I will try to keep this short......
1) Suspected bent valves caused by me not noting in the rather disconnected service manual not realizing the crank pulley is not keyed. I was replacing the engine due to a known faulty cylinder head design to a new model engine, had to swap crank pulley and removed flex plate and swap over the flywheel. Working on both ends at once I turned the flywheel when bolting on the manual gear box then found the crank had turned but not the cams. I bought the supposedly correct alignment tools and put the crank and cams back in the right positions, at least I was sure of it.
2) Compression check showed two low cylinder pressures, about half of normal values. I was pissed at myself and Ford for cheeping out on keying the crank/pulley and left it sitting for 3 more years(I was already pissed at Ford for it not having a real temp sensor causing a blown head gasket, warped head, etc at 20,000 miles and temps showed normal, I left it parked for 2 years)
3) After watching many videos and reading everything I could find I pulled the head expecting to find marks on pistons, bend valves, etc, not a mark or obvious bent valve. Lapped the valves, had 5 leaking, tapped with wood block and hammer, 4 leaking, two very little, two quite a bit more. Lapped again, tapped again, 2 worst ones still leaked, skipped the wood block and tapped around circumference and lastly center of valves directly with round end of big ball peen hammer, pretty decent taps but not hard, no more leaks, whew!!!!
4) Not absolutely sure the valves were bent, if so barely were as the engine was turned by hand. Either two were barely bent, cylinders 1 and two had one each, and the hammer tapping straightened them out which I had read can be done, or somehow I had the cam timing off when I aligned the crank and cams
5) During all this I was very careful of damaging anything by accident, kept everything as clean as possible, used good lapping compound, cleaned completely after each pass, very carefully cleaned top of block, bottom of head, checked all passages, cleaned top of pistons and also cleaned off the normal direct injection dirty intake valves.
6) Every tapped, valve, spring, retainer, cam and caps are back in the same exact location and orientation and tightened to exacting specs, new gaskets, sealant, etc....
7) Today I will check clearances and if pass then do a compression check and keep my fingers crossed! HIghly likely I have to replace some tappets. If only a few I will order them, if more I might pull the old(20k) engine apart and see if any the correct thickness and if only in excellent condition use them...
