[SacBill]

Well, it was a fine party late last night, what with me, johnpro, and SAC69 disassembling the 289 and changing the cam, among other things. As John was removing the timing chain gear at the front of the cam, here comes the cam with it! "Well, hey, where's the thrust plate!?!?" said John.

Sure enough, it's not there, no plate, no gasket, no bolts. (Gee, that explains the rattling noise I heard in that area. I always thought it was the water pump getting ready to go. /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif) A check of the inside of the timing cover showed scratches where the front of the eccentric had walked up to it. The cam lobes also showed wear to the side of the lobe, further indicating that the cam had grown legs.

The interesting part is that the cam looked original, and had the proper casting letters on it. So, why would anyone have ever removed the thrust plate? It's a weird one...

BTW, I now need a thrust plate for a '68 289. /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

 

[Dinosawnj]

I'm real surprised that you didn't lose that cam/motor. I throw away the stock thrust bearing (which the local Ford dealer stocks) and have used a Crane Block Protector (294-1510). They're wear plates with bearings. I have never had a problem with these. Only issue is they're not cheap ($50-60).

Bob.

 

[autoxsteve]

You probably can get that from your local mechine shop that deals with lots of Ford stuff. However, if that river is dry, Racer Walsh has them and they are $51.95.

Look here...

 

[Shaun]

That's amazing! How many miles did you put on it like that?

 

[SacBill]

No way to tell how long it went that way, that I know of. The motor has 86k miles on it, the cam looked original, the timing chain set might have been replaced. I have to look through the old reciepts that came with the car to see if and when any work was done in that part of the motor.

It's sounding more and more like I was pretty lucky, though! /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

 

[Shaun]

You were driving it like it?!

 

[SacBill]

Yes, it's been driven (by me) like that since January 2002 (about 3k miles)! Who knows how long it was driven like that by the PO? /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif

 

[Shaun]

AMAZING!

 

[whizco]

Did you take it to Knotts that way?

Man you are lucky!!!!!

 

[SacBill]

Ayup! 375 miles each way, up and down Grapevine twice! /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

 

[johnpro]

"Well, hey, where's the thrust plate!?!?" said John
I think it was more like "What the $%&*!?!! where's the thrust plate!?!?"

*LOL*