Fun With Phasers

So, I am ditching the Mod Camponents adjustable gears for the Livernois lockouts as I am not comfortable with the amount of oil coming out of the adjustable gears during pre-lube. Were the Livernois available when I bought the Mod Camponents, I would have gone that way in the first place... Keep it simple...

So, now I am re-assembling the stock phasers - thought I'd share the fun and put some pictures of the process... Some of the intermediate steps apply to the "normal" install of the Livernois lockouts...

First some disclaimers:
1. Don't try this at home - keep in mind I am not expecting full functional phasers out of this as they are locked out in the end. I would hate for someone to try and use this info for evil (aka blowing up your engine with just enough info to get you in trouble - leave that to me... )

2. Ford does not treat these things as serviceable parts - any misalignment in the timing trigger wheel calls for disposal, NOT repair.

3. If installing the Livernois lockouts - DO NOT remove the bolt holding the clock spring - you don't need to - leave that one in (you'll see in the pictures)...

4. I repeat - you DO NOT NEED TO DISASSEMBLE THE PHASER TO INSTALL THE LOCKOUTS!

I had disassembled brand new phasers to build the Mod Camponents setup (see Biggus Buildus Maxiumus thread), fortunately, I kept all the parts and notes to put them back together (not sure why at the time, but as it turns out, a good idea)

Pictures and comments to follow...

All the parts...


The base - note the "oil groove" orientation - that is where the bottom of the little oil metering spring goes in a few steps


The "gear" on the base - note the orientation - use the little mark at the bottom (upside down "7" and dots on the gear at the bottom) to keep things lined up


The inner wheel (this is the wheel that is fixed to the cam - the "gear" rotates independent of the cam - this wheel inside the gear is fixed and is used to control the angle between the cam and the gear... )

Bottom "cup" of oil metering spring


The "spring" itself goes in the cup

Oil metering "thingy" (that's a techincal term)

The "flap" against which oil pressure is applied to rotate the cam relative to the "gear"... Note the tiny little spring that goes inbetween the flap and the wheel...


Note the orientation/placement of the little spring - doubt it matters, but this is the "stock" orientation...


All the "flaps" now back in, roughly in the "full advance" position that the spring will hold the phaser in before the car is started...

The Livernois "lockout" block


The block "installed" (it can be installed either at "full advance", or "full retard". You better have a really good reason to not put it at "full advance" as shown...


If you were installing the blocks "normally" (without disassembling the phasers as I have), then this is how you would do it. Leave the bolt that holds the clock spring in and rotate the plate to the side... That way you don't have to reinstall the clock spring


Press down the oil metering "thingy" and slide the plate back over...

Now for the cam sensor trigger wheel (and clock spring, though it will go on without tension - note the orientation... )


Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I put some copper head gasket sealant on the back of the clock spring


See the three little tiny holes? They line up the trigger wheel (the funny shaped thing on the top with the "fingers" that triggers the cam position sensor).


The old phasers had straight metal "dowels". The new ones have these twisted dowels. In either case, they "press in"...


Itsy little things - I used forceps to put them in place...


Pressed in with a carefully chosen socket that had a flat face of the correct diameter to rest on all three dowels...

Now for the spring. I placed the entire assembly in a vice (CAREFULLY - you are not trying to crush it - just hold it - I removed bolts as needed to give a nice flat surface for the vice... Note the bolt/screw sticking out - that is the one that holds the clock spring...


Carefully push clock spring up and over towards the bolt that holds it (using big regular screw driver). When you get it in place, push the bolt through far enough to engage a few threads - you may have to hold the spring to allow the bolt to thread (otherwise it twists the bolt out of the center - so keep tension on the screwdriver until the bolt is threaded...)


Tada - two coasters! I mean, locked out phasers... Ready to go back on the car...

BTW - just for my own sanity since you are working on the back-side of these things most of the time, I scribbled on it with a Sharpie to keep track of orientation of the gear, engine rotation, advance/retard and the location of the clock spring...

That is an awesome write up Mike. I think this is a little advanced for me though but is was very interesting to me and I am sure will help others out a lot!

Your the man! Great directions and pics, this will come in handy as I have the lockouts sitting and waiting on me.

Thanks, Shawn

Great write up! Was there any play in the gear once the lockout was in place?

Cali HP Addict said:

Great write up! Was there any play in the gear once the lockout was in place?

Click to expand...

Thanks...

As for play - no, but I should point out that at this point I have not applied enough force to really check for play - would need it on the cam for that... I was wondering that as well for the purposes of whether the spring was really even needed...

The block is not an "interference fit". It isn't loose, but it slides in with gravity alone if placed in fingers oiled up from lubing the rest of the parts...

The surfaces inside the phaser are all pretty smooth and tight fitting, so it doesn't move around even without the block in there unless you push it around...

Bottom line is to make me comfortable without the spring, I'd expect it to require light force to push it in or I'd assume under load that it _could_ move...

Keep in mind though that whatever play might be there is tiny compared to to slack/stretch in the chain at times... I think we are talking fractions of a degree in cam timing if anything at all... Which again, you will likely see in the chain given its length...

Verrry nice..

Thanks. BTW, were you using the stock cam; you didnt mention otherwise??

Thanks again for the great write up. I have the Livernois locks now, still cannot decide on cam... but was thinking about using on stock for shits and giggles.

chad05gt said:

Thanks. BTW, were you using the stock cam; you didnt mention otherwise??

Thanks again for the great write up. I have the Livernois locks now, still cannot decide on cam... but was thinking about using on stock for shits and giggles.

Click to expand...

Comp Stage II on Livernois stage III heads...

WOW..Fantastis write-up with excellant pics. I learned a ton. Thanks cekim

Great write up. My installer does not want to install them but I do and after all I am paying the bill. Is the block in photo on the full advance side of the gear?

me-gone said:

Great write up. My installer does not want to install them but I do and after all I am paying the bill. Is the block in photo on the full advance side of the gear?

Click to expand...

Yes that is full advance which is where the phaser "rests" when the car is not running...

The phaser part is the easy part of this install. As I mentioned, you remove all but the bolt holding the spring in (just loosen that one a little). Then you rotate the plate around the remaining bolt to expose the phaser...

The "hard part" about that is removing/installing the cams and keeping the timing chain from moving. If you let the timing chain move, you have to pull the front cover and reinstall the timing chain/tensioners from scratch...

What mods are you doing or have you done in the engine to want the lockouts?

Heres a stupid question, what exactly is the point of phaser lock outs, I think I have a rough idea but im not sure.

slvrstang2007 said:

Heres a stupid question, what exactly is the point of phaser lock outs, I think I have a rough idea but im not sure.

Click to expand...

high RPM and high power (Forced Induction) setups have seen the phasers become unstable...

The lockouts prevent any possibility of them moving around at the expense of some power. However the consequence of them becoming unstable at high RPMs is the destruction of your valve train at a minimum and depending on your setup collision between piston and valve...

Do you know the tq spec for the 5 bolts on the back of the phaser?