i'm installing a bigger cam and it's either 58 dollars now or break something and could be hundreds later so I'm going with the 58 dollars now. I will also rent that tool. No need as I see it to use it again so no need to buy it. Thank you for all the info. :clap2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRPVinyl Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 Definitely will look into this before I stick my Teksid block into a car. As already said easier to to out of the car. Not planning an any big cams, but hell who knows what the future will bringMatt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copmagnet Posted May 2, 2014 Report Share Posted May 2, 2014 do you still have the fixture and bits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
